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Ryan Lavelle  Research

Research and publications in progress are currently in three main areas:


Places of Rebellion

Considering the locations associated with rebellion in the early and central middle ages. Building on foundations established by the 2009 paper 'The Politics of Rebellion', on the rebellion of the West Saxon Aetheling Aethelwold (c.899-903), the research considers the political 'meaning' of choices of location for protagonists and contemporary commentators in the rebellions of the period. A preliminary paper on the subject, addressing rebellion in England and Normandy, was presented as part of a session at the International Medieval Congress in July 2011, and article on the records of rebellion in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,‘Representing Authority in an Early Medieval Chronicle: Submission, Rebellion and the Limits of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, c.899-1065’ is published in J. Dresvina and N. Sparks (eds), Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012)


Early Medieval Warfare

Continuing work on warfare in the middle ages, reflecting on and developing the conclusions drawn in Alfred's Wars:

I am particularly interested in the ways in which warfare in Anglo-Saxon England prior to the Norman Conquest and on the European continent are thought to have been quite different, especially with regard to their perception in twelfth-century sources. There is room for a perspective from Anglo-Saxon England on the comparative conduct of warfare before 1066.

Ryan presented a paper on descriptions of defeated warriors in the early and central middle ages at the 2012 International Medieval Congress, addressing the different perceptions of mistaken identity related to such episodes. The paper is being prepared for submission for publication.


Wessex and Southern England

Ryan is collaborating on two books relating to Wessex and southern England in the early middle ages: with Steve Clark on Anglo-Saxon Berkshire: The Making of a Shire (to be published by History Press);
with Simon Roffey, he is editing Danes in Wessex: The Scandinavian Impact on Southern England, c.800-c.1100 (to be published by Oxbow).

page updated 5 August 2013