Professor David Carpenter

• Medieval Britain
• Henry III
• Westminster Abbey

 
Key words:
England | Britain |
Medieval | Politics and the State | Digital Humanities |

David Carpenter has written widely on English social, economic, architectural, military and political history in the thirteenth century; many of his essays on this subject being brought together in a volume of his collected papers The Reign of Henry III (Hambledon, 1996). Since 2005, David has directed a major AHRC-funded project on The Fine Rolls of Henry III. His most recent book, The Struggle for Mastery in Britain 1066-1284 (Penguin, 2004), weaves together the histories of England, Scotland and Wales in a strikingly new way, arguing that the rulers of all three, in their different fashions, were competing for mastery in Britain. He is a particular exponent of the ‘thickened political narrative’, which he deployed to great effect in The Minority of King Henry III (Methuen, 1990), which traced the complex political history of the years 1216-1227 out of which a new monarchy, limited by the Magna Carta, emerged.

Professor Carpenter would particularly welcome applications from research students interested in working on topics relating to:

• thirteenth century political, governmental , ecclesiastical and social history, from the reign of John to that of Edward I

Professor Carpenter teaches on the Group I paper The Making of Britain 400-1400, the Group II paper The Nobility & Gentry of Medieval England and on the Group III paper Reform and Rebellion in England 1215-1267. He also teaches on the MA in Medieval History, offering papers on the Magna Carta and Medieval Monarchy, Warfare c.1050 to c.1300 and The Foundations of English Royal Government (with Dr Stephen Baxter).

David Carpenter is Professor of Medieval History and a leading authority on the history of Britain in the central middle ages. Prior to joining the Department in 1988, David lectured in Christ Church and St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, the University of Aberdeen and Queen Mary College. London. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford where he received a first class degree in History and went on to gain his doctorate. He is a co-convenor for the European History 1150-1550 seminar at the Institute of Historical Research.