Dr Jessica Wärnberg
I am a historian, author, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and devoted educator, providing academic support and mentorship to fledgling historians of all backgrounds.
Researching in archives and libraries from the Vatican to Dublin and Turin, I have published groundbreaking work on how religion and politics have clashed and intertwined to shape our world. My first book ‘Between Popes, Inquisitors and Princes’ revealed how the early Jesuits collaborated with the popes, their inquisition and the crowned heads of Europe – often undercover – to fight dangerous ideas.
My second book ‘City of Echoes’ is the first ever account of how the presence of the popes has shaped Rome and its history, from the time of Saint Peter to our own day. According to Graydon Carter’s Air Mail Weekly, it is ‘a deeply informative book that never fails to entertain, unearthing facts that make The Da Vinci Code read like children’s lit.’
My writing has been published in prestigious academic journals, popular magazines such as History Today and national newspapers. I have given lectures and spoken at events and on podcasts in the U.K., North America, Italy, Spain and Belgium. I welcome invitations to write and speak about my writing and research, as well as my experiences living in Italy and working with historical documents at archives such as the Vatican Archive and archives of the Roman Inquisition.
Selected Awards:
- Rome Scholarship, British Academy
- Seventh Century Scholarship, University of St Andrews
- Study Fellowship, Society for Renaissance Studies
- Russell Trust Award, Russell Trust
City of Echoes in this week’s Economist
City of Echoes is reviewed and discussed in this week's edition of the Economist! ‘…the book’s strength is its range, from St Peter in the first century all the way to Pope Francis today…Wärnberg is especially good on the early years, when Christianity and the papacy emerged under the shadow of a hostile imperial [...]
City of Echoes Reviewed in The Spectator
In this week's Spectator, biographer and journalist Anne de Courcy reviewed my new book 'City of Echoes'. 'Jessica Wärnberg’s book tells not only the story of these popes but that of Rome, its people and the events that affected them...Just about everything is here, from the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 312 to [...]