Dr Andy King

Dr Andy King

History
School of Humanities
University of Southampton
Southampton
S017 1BJ

Position: Research Fellow

Research interests

Much of my research has centred on the gentry of Northumberland in the fourteenth century, and the impact of the Anglo-Scottish wars on Northumbrian political society. In particular, I am interested in how these wars affected the relationship between the ‘county community’ (if there was indeed any such thing) and the royal government based far away in the south at Westminster. I have also examined concepts of identity in late-medieval North-East England (an area of research perhaps not unconnected with the 2004 devolution referendum), various aspects of which I have explored in a number of articles, including a forthcoming essay co-authored with Prof. Tony Pollard, and in my contribution to the forthcoming volume of essays on Anglo-Scottish relations which I co-edited.

Much of this work stems from my work on the Scalacronica, a chronicle of British (but in fact, mostly English) history written by the Northumbrian knight Sir Thomas Gray in the mid-fourteenth century; and I have recently completed a new edition and translation of this work. As a rare example of a chronicle written by a layman who was himself involved in some of the events he describes, it provides an unparalleled insight into the attitudes, politics and worldview of a militarily active member of the English gentry. I am also interested in late medieval historiography, and contemporary perceptions of the past; and in the culture of chivalry and gentilesse, including its material manifestations – one of my latest pieces concerns castles as an aspect of gentry identity.

My current research centres on the AHRB funded collaborative project, ‘The Soldier in Late Medieval England’, headed by Prof. Anne Curry, on which I am employed as a Research Assistant. Taking a broadly prosopographical approach, the project will explore the careers of those who served under arms for the English Crown in the period 1369 to 1453, and whether they should be considered a professional soldiery.

Contact

Room: 2073
Email: a.king@soton.ac.uk


Publications

  • As editor (with Michael Penman), England and Scotland in the Fourteenth-Century: New Perspectives (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer – forthcoming).
  • (with A.J. Pollard), ‘“Northumbria” in the Later Middle Ages’, in A New History of Northumbria, ed. R. Colls and B. Lancaster – forthcoming.
  • ‘Fortresses and Fashion Statements; Gentry Castles in Fourteenth-Century Northumberland’, Journal of Medieval History – forthcoming.
  • (with Julia Marvin), ‘A Warning to the Incurious: M.R. James, the Scalacronica and the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut Chronicle’ – forthcoming.
  • Sir Thomas Gray: Scalacronica (1272-1363), Surtees Society 209 (2005).
  • ‘Scaling the Ladder: the Rise and Rise of the Grays of Heaton, c.1296-c.1415’, in North-East England in the Later Middle Ages, ed. C.D. Liddy and R.H. Britnell (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2005).
  • ‘Thomas of Lancaster’s First Quarrel with Edward II’, in Fourteenth-Century England III, ed. Mark Ormrod (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2004).
  • ‘“They have the Hertes of the People by North”: Northumberland, the Percies and Henry IV, 1399-1408’, in Henry IV: The Establishment of the Regime, 1399-1406, ed. G. Dodd and D. Biggs (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2003).
  • ‘Bandits, Robbers and Schavaldours: War and Disorder in Northumberland in the Reign of Edward II’, in Thirteenth-Century England IX, ed. M. Prestwich, R.H. Britnell and R. Frame (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2003).
  • ‘“According to the Custom Used in French and Scottish Wars”: Prisoners and Casualties on the Scottish Marches in the Fourteenth Century’, Journal of Medieval History, 28 (2002).
  • ‘“Pur Salvation du Roiaume”: Military Service and Obligation in Fourteenth-Century Northumberland’, in Fourteenth-Century England II, ed. C. Given-Wilson (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2002).
  • ‘Lordship, Castles and Locality: Thomas of Lancaster, Dunstanburgh Castle and the Lancastrian Affinity in Northumberland, 1296-1322’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th ser., 29 (2001).
  • ‘Jack le Irish and the Abduction of Lady Clifford, November 1315; The Heiress and the Irishman’, Northern History, 38 (2001).
  • ‘A Helm with a Crest of Gold: The Order of Chivalry in Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica’, in Fourteenth-Century England I, ed. N. Saul (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2000).
  • ‘Englishmen, Scots and Marchers: National and Local Identities in Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica’, Northern History, 36 (2000).

Publications from e–Prints Soton

King, Andy and Penman, Michael A. (eds.) (2007) England and Scotland in the fourteenth century: new perspectives, Woodbridge, UK, Boydell Press, 288pp.
King, Andy (ed.) (2005) Sir Thomas Gray: Scalacronica 1272-1363, Woodbridge, UK, Boydell Press for the Surtees Society, 352pp. (Publications of the Surtees Society, 209)
King, Andy (2005) Scaling the ladder: the rise and rise of the Grays of Heaton, c.1296-c.1415. In, Liddy, Christian D. and Britnell, Richard H. (eds.) North-East England in the Later Middle Ages. Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, USA, Boydell & Brewer, 57-73. (Regions and Regionalism in History, 3).
King, Andy (2003) 'They have the Hertes of the People by North': Northumberland, the Percies and Henry IV, 1399-1408. In, Dodd, Gwilym and Biggs, Douglas (eds.) Henry IV: The Establishment of the Regime, 1399-1406. Woodbridge, UK, York Medieval Press in association with Boydell Press, 139-159.
King, Andy (2003) Bandits, robbers and schavaldours: war and disorder in Northumberland in the reign of Edward II. In, Prestwich, Michael, Britnell, Richard and Frame, Robin (eds.) Thirteenth Century England IX. Proceedings of the Durham Conference, 2001. Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, NY, Boydell Press, 116-129. (Thirteenth Century England, 3).
King, A. (2002) ‘According to the custom used in French and Scottish wars’: prisoners and casualties on the Scottish Marches in the fourteenth century. Journal of Medieval History, 28, (3), 263-290. (doi:10.1016/S0048-721X(02)00057-X)
King, Andy (2002) 'Pur Salvation du Roiaume': military service and obligation in fourteenth-century Northumberland. In, Given-Wilson, Chris (ed.) Fourteenth Century England II. Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer, 13-32. (Fourteenth Century England, II).