Early Life and Academic Career
Levi Roach studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he developed a deep interest in Anglo-Saxon England. He later completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Julia Barrow. His early academic work focused on royal charters and the administration of power in early medieval England, laying the foundation for his later research into kingship and statecraft.
Roach is currently a professor at the University of Exeter, where he teaches medieval history and continues his research into the complexities of pre-Norman England and continental Europe. His academic contributions have earned him fellowships with prominent institutions, including the Royal Historical Society.
Focus on Anglo-Saxon Kingship
Roach’s most acclaimed work centers on the nature of kingship in Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England. His 2016 book, Kingship and Consent in Anglo-Saxon England, 871–978: Assemblies and the State in the Early Middle Ages, explores how kings such as Alfred the Great and Edgar the Peaceful ruled not by autocracy alone, but through a sophisticated system of councils and assemblies. Roach argues that these rulers relied heavily on the consent of the nobility and religious leaders, highlighting the cooperative nature of early English monarchy.
This theme of “consensual kingship” challenges older narratives that painted early English kings as either tyrannical or weak. Roach’s work reveals a dynamic political culture where negotiation and legitimacy played vital roles in maintaining order and cohesion. shutdown123