The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages

James Palmer undertook a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Nottingham in 2006-7 (on Time and Power in the Early Medieval West). In 2007 he was appointed Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews, where he has taught widely on the Middle Ages, including a course on Medieval Apocalyptic Traditions. His well-reviewed first book on Carolingian hagiography, Anglo-Saxons in a Frankish World, 690-900, was published in 2009. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society the following year. In 2011-12 James held a much-sought-after ARHC Fellowship, which allowed him to complete his research for The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages. He was a founding editor of The Medieval Journal, an international forum for interdisciplinary medieval studies. He is also a member of the Medieval Academy of America and the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists.

• Introduction: how the world ends; 1. The end of civilisation: c.AD 380–c.AD 575; 2. The new urgency: c.AD 550–c.AD 604; 3. The ends of time and space: c.AD 600–c.AD 735; 4. Pseudo-Methodius and the problem of evil: c.AD 680–c.AD 800; 5. Charlemagne, Pater Europae: c.AD 750–c.AD 820; 6. A golden age in danger c.AD 820–c.AD 911; 7. The year 1000 and other apocalypticisms: c.AD 911–c.AD 1033; The end: c.AD 400–c.AD 1033; Select bibliography; Index of manuscript references; General index.

'This is an exceptional book. Palmer offers a synthesis where none currently exists, moving the study of apocalypticism away from modern historiographical polemic and into a space that helps us understand the Early Middle Ages as a whole.' Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech