Matthew Innes has published widely on the history of Europe in the late antique and early medieval periods, that is from the fifth to the eleventh centuries CE. Geographically, his research has focused on north-western Europe, especially the Frankish kingdoms in modern France, Germany and the Low Countries, but is also encompasses the western Mediterranean, Britain, Scandinavia and east-central Europe. Published work has concentrated on two major issues. A series of articles and chapters have explored the ‘uses of the past’, that is the process whereby understandings of the past were reshaped so as to explain or interpret the present. Another strand of work has studied on the social relationships between aristocratic and ecclesiastical elitMatthew Innes has published widely on the history of Europe in the late antique and early medieval periods, that is from the fifth to the eleventh centuries CE. Geographically, his research has focused on north-western Europe, especially the Frankish kingdoms in modern France, Germany and the Low Countries, but is also encompasses the western Mediterranean, Britain, Scandinavia and east-central Europe. Published work has concentrated on two major issues. A series of articles and chapters have explored the ‘uses of the past’, that is the process whereby understandings of the past were reshaped so as to explain or interpret the present. Another strand of work has studied on the social relationships between aristocratic and ecclesiastical elites, royal courts and peasant communities, which determined cultural, economic and political dynamics; the resulting reinterpretation of the processes of ‘state-formation’ in post-Roman Europe has been a focus of international debate....more