Alaric's research focuses on Britain and Scandinavia between around 500 and 1650 (particularly the early medieval period). Previously, his core work examined the relationships between societies, their beliefs in supernatural beings and powers, and the role of language and texts in the creation and transmission of those beliefs. Accordingly, his first monograph was entitled Elves in Anglo-Saxon England; it was based on his Ph.D., which is available here.

Working papers (any comments about these are welcome!): 'The Instability of Place-Names in Anglo-Saxon England and Early Medieval Wales, and the Loss of Roman Toponymy', intended for publication in an article collection. 'The evidence of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum for the replacement of Roman names by English ones during the Anglo-Saxon period', intended for publication in an article collection. 'Madness, Medication--and Self-Induced Hallucination? Elleborus (and Woody Nightshade) in Anglo-Saxon England, 700-900', intended for publication in due course in the second volume of plant-name studies by the Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey.

Alaric maintains a range of interests; the focus of his research over the next few years will depend partly on funding and the schedules of collaborators. His main trains of thought are:

• Morality and health: along with Markku Hokkanen and Jari Eilola, Alaric's beginning a joint monograph on how nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western clinical medicine defined itself in contradistinction to 'primitive' medieval and colonial traditions, and how in fact cultural links between morality and health in modern medicine and its imposition on colonial societies show a significant inheritance from earlier European traditions. Alaric's contribution focuses on the history and historiography of medieval Scandinavian and English charms, medicine and witchcraft.
  • Cf. book on elves (2007); article on orality (2008); special section in Asclepio on moral transgression (2009).
  
  
• Medieval Scandinavian romance (its cultural meanings, and its transmission): Alaric is translating some sagas; using computer-assisted stemmatology to reconstruct the transmission of several romance-sagas across a large number of manuscripts; and off the back of all this, studying a few sagas in depth from literary and cultural perspectives. So far, Alaric's been looking in particular at Sigurðar saga fóts, Sigurgarðs saga frækna, Nikulás saga leikara and Bærings saga fagra.
  • Cf. article on Branwen (2001); article on Heiðreks saga (2005); Alaric's Sigurgarður resources page.
  
  
• Language-shifts in pre-Viking Britain: Alaric explores the evidence of place-names for language-shifts, and how people went about public communication, examining what languages or language-varieties they used. His ongoing research here is partly under the auspices of the project Cultural Contacts and the Rate of Toponymic Change in Early Medieval Britain, which develops new approaches to estimating and interpreting the rates of place-name replacement in different language communities.
  • Cf. article on the instability of Anglo-Saxon and Welsh place-names (working paper); Article on language in Bede (2010); article on place-names in Bede (working paper); contribution to article by Fox (2007).
  • Related studies are: note on the etymology of Adel (2009); article on orality (2008); article on elves in place-names (2006); article on Old English diphthongs (2001).
  
  
• Alliums (leeks, garlic, onions, etc.) in the early medieval north-west: this is Alaric's current focus within the Anglo-Saxon Plant-Name Survey. The genus is an interesting one: early Germanic speakers were inclined to write runic inscriptions reading only laukaz ('leek'); leeks are prominent bases for metaphors in medieval Scandinavian poetry; alliums were key food-plants in early Ireland; and alliums appear widely in Old English medical texts. As well as being of intrinsic interest, this work connects with Alaric's interest in medicine and fertility.
  • Cf. working paper on Elleborus.
  
  
• Witchcraft in early modern Scotland: this is a sideline that Alaric visits for intellectual holidays. Great material, great period, and it's always nice to do research connected with countries where you've worked :-) At the moment, Alaric's working on early medieval antecedents for witchcraft beliefs attested in early modern Scotland.
  • Cf. article on elf-shot (2005); article on Stein Maltman (2006); article on eldritch (2007); book on elves (2007); short piece on fairies (2008).