British Academy Global professor boosts UEA history research
By: Communications
(Photo credit: Philip Benjamin)
An Anglo-German collaboration researching the history of the only Englishman to have been elected King of Germany has been boosted by further funding and a British Academy Global professorship.
Prof Joerg Peltzer, of Heidelberg University in Germany, is hosted by the University of East Anglia (UEA), in collaboration with Prof Nicholas Vincent, for a British Academy Global Professorship (2021−2025).
Their project, supported by grants totalling £850,000, examines the roots of the power exercised by Richard of Cornwall (1209 – 1272), younger son of King John, and in his time the only Englishman to have been elected King of Germany.
A major figure in European politics, Richard claimed to rule in the 1220s as count of Poitou in south western France. In the 1240s, he led a crusade to the Holy Land. In 1257, he was elected ‘King of the Romans’, laying claim to the office of Holy Roman Emperor and commanding castles and administrative authority throughout the Rhineland. In England, parts of his estate later came to form the so-called ‘Duchy of Cornwall’, itself still a major source of revenue to the crown and presently held by Prince William, son of King Charles III.
The project helps rebuild a direct collaboration between the UK and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, based in Munich, which is one of the world’s leading centres for the edition of medieval texts.
As well as a new biography of Richard, Prof Peltzer and Prof Vincent, and their research assistant Dr Adrian Jobson, will also produce editions of the letters issued for Richard’s Anglo-French estate and the book of charters known as the Earldom of Cornwall Cartulary.
Prof Peltzer said: "It is a great delight to be part of this prestigious venture, and to work in close collaboration with UEA's world-renowned team of medievalists.”
Supported by the UK Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, the Global Professorships programme is a flagship initiative within the British Academy’s international research portfolio, aiming to attract leading scholars from around the world to UK universities.
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