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D. L. d'Avray is Professor Emeritus of History at University College London and a Supernumerary Fellow of Jesus College Oxford. He has published widely on medieval preaching, death and kingship, marriage, rationalities, and the papacy. He has published ten books, the last six with Cambridge, including most recently Papal Jurisprudence, 385–1234: Social Origins and Medieval Reception of Canon Law (2022). He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2005 and Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America since 2016.
'The work is equally useful and stimulating for learners as a textbook and for researchers, and thus fully meets its requirements. The consistent pursuit of a thesis sets it apart from other, more thematically oriented handbooks and offers a central thread that the reader can follow, while at the same time being encouraged to critically reconstruct the methodological steps. This makes it highly recommended for both beginners and experienced scientists.' Aaron Schwarz, Francia-Recensio 'The work is equally useful to and stimulating for students as a textbook, and for researchers, and thus it entirely delivers on what it promises. The rigorous development of a thesis marks it out from other handbooks which are instead thematically structured, and provides readers [switching to plural to avoid 'he or she'] with a red thread which they can follow, while they are at the same time encouraged critically to analyse the procedures of the method employed. Thus it is strongly to be recommended both to beginners and to experienced experts in the field.' Aaron Schwarz, Francia-Recensio 'The book's detailed description of many kinds of documents and how they were prepared is immensely valuable. D'Avray's work is both synthesis and original argumentation. I think its biggest take-away is that one way or another the system was always remarkably creative, flexible and adaptive.' Thomas.F. X. Noble, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
