Dr David Pratt

David is a Bye–Fellow, and our Directors of Studies in Anglo–Saxon, Norse and Celtic. He is also a Fellow of Downing College, and their Archivist and Keeper of Artefacts.

Research

David's principal research interest is in the political thought and court culture of the early middle ages, especially in Anglo–Saxon England and the Carolingian world. His current research project concerns the early history of the English coronation service, which has its origins in the Anglo–Saxon period, and was a major conduit for political norms. His most recent book English Coronation Ordines in the Ninth and Early Tenth Centuries, offers new editions and translations of the First English Coronation Order and the ‘ A’ version of the Second English Order. Other work relates to aspects of kingship and society in the later Anglo–Saxon period, particularly law and legislation, social order, taxation and manorialism. He is also interested in aspects of learned kingship in the post–Alfredian period, and the ideology and scope of tenth–century monastic reform.