Dr Roy Flechner DPhil PhD MPhil BA
Contact Details
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Biography:
| I came to academe after a previous career as a journalist in Jerusalem. After graduating from the Hebrew University in 2002 I continued to a Masters degree and Doctorate at Oxford under the supervision of Richard Sharpe, Professor of Diplomatic. I then spent a year as a Hardie/Hanadiv post-doctoral fellow at Lincoln College Oxford before moving to Trinity College Cambridge where I held a Junior Research Fellowship in conjunction with an Affiliated Lectureship at the History Faculty (2007--2012). My research explores the early medieval history of Britain and Ireland in a wider European perspective. I am especially interested in questions relating to conversion to Christianity, historiography, the emergence of ecclesiastical law, the circulation of texts and what this circulation can tell us about international contacts between scholars. In investigating the workings of law I am particularly concerned with such fundamental questions as how legal compilations were first codified, what were the philosophical preambles on which laws were founded and how early medieval jurists perceived the concept of law itself. In order to shed light on these issues I have been exploring in my most recent publications the potential that modern legal theory has to offer to historians of the early middle ages. My work also examines the way in which the perception and formulation of law was affected by conversion to Christianity and, on the other hand, the way in which laws themselves might serve as a window onto the process of conversion itself. Recently I began to turn my attention to the social, economic and cultural context of conversion to Christianity through an international research network that I founded, on which more here: http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/conversion/ In my teaching I cover late antiquity and the early middle ages through a number of BA as well as MA modules. In addition I offer an elective module on conversion to Christianity. I currently supervise two PhD students. |
Research Interests
| My research explores the early medieval history of Britain and Ireland in a wider European perspective. I am especially interested in questions relating to conversion to Christianity, historiography, the emergence of ecclesiastical law, the circulation of texts and what this circulation can tell us about international contacts between scholars. In investigating the workings of law I am particularly concerned with such fundamental questions as how legal compilations were first codified, what were the philosophical preambles on which laws were founded and how early medieval jurists perceived the concept of law itself. In order to shed light on these issues I have been exploring in my most recent publications the potential that modern legal theory has to offer to historians of the early middle ages. My work also examines the way in which the perception and formulation of law was affected by conversion to Christianity and, on the other hand, the way in which laws themselves might serve as a window onto the process of conversion itself. Recently I began to turn my attention to the social, economic and cultural context of conversion to Christianity through an international research network that I founded, on which more here: http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/conversion/ |
Recent Postgraduates
Books
| Roy Flechner (2013) A Study, Edition and Translation of the Hibernensis with Commentary. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. [Details] |
Book Chapters
| Roy Flechner (2011) 'Patrick's reasons for leaving Britain' In: Tome: Studies in Medieval History and Law. Woodbridge: Boydell. [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2009) 'An Insular tradition of ecclesiastical law: fifth to eighth century' In: Anglo-Saxon/Irish Relations before the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2008) ''Libelli et commentarii aliorum': The Hibernensis and the Breton Bishops' In: Approaches to Religion and Mythology in Celtic Studies. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar. [Details] |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Roy Flechner (2012) 'The problem of originality in early medieval canon law'. Viator, 43 :29-47. [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2012) 'St Boniface as Historian: a Continental perspective on the development of the early Anglo-Saxon church'. Anglo-Saxon England, 41 . [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2005) 'Dagán, Columbanus, and the Gregorian mission'. Peritia, 19 :65-90. [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2003) 'The Making of the Canons of Theodore'. Peritia, 17-18 :121-143. [Details] |
Other Journals
| Roy Flechner (2008) 'Aspects of the Breton transmission of the Hibernensis' Pecia 12 :27-44. [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2004) 'Paschasius Radbertus and Bodleian Library, MS. Hatton 42' Bodleian Library Record 18 :411-421. [Details] |
