Dr Patrick McAlary
Departmental and College Responsibilities
I am a Junior Research Fellow at Queens’ College, Cambridge and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Historical Research, University of London. I am also the co-convenor of the ASNC Research Seminar.
Alongside supporting on the MPhil Text Seminar, I have taught across the following papers on the ASNC Tripos:
- Part I Paper 1: England before the Norman Conquest
- Part I Paper 3: The Brittonic-Speaking Peoples from the Fourth Century to the Twelfth
- Part I Paper 4: The Gaelic-Speaking Peoples from the Fourth Century to the Twelfth
- Part I Paper 8: Medieval Irish Language and Literature
- Part II Paper 3: Sea Kings and the Celtic Speaking World, c. 1014–1164
- Part II Paper 3: Socio-Economic and Ecclesiastical Relations between Britain and Ireland in the Pre-Viking Era – Interaction and Exchange
I am also the Director of Studies for ASNC at Sidney Sussex and Christ's College.
I supervise on the following papers for the History Tripos:
- Outline Paper 1: Ancient and Medieval States and Societies over the First Millennium
Academic Interests
I am an historian of early medieval Ireland and Britain. I am particularly interested in ecclesiastical institutions and the roles that they played in intellectual, political and ecclesiastical history – I argue that study of these institutions provides an organising principle for understanding the fragmented histories of the early Insular world.
I am particularly interested in theorising the ecclesiastical institutions as actors within their own regional environments and seek to understand how they used literature about the saints that purportedly founded them as a tool for creating coherent institutional identities as well as a vehicle for inter-institutional discourse.
Further research interests include: institutional structures and processes (like succession); ecclesiastical conflict; the development of dynastic constituencies within ecclesiastical institutions; ecclesiastical-royal relationships; the Easter Controversy; hagiography and saints; chronicles; medieval Munster.
Apart from medieval history, I am also interested in the role played by parliament and ministers as well as policy, government and academic-policy interchange. I am a Researcher at the Institute for Government and I previously undertook a Fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology where I produced peer-reviewed work on Upskilling and Retraining the Adult Workforce. At Cambridge, I also worked as a Policy Research Coordinator at the Centre for Science and Policy and a Research Assistant at the Centre for Geopolitics.
Selected Publications
Selected Academic Publications
Editing
Book Reviews
Selected Publications on Ministers, Parliament and Policy