Professor Peter Heather

• Late Roman Empire 
• Successor States to the Roman Empire
• Barbarian Hordes 

 
Key words: Europe | Europe (Central and Eastern) | Medieval | Cultural History | Politics and the State 

Professor Peter Heather’s research interests lie in the later Roman Empire and its successor states. He is widely published in these matters, with a focus on the Goth and Visigoth kingdoms of the Medieval period and publications including The Goths (Oxford, 1996) and (with D. Moncur), Politics, philosophy, and Empire in the fourth century (Liverpool, 2001). More recently his research has looked at propaganda in the late Roman elite, and issues of migration and ethnicity among the groups who dismantled the western half of the Roman Empire.

Peter Heather is happy to to receive applications from students interested in

• Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages: c. 200-800 AD (but a bit later still for non-Carolingian topics).

 
His particular interests are:

• Barbarians and the Roman Empire
• Late Antique historiography
• Legal sources and the social history of dispute settlement
• The late & post-Roman development of the Christian Church, everything from Popes to ascetics
• States and their operations
• Vikings & Slavs

Professor Heather teaches on the undergraduate paper Medieval Europe 400-1400. He also teaches on the MA in Medieval History.

Peter Heather joined the department in January 2008 as the Chair of Medieval History. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School, before moving to New College Oxford to complete his undergraduate degree and doctoral work. Prior to joining King’s, Peter Heather worked at University College London, Yale University and Worcester College, Oxford.