"The past does not explain the present — it interrogates it."
About
Roland Harwicke was appointed Regius Professor of History at Aldenmoor in 2009, the youngest scholar to hold the post in the University’s history. He read History at Aldenmoor as an undergraduate, completed his doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dame Eleanor Pryce, and spent four years as a Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford before returning to Aldenmoor as a University Lecturer.
His research spans the political and intellectual history of medieval England, with particular attention to the relationships between legal authority, theological argument, and popular sovereignty. He is the author of five monographs, including the highly regarded The Conscience of the Crown: Law and Legitimacy in Plantagenet England (Cambridge University Press, 2014), which was awarded the Whitfield Prize and the Royal Historical Society’s Gladstone Memorial Prize.
Teaching and supervision
Professor Harwicke teaches the core first-year History module “Power and Authority in Medieval Europe” and a specialist third-year seminar on “The Limits of Royal Prerogative, 1200–1400.” He currently supervises eight doctoral students working on topics ranging from Magna Carta’s afterlife in colonial legal systems to the political theology of the Lollard movement.
Research Interests
- Medieval History
- Political Thought
- Fellow of the British Academy
