George Molyneaux

All Souls College

Supervisor: Dr George Garnett

Thesis title:
The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century

College webpage

Research Interests

My doctoral research concerns the processes by which the West Saxon kingdom expanded to encompass all that is now ‘England’ during the tenth century. I am interested in all forms of evidence and particularly use literary, documentary and numismatic material. I am also seeking to develop my understanding of Anglo-Saxon and early medieval history more generally.

Projects

My principal project is my doctorate. I argue that we should not write of the tenth-century ‘unification’ of the English, since many who saw themselves as English did not end up in the English kingdom. Building on analysis of the vernacular version of Bede, I contend that ‘English’ identity was of little political significance before the latter part of the tenth century. From an examination of coins and a reappraisal of the development of certain local government institutions, I conclude that many features that are widely seen as integral to the ‘Anglo-Saxon state’ only developed towards the end of the tenth century. The final part of my thesis, upon which I am currently working, analyses how royal power worked before this. Using hagiographical and legal sources, I argue that it was no less real for being unbureaucratic, since aristocrats depended upon the king for patronage, not least in legal disputes. The tenth century did not see English ‘unification’, but simply a kingdom acquiring substantial territory and consolidating control of it. This was not an unusual occurrence in the middle ages, and I shall conclude by considering the tenth-century English kingdom in comparative perspective.

Publication

G. Molyneaux, 'The Old English Bede: English Ideology or Christian Instruction?', English Historical Review, 124 (2009), pp. 1289–1323