Lecturers > Rosamond McKitterick

Name
Prof. Rosamond McKitterick

College
Sidney Sussex College

What is your field of history?
Early medieval Europe.

How did you come to specialise in this area?
I encountered it as an undergraduate and was fascinated by how much uncertainty there was about it, and by the enormous variety of written and material evidence. I became particularly interested in the manuscript evidence, reading original documents written over 1200 years ago about which still so much was unknown.

What sort of source material do you tend to use, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
The principal written material takes the form of narrative sources and legal documents. The former is affected by every individual writer's training, occupation, motives, audience and interpretations and this makes them valuable as witnesses but dangerous too, because of the need to treat every account critically. The legal documents (charters recording legal transactions, laws, court records) are ostensibly more neutral but in fact need just as much critical attention and they are not necessarily representative of all classes of society.

Which individuals, events or forces are especially important in your area of history?
Many rulers, such as Charlemagne and his heirs. The development of the Frankish empire, the spread of Latin Christian culture.

How has your field developed over the course of your career?
The field has been particularly influenced by two other disciplines: anthropology and literary criticism. These have directed historians' attention to interpretation both of actions and rituals as well as social relations and behaviour within society to a far greater extent, and to far more sophisticated, critical and nuanced readings of the surviving texts.

Which areas of your field most urgently need further exploration?
The whole of the early middle ages is still in sore need of more work: so much remains to be done, and many texts have not yet been studied. The later ninth and the tenth century has been very neglected, and many aspects of religious and cultural life, as well as how law worked in practice need to be explored further.

What characterises good history?
Fidelity to the evidence; critical appraisal of the evidence. Respect for the existing scholarship and historiography and constructive new interpretations which build on the older literature in the field, coherent and logical argument. Sympathetic engagement with the subject matter and with the men and women of the past, but not so much that emotion could distort judgement.

How did your understanding of history change during your time as a university student?
I turned increasingly to the original sources, manuscript sources even of the primary sources I could read in print. I learnt that earlier periods were invigorating intellectually and presented fascinating puzzles because one could consider them from every perspective. Thus, political, cultural, religious, intellectual, social and economic issues were all relevant and needed to be taken into account.

Where should somebody interested in your area of history go for further information?
McKitterick, Short Oxford History of Europe: The Early Middle Ages and my Atlas of the Medieval World (the latter full of lovely pictures and maps) would be two possible places to start. There is also a good medieval sources website with sources in translation.