Lesley Abrams

Last updated
Lesley Abrams

Born1952 (age 7071)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
OccupationAcademic historian

Lesley Jane Abrams, FSA , FRHistS (born 1952) is a retired academic historian. She was a Colyer-Ferguson Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, between 2000 and 2016, and Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Oxford from 2015 to 2016.

Contents

Career

Lesley Jane Abrams was born in 1952 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Toronto between 1969 and 1973, and was then a British Commonwealth Scholar at St Hilda's College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1975. She then completed a Master of Arts (MA) degree at the Centre for Medieval Studies in Toronto in 1979 and took her doctorate of philosophy (PhD) there in 1991. Between then and 1995, she lectured in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge University, and then lectured at Aberystwyth University until 2000, when she was appointed Colyer-Fergusson Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford. [1] [2] In 2015, she was appointed a Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Oxford, [3] and retired from teaching the following year. [4]

Abrams also lectured at Brasenose College, Oxford, [5] and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1996 and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. [6]

Works

Abrams has carried out research into the conversion of northern European peoples to Christianity in the early medieval period, focusing on the English and Scandinavians. More broadly, she has studied many aspects of Scandinavian history in this period, ranging from military activity to overseas connections and settlements. Her published works include: [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking Age</span> Period of European history (793–1066)

The Viking Age (793–1066 CE) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germanic Iron Age. The Viking Age applies not only to their homeland of Scandinavia but also to any place significantly settled by Scandinavians during the period. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age are often referred to as Vikings as well as Norsemen, although few of them were Vikings in the sense of being engaged in piracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northumbria</span> Medieval kingdom of the Angles

Northumbria was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danelaw</span> Historical name given to part of England ruled by the Danes (865–954)

The Danelaw was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian law. The term is first recorded in the early 11th century as Dena lage. The areas that constituted the Danelaw lie in northern and eastern England, long occupied by Danes and other Norsemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norsemen</span> Historical ethnolinguistic group of people originating in Scandinavia

The Norsemen were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the predecessor of the modern Germanic languages of Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions, giving rise to the Viking Age. In English-language scholarship since the 19th century, Norse seafaring traders, settlers and warriors have commonly been referred to as Vikings. Historians of Anglo-Saxon England distinguish between Norse Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway, who mainly invaded and occupied the islands north and north-west of Britain, as well as Ireland and western Britain, and Danish Vikings, who principally invaded and occupied eastern Britain.

The Treaty of Wedmore is a 9th-century agreement between King Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king, Guthrum the Old. The only contemporary reference to the treaty is that of a Welsh monk, Asser, in his biography of Alfred, known as Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum, or "The Life of Alfred", in which Asser describes how after Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington, followed by his surrender some days later, he agreed to a peace treaty with Alfred. The treaty was conditional on Guthrum's being baptised to endorse the agreement, as well as to allow him to rule more legitimately over his Christian vassals but to remain pagan to his pagan vassals. Also, Guthrum and his army were to leave Wessex.

Wulfstan was Archbishop of York between 931 and 952. He is often known as Wulfstan I, to separate him from Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Anglo-Saxon England</span>

Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from soon after the end of Roman Britain until the Norman Conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Æthelstan. It became part of the short-lived North Sea Empire of Cnut, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway in the 11th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Heathen Army</span> Norse invasion of England in 865

The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Viking Great Army, was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded England in AD 865. Since the late 8th century, the Vikings had been engaging in raids on centres of wealth, such as monasteries. The Great Heathen Army was much larger and aimed to conquer and occupy the four kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex.

Sitric Cáech or Sihtric Cáech or Sigtrygg Gále, was a Hiberno-Scandinavian Viking leader who ruled Dublin and then Viking Northumbria in the early 10th century. He was a grandson of Ímar and a member of the Uí Ímair. Sitric was most probably among those Vikings expelled from Dublin in 902, whereafter he may have ruled territory in the eastern Danelaw in England. In 917, he and his kinsman Ragnall ua Ímair sailed separate fleets to Ireland where they won several battles against local kings. Sitric successfully recaptured Dublin and established himself as king, while Ragnall returned to England to become King of Northumbria. In 919, Sitric won a victory at the Battle of Islandbridge over a coalition of local Irish kings who aimed to expel the Uí Ímair from Ireland. Six Irish kings were killed in the battle, including Niall Glúndub, overking of the Northern Uí Néill and High King of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Foot</span> English Anglican priest and historian (born 1961)

Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot, is an English Anglican priest and early medieval historian. She has been Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford since 2007, and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford since 2023.

