Dr Richard Allen
Associate Member
Magdalen College
My research primarily concerns the ecclesiastical history of northern France in the High Middle Ages, with a particular focus on ducal Normandy (911-1204). I work mainly with charters and other such administrative records, and I am particularly interested in what this material can reveal about the political, legal, economic, and cultural circumstances of the societies in which it was produced.
I have published widely on topics ranging from ecclesiastical rivalry, through excommunication, the nature of episcopal power, the Cistercian abbey of Savigny, miracles, and the role of relics in the Middle Ages. I have also begun to work on the history of medieval hospitals, especially those based in Oxford and its surrounding counties, and on the scribal culture of rural England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. To this end, I am currently preparing an edition of the cartulary and charters of the hospital of St John the Baptist, Oxford, which occupied the site where Magdalen College now stands.
My most recent book is a study, edition and translation of the roll cartulary of the hospital of Aynho in Northamptonshire.