Sebastian Rider-Bezerra

Adjunct Professor

Ph.D., Yale

Current Research

Sebastian Rider-Bezerra studies medieval law and society with a particular focus on ordinary people’s knowledge of, experience of, and interactions with the law in the Middle Ages. His primary object of study is Cyfraith Hywel, the medieval law of Wales, both before and after the English conquest of 1282. Other scholarly interests include the law of Gascony under English rule, the Brythonic-speaking “Old North” in early medieval Scotland, and the pedagogy of medieval language.

Bio

Dr. Rider-Bezerra holds advanced degrees in Middle Welsh (MA, Aberystwyth, 2014) and Medieval Studies (PhD, Yale, 2020). His MA dissertation focused on the corpus of material surrounding the semi-legendary early medieval king Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde and his PhD dissertation explored jurisdictional ambiguity in medieval English Gascony.

He teaches regular online classes in Middle Welsh and has directed online reading groups in Middle Welsh for over ten years. In 2020, he co-founded the Middle Welsh Pedagogy Working Group, which sponsored the first international conference on the teaching of Middle Welsh.

In addition to his teaching, he has worked as a research consultant for faculty at Yale and the Princeton Theological Seminary. In the 2024-2025 academic year he was a Wallace Johnson Program fellow through Western Michigan University.

Image of Professor Sebastian Rider-Bezerra.
Contact Information
Emailupy25006@uconn.edu
Phone860-486-3722
Mailing Address241 Glenbrook Rd, U-4103, Storrs CT 06269
Office LocationWood Hall, Room 308
CampusCampus: Storrs
Office HoursFall 2026: by appointment
LinkCymraeg Canol: A Window Into Medieval Wales