Prof James Palmer

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 462197

Email

jtp21@st-andrews.ac.uk

Office

13

Location

Mediaeval History, 71 South Street

Office hours

On research leave 2018 to 2021

Biography

I was born in Nottingham and studied in Sheffield (BA and PhD) and Cambridge (MPhil). I held posts at the universities of Leicester and Nottingham, before moving to St Andrews in 2007.

Research areas

My research focuses on culture and religion c. 400-900. I am particularly interested in the movement of ideas and people across different cultural worlds ? across Eurasia and Africa ? and the consequences of the exchanges involved.

My first book, Anglo-Saxons in a Frankish World 690-900 (2009), explored this theme in relation to the memorialisation of the work of English missionaries in and beyond the Merovingian and Carolingian Rhineland. I then worked on The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages (2014), supported by an AHRC Research Fellowship (2010-11). In that book, I sought to establish a more comparative, Europe-wide perspective on the theme. This was developed further in Early Medieval Hagiography (2018), which saw me start to think more about comparison with Chinese and Japanese Buddhist sources too.

At present, I hold a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2018-21) for the project Science and Belief in the Making of the Early Medieval World. I also hope to use this, and my previous work, to begin a global history of religious and cultural interactions in the period.

PhD supervision

• Jessica Collett
• Maria Merino Jaso
• Dana Weaver
• Hiu Ki Chan
• Stephanie Pambakian
• Cameron Houston

Selected publications

• The global eminent life: sixth-century collected biographies from Gregory of Tours to Huijiao of Jiaxiang Temple

  Palmer, J. T., Nov 2018, In : Medieval Worlds. Comparative and Interdisciplinary Studies. 8, p. 22-41

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Early Medieval Hagiography

  Palmer, J. T., 2018, Arc Medieval Press. (Past Imperfect)

  Research output: Book/Report ? Book

• To Be Found Prepared: Eschatology and Reform Rhetoric c.570-c.640

  Palmer, J. T., 2018, Apocalypse and Reform from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Palmer, J. & M. G. (eds.). p. 31-49

  Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding ? Chapter

• Climates of crisis: apocalypse, nature and rhetoric in the early medieval world

  Palmer, J. T., 2018, In : Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 48, 2, p. 1-20

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• The adoption of the Dionysian Easter in the Frankish kingdoms (c. 670-c. 800)

  Palmer, J. T., 1 Mar 2018, In : Peritia. 28, p. 135-154

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages

  Palmer, J. T., Nov 2014, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 270 p.

  Research output: Book/Report ? Book

• Calculating Time and the End of Time in the Carolingian World, c.740-820

  Palmer, J. T., Dec 2011, In : English Historical Review. 126, 523, p. 1307-1331

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Anglo-Saxons in a Frankish World, 690-900

  Palmer, J. T., 2009, Brepols. 324 p. (Studies in the Early Middle Ages; vol. 19)

  Research output: Book/Report ? Book

• Defining Paganism in the Carolingian World

  Palmer, J. T., Nov 2007, In : Early Medieval Europe. 15, 4, p. 402-425

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

• Rimbert's Vita Anskarii and Scandinavian mission in the ninth century

  Palmer, J. T., Apr 2004, In : Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 55, 2, p. 235-256 22 p.

  Research output: Contribution to journal ? Article

See more publications