Francesca Tinti is Ikerbasque Research Professor at the University of the Basque Country. She has published on the Anglo-Saxon church, on the earliest extant English cartularies and on the relationships between England and Rome in the early Middle Ages.

For this project, she has analysed charters produced at Worcester cathedral in the tenth century, demonstrating that language choice depended on several variables and did not simply reflect varying levels of literacy. Furthermore, in collaboration with Dr Roberts, she has undertaken a comparative analysis of eighth- and ninth-century charters issued in England and in the eastern Frankish regions to identify how draftsmen indicated the use of the vernacular. In spite of notable quantitative and qualitative differences, charters from both regions suggest comparable interrelationships between Latin and vernacular languages while attesting to a growing linguistic consciousness on the part of draftsmen.

Email: francesca.tinti@ehu.eus

Robert Gallagher joined LEMC as a postdoctoral researcher in 2015. For the project, he has embarked on four interconnected avenues of research, all of which focus primarily on Anglo-Saxon charters: (1) the earliest uses of Old English in charters; (2) the linguistic dynamics of documents issued on behalf of individuals other than kings; (3) with Professor Tinti, language choice and charter production at Worcester over the long tenth century; (4) with Dr Wiles, the endorsement practices in Anglo-Saxon documentary activity. Through this work, Robert has sought to stress the complex variables at play in language choice, and alongside the vernacular, the sustained importance of Latin to Anglo-Saxon documentary culture.

He is currently a lecturer in early medieval history at the University of Kent.

Email: r.d.gallagher@kent.ac.uk

In 2015-16, as part of the LEMC project, Edward Roberts studied uses of the vernacular (predominantly Old High German) in eastern Frankish charters from the Rhine-Main region (e.g. Fulda, Lorsch), Switzerland (St Gall) and Bavaria (e.g. Freising, Regensburg). Much of this investigation involved the analysis of boundary clauses and descriptions of property, which constitute the most substantial repository of vernacular language within the eastern Frankish documentary corpus. A study of the relationship between Latin and German in these boundary clauses has recently been published in the journal Historical Research. ​Additionally, Edward has researched how language choice was articulated in these charters and, with Prof. Tinti, has undertaken a comparative study of linguistic consciousness in Anglo-Saxon and eastern Frankish charters of the eighth and ninth centuries.​ 

He is now lecturer in early medieval history at the University of Kent (Canterbury).​

Email: e.c.roberts@kent.ac.uk

Kate Wiles received her PhD from the University of Leeds' Institute for Medieval Studies in 2014. Her thesis was a detailed study of the language and copying practices of a selection of charter scribes in eleventh-century Worcester. She joined the LEMC team as postdoctoral researcher in 2015. She is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London, and is Senior Editor of History Today magazine.

The focus of her work on this project is the corpus of Anglo-Saxon charters, particularly the development of the vernacular boundary clauses and the endorsements. She has co-authored a study with Dr Gallagher on the latter, for which she has investigated the linguistic aspects of the endorsements’ appearance and development, showing the variety of forms and functions the Anglo-Saxon endorsement might take.

Email: kate.wiles@sas.ac.uk