Alaric Hall

Alaric Hall is an Associate Professor in the School of English at the University of Leeds, where he researches the Eurasian Middle Ages and Iceland from the Middle Ages to the present. He teaches across the full range of English Studies with expertise in Old and Middle English, Old and modern Icelandic, and medieval cultural history.

His educational background includes a PhD in English Literature from the University of Glasgow (2001-2004) on 'The Meanings of Elf and Elves in Medieval England,' published as 'Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity.' He also holds an MPhil in Medieval Studies from Glasgow Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and a BA in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Dr. Hall's research focuses on two main threads: comparative study of early medieval cultures across north-west Europe and the Semitic-speaking world (particularly examining riddles from an ecocritical perspective in Arabic, Hebrew, Old English, Old Norse, Latin, and Greek); and the manuscript transmission of medieval Icelandic sagas from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. His work uniquely bridges Germanic, Celtic, and Semitic linguistic traditions with particular expertise in Old English and Old Norse literature.

He has secured significant research funding including grants from Rannís, the Leverhulme Trust, and the British Academy for projects on Icelandic cultural responses to financial crisis and the transmission of medieval literature. Dr. Hall serves as Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at Leeds and co-edits Leeds Medieval Studies. He is also actively involved in the Leeds Green Party and regularly stands for election to Leeds City Council.