Prof James Palmer

Director of Research

Professor

Researcher profile

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 2197

Email

jtp21@st-andrews.ac.uk

Location

Mediaeval History, 71 South Street

Office hours

By appointment. On Research Leave (Semester 2).

 

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. I was a cross-faculty pro dean for research postgraduates 2014-18 and I have been a full professor since 2018.

Research areas

My research focuses on culture and religion c. 400-900. I am particularly interested in the movement of ideas and people across Eurasia and Africa and the consequences of the exchanges involved. My principal areas of expertise are:

• the development of scientific and medical cultures
• ideas about the apocalypse as drivers of social change
• saints and hagiography

Increasingly what links these for me is how societies deal with crisis and rupture in political, religious, and environmental spheres.

My work has been funded by the AHRC, the Leverhulme Trust, and the British Academy.

I am the author and editor of several books. My latest, Charlemagne’s Dream: The Rise and Fall of the Carolingian Empire is out in Oct 2026. After that, I am writing a history of the Goths and the Fall of Rome.

PhD supervision

• Sarah Parker

Selected publications

• Open access

  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 › peer-review

• Early medieval hagiography

  Palmer, J. T., 2018, Leeds: Arc Humanities Press. 122 p. (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 › peer-review

• Open access

  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 › peer-review

• Open access

  The Apocalypse in the early Middle Ages

  Palmer, J., Nov 2014, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 254 p.

  Research output: Book/Report › Book

• Open access

  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 › peer-review

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

  Palmer, J. T., 2009, Brepols Publishers. 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 › peer-review

• Open access

  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 › peer-review

 

See more publications