Dr. Alan Thacker and Professor Derek Keene
'The Anglo-Saxon Church in Politics and Society: bishops, church councils and minsters'

Benedict read history at Cambridge (Girton) 1999-2002, concentrating on the transformation of the Roman world and early medieval period, his supervisors including David Dumville, David Pratt, Rosamond McKitterick and Simon MacLean. In 2002-3 he studied for an MPhil in medieval history, also at Cambridge, under Rosamond McKitterick. As part of the course he wrote a 5,000 word short essay, 'The Codex Carolinus in its historical context' on a key collection of letters between Frankish kings and the papacy in the later eighth century. His dissertation, 'The Church and Royal Government in Frankish Gaul and Anglo-Saxon England, 600-800' compared and contrasted the relationship between secular and ecclesiastical power and potentates in two apparently different worlds, Gaul heavily Romanised and centralised while England's kingdoms were still evolving. Benedict was awarded his MPhil with distinction.

In 2004 Benedict joined the civil service and moved to London, where he continued research into the Anglo-Saxon church. This was formalised in October 2006 when he officially began work on a part-time PhD on 'The Anglo-Saxon Church in Politics and Society: bishops, church councils and minsters'. Drawing on his dissertation on the earlier period, this thesis aims to explore systems and relationships of power from conversion in the sixth century to the Norman Conquest. Benedict's research is carried out while working full-time and he is particularly grateful to the early medieval seminar at the IHR for the support, stimulation and challenge it provides.