Brittany Orton specializes in early medieval England, with particular focus in kinship, familial networks, and political and women's histories using the application of feminist and queer theoretical approaches. Her research focuses on the political functions of seventh-century elite women as viewed through women's familial and social networks and the reconsideration of their assumed gendered roles. Her Ph.D. thesis, "Aspects of Matrilineal Political Networks: Mercian Elite Women in Seventh-Century England", traces the reconstructed genealogies of the Mercian royal family to reimagine the political events of the seventh century by accepting elite women's importance to models of rulership. Brittany's teaching interests lie in political history, early medieval Europe, pre-Conquest England, Merovingian and Carolingian Francia, women and gender, Classical and Medieval Latin, and Old English

Brittany Orton C.V.