João Luís Inglês Fontes is an Assistant Professor in Medieval History at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of NOVA University, in Lisbon. Researcher of the Institute for Medieval Studies (NOVA FCSH) since its foundations, is one of its Deputy-Directors, taking part in its Scientific Committee and assuming functions as Executive Editor of Medievalista, the e-journal on medieval studies of the Institute. His research background is also linked with the Centre of Religious History Studies of the Catholic University of Portugal where he continues to collaborate as an auxiliary Researcher. His research has been centred in late medieval religious history. From delving into the examination of hagiographic narratives and their multifaceted social and political roles - underscored by his master's thesis focusing on Prince Fernando, revered as a saint within the nascent Avis dynasty - to probing into the religious movements associated with borderlands or unconventional modes of existence, such as the hermits of Serra de Ossa, the focal point of his doctoral research (concluded in 2012). His academic journey further extended into the study of non-regular religious experiences among women in Portugal, encompassing voluntary seclusion and the formation of small communities characterized by austere lifestyles (the focal subject of his postdoctoral endeavours spanning from 2013 to 2019), enlarging, in the last years, to wider movements of religious renewal, as the Franciscan and Dominican observances, or new religious orders as the Hieronymites, or the strategies of religious reform conducted by the initiative and/or the protection of the Portuguese kings. His scholarly interests span a wide spectrum, encompassing hermitic traditions, lay spirituality, hagiographic literature, the cultural and devotional practices of nobility and royal courts, the dynamics of social elites, the institutional history of religious orders, medieval liturgy and spiritual practices, the study of medieval heresies, and the intersection of gender studies within medieval religious contexts.