My research focuses on culture and religion c. 400-900. I am particularly interested in the movement of ideas and people across different cultural worlds – across Eurasia and Africa – and the consequences of the exchanges involved.

My earliest work focus on saints and hagiography and resulted in two books: Anglo-Saxons in a Frankish World (2009) and Early Medieval Hagiography (2018). I have also researched apocalyptic beliefs, leading to the books The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages (2014]) and the volume Apocalypse and Reform from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages (2018, co-edited with Matt Gabriele). I am presently working on a project on early medieval science, medicine and belief, particularly with the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine (with Claire Burridge, Jeff Doolitte, Meg Leja and Carine van Rhijn).

My latest book is Merovingian Worlds (2024). I am completing my first trade book The Carolingians (for 2026).

Early medieval religion, culture, sciences, global histories.

I was born in Nottingham and studied in Sheffield (BA and PhD) and Cambridge (MPhil). I held posts at the universities of Leicester and Nottingham, before moving to St Andrews in 2007. I was a cross-faculty pro dean for research postgraduates 2014-18 and I have been a full professor since 2018.