Professor Francis Leneghan

Professor Francis Leneghan

Professor of Old English 

Fellow  |  Dean of Degrees

Research
Francis is Professor of Old English at the Faculty of English. Before coming to Oxford in 2008, he taught medieval English at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. He is interested in all aspects of Old English literature, especially heroic poetry, the reception of the Bible and writing associated with King Alfred.  He is currently working on a project on Old English prose, funded by a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship (2023–24) and an AHRC Research, Development and Engagement Fellowship (2024–26).

He is the author of The Dynastic Drama of ‘Beowulf’ (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2020) and co-editor of The Age of Alfred: Rethinking English Literary Culture c. 850–950 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024), Ideas of the World in Early Medieval English Literature (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022) and The Psalms and Medieval English Literature: From the Conversion to the Reformation (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2017).