Maccus mac Arailt, or Maccus Haraldsson, was a tenth-century King of the Isles. Although his parentage is uncertain, surviving evidence suggests that he was the son of Harald Sigtryggson, also known as Aralt mac Sitriuc, the Hiberno-Norse King of Limerick. Maccus' family is known as the Meic Arailt kindred. He and his brother, Gofraid, are first recorded in the 970s. It was during this decade and the next that they conducted military operations against the Welsh of Anglesey, apparently taking advantage of dynastic strife within the Kingdom of Gwynedd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking expansion</span> 8th–11th century expansion by Norsemen

Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russia, and through the Mediterranean as far as Constantinople and the Middle East, acting as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries. To the west, Vikings under Leif Erikson, the heir to Erik the Red, reached North America and set up a short-lived settlement in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. Longer lasting and more established Norse settlements were formed in Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Ireland and Normandy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sawyer (historian)</span> British historian (1928–2018)

Peter Hayes Sawyer was a British historian. His work on the Vikings was highly influential, as was his scholarship on Medieval England. Sawyer's early work The Age of the Vikings argued that the Vikings were "traders not raiders", overturning the previously held view that the Vikings' voyages were only focused on destruction and pillaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Scandinavian</span> Cultural phase described by historians

Anglo-Scandinavian is an academic term referring to the hybridisation between Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures in Britain during the early medieval period. It remains a term and concept often used by historians and archaeologists, and in linguistic spheres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking activity in the British Isles</span> Aspect of Viking expansion

Viking activity in the British Isles occurred during the Early Middle Ages, the 8th to the 11th centuries CE, when Scandinavians travelled to the British Isles to raid, conquer, settle and trade. They are generally referred to as Vikings, but some scholars debate whether the term Viking represented all Scandinavian settlers or just those who used violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Blair (historian)</span> British historian, archaeologist, and academic

William John Blair, is an English historian, archaeologist, and academic, who specialises in Anglo-Saxon England. He is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. He gave the 2013 Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viking coinage</span> Type of currency

Viking coinage was used during the Viking Age of northern Europe. Prior to the usage and minting of coins, the Viking economy was predominantly a bullion economy, where the weight and size of a particular metal is used as a method of evaluating value, as opposed to the value being determined by the specific type of coin. By the ninth century, the Viking raids brought them into contact with cultures well familiarised with the use of coins in economies of Europe, hence influencing the Vikings own production of coins.

Lagmann mac Gofraid may have been an early eleventh-century ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles. He seems to have been a son of Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles, and was likely a member of the Uí Ímair kindred. According to mediaeval sources, Lagmann was closely associated with Óláfr Haraldsson, a future King of Norway. According one source, both men lent assistance to Knútr, son of Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark, although it is possible that this account actually refers to Óláfr's campaigning in England several years beforehand. Lagmann and Óláfr are also recorded to have assisted Richard II, Duke of Normandy. The two are specified to have not only ravaged lands in Brittany on behalf of Richard, but were tasked to counter Richard's opponent Odo II, Count of Chartres. Lagmann's activities on the Continent may have arisen as a result of being forced from the Isles following the death of his possible brother Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles in 1004 or 1005. Lagmann's son, Amlaíb, is recorded to have perished at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. If Lagmann died at about this time as well, it could account for the record of Hákon Eiríksson assuming control of the Isles.

Tomrair was a ninth-century Viking active in Ireland. He is one of the first Vikings recorded by Irish sources. Tomrair is reported to have been killed at the Battle of Sciath Nechtain, a conflict in which twelve hundred Vikings were slain, battling the combined forces of Ólchobar mac Cináeda, King of Munster and Lorcán mac Cellaig, King of Leinster, in 848.

Dawn Marie Hadley is a British historian and archaeologist, who is best known for her research on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age periods, the study of childhood, and gender in medieval England. She is a member of the Centre for Medieval Studies and the department of archaeology at the University of York.

References

  1. Jones, John, and Bewley, Tom, Balliol College Register, 1950–2000, 7th ed. (Oxford: Balliol College, 2005), p. 2
  2. "Professor Lesley Abrams", Balliol College, Oxford, as archived at the Internet Archive on 11 April 2016.
  3. "Recognition of Distinction: Successful Applicants 2015" Archived 2018-02-27 at the Wayback Machine , The University of Oxford Gazette, no. 510915, October 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  4. Cf. "Professor Lesley Abrams", University of Oxford History Faculty, as archived at the Internet Archive on 20 November 2016, and "Professor Lesley Abrams", Balliol College, Oxford, as archived at the Internet Archive on 11 April 2016.
  5. See, for instance, The Brazen Nose 2011–12 (Brasenose College), p. 14.
  6. "Fellowship directory", Society of Antiquaries of London. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  7. "Professor Lesley Abrams: Publications", University of Oxford History Faculty, as archived at the Internet Archive on 8 June 2016.
  8. "Professor Lesley Abrams", University of Oxford History Faculty. Retrieved 20 November 2016.