Reviews
| Roy Flechner (2012) Review of Richard Hoggett, The Archaeology of the East Anglian Conversion (Woodbridge, 2010). Reviews [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2012) Review of Malcolm Lambert, Christians and Pagans. The Conversion of Britain from Alban to Bede (New Haven, 2010). Reviews [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2010) Review of Karen George, Gildas's De excidio Britonum and the early British Church (Woodbridge, 2009). Reviews [Details] |
| Roy Flechner (2008) Review of Thomas O Loughlin, Adomnán and the Holy Places (London, 2007). Reviews [Details] |
| Roy Flechenr (2005) Review of P. Ní Chatháin and M. Richter, eds., Ireland and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: text and transmission (Dublin, 2002). Reviews [Details] |
Honours and Awards
| Year: 2006. Title: Sir John Rhŷs Prize |
| Year: 2006. Title: Yad Hanadiv Fellowship |
| Year: 2005. Title: Vice-Chancellor's Fund Award |
| Year: 2003. Title: Arnold Scholarship |
| Year: 2003. Title: Graduate Prize |
| Year: 2003. Title: Senior Scholarship |
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| Year: 2004. Title: Senior Scholarship |
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| Year: 2005. Title: Senior Scholarship |
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| Year: 2002. Title: C. Black Award in Medieval Studies |
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Conference Contributions
| Roy Flechner (2012) Comparing peasants' conversion in Anglo-Saxon England and Ireland. [Invited Lecture], An international one-day conference on conversion and social change, University of Cambridge , 12-MAY-12 - 12-MAY-12. |
| Roy Flechner (2012) An international conference on conversion to Christianity in the early middle ages. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Literacy, Memory and the Conversion of the Isles, UCD , 02-NOV-12 - 05-NOV-12. |
| Roy Flechner (2012) An international conference on conversion to Christianity in the early middle ages. [Chaired Session], Literacy, Memory and the Conversion of the Isles, UCD , 02-NOV-12 - 05-NOV-12. |
| Roy Flechner (2012) Title: Converting the Isles: a research agenda. [Invited Oral Presentation], Culture and Society in the Middle Ages, University of Bergen , 04-OCT-12 - 06-OCT-12. |
| Roy Flechner (2012) Title: Are Early Medieval Canon Law Collections Smaller than the Sum of Their Parts?. [Oral Presentation], International Medieval Congress at Leeds, University of Leeds , 08-JUL-12 - 12-JUL-12. |
| Roy Flechner (2012) Irish Conference of Medievalists. [Chaired Session], Irish Conference of Medievalists, UCD , 05-JUL-12 - 07-JUL-12. | |||||||||
| Roy Flechner (2012) An international one-day conference on conversion and social change. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Converting the Isles: Society Transformed?, University of Cambridge , 12-MAY-12 - 12-MAY-12. | |||||||||
| Roy Flechner (2012) An international colloquium on early medieval biblical exegesis. [Conference Organising Committee Member], Approaches to Early Medieval Exegesis, University of Cambridge , 02-MAR-12 - 02-MAR-12. | |||||||||
| Roy Flechner (2012) Title Exegesis as a tool for innovation in early Irish canon law. [Invited Oral Presentation], Approaches to Early Medieval Exegesis, University of Cambridge , 02-MAR-12 - 02-MAR-12. | |||||||||
| Roy Flechner (2012) Title: Comparing peasants' conversions in Anglo-Saxon England and Ireland. [Invited Oral Presentation], Converting the Isles: Society Transformed?, University of Cambridge , 12-MAY-12 - 12-MAY-12. | |||||||||
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Education
| Year 2006 Institution: University of Oxford Qualification: DPhil Subject: History |
| Year 2010 Institution: University of Cambridge Qualification: PhD Subject: Incorporation of Oxford DPhil |
| Year 2003 Institution: University of Oxford Qualification: Master of Studies Subject: History |
| Year 2002 Institution: Hebrew University of Jerusalem Qualification: BA Subject: History |
Other Activities
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I am the founder and co-organiser of 'Converting the Isles', an international research network dedicated to conversion to Christianity in North West Europe, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2012--14). This is an interdisciplinary and international network that seeks to foster collaboration between historians, archaeologists, linguists and literary scholars working on different aspects of conversion in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Iceland. For more details visit http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/conversion/ |
Internal Collaborators
| Dr Edel Bhreathnach, Dr Elizabeth O Brien |
External Collaborators
| Dr Lesley Abrams (Oxford), Professor Nancy Edwards (Bangor), Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (Cambridge), Dr Sæbjørg Nordeide (Bergen), Professor Orri Vésteinsson (Reykjavík) |