[1] Butterfield read English at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a master's degree in medieval literature at the University of Bristol, both in England, after which she returned to Trinity College to complete a PhD.
[2] Her PhD was entitled 'Interpolated lyric in medieval narrative poetry' (1988).
[3] In 2009, Butterfield co-founded the Medieval Song Network, a research group, in London, England, UK.
[6] In 2018, Butterfield had been appointed as the Marie Borroff Professor of English at Yale University.
[4][7] Butterfield is leading a team to develop a Digital Archive of Medieval Song.