Church is an expert in Medieval History, specifically the 12th Century and works at the University of East Anglia School of History department which he joined in 1995 after completing his postgraduate work in London. Preceding this Stephen had worked in several trades including a bank clerk; a labourer; a buyer of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, and a housing liaison officer for Camden Council. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is also a trustee of the Allen Brown Memorial Trust, where he organises the R. Allen Brown Memorial Lecture that is given at the opening of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies. The Trust also gives conference bursaries for postgraduate students and sponsors sessions at other conferences and a postgraduate reading group. Since 1994 he has written several articles and books on Medieval History, and is a regular conference organiser and speaker on the subject of King John. Stephen has been regularly acknowledged as strong support to fellow Historians in their writing and has lectured in Europe on the subject of the Plantagenet Empire. In 2010 he co-lead with Professor Elisabeth Tyler two reading groups which aimed to read Orderic Vitalis's Historica ecclesiasticafrom start to finish and reflect on its content. In 2015 he appeared on Saturday Extra on Australian station ABC Radio with Nicholas Cowdery to discuss why does Magna Carta still matter, and co-presented the BBC programme The Last Journey of the Magna Carta King, part of the BBC Taking Liberties season, with archaeologist Dr Ben Robinson.
Books
2017 – Henry III: A Simple and God-Fearing King
2015 – King John: England, Magna Carta, and the Making of a Tyrant
2001 – The Pakenham Cartulary for the Manor of Ixworth Thorpe, Suffolk, c.1250-c.1320
1999 – The Household Knights of King John
1994 – Medieval Knighthood V
Selected Published Articles
2017 – Political Discourse at the Court of Henry II and the Making of the New Kingdom of Ireland: The Evidence of John’s Title dominus Hibernie – History pg.808–823 ISSN 0018-2648
2016 – Stephen: The Reign of Anarchy. By Carl Watkins. Penguin Monarchs Series. Allen Lane – History pg.772–773 ISSN 0018-2648
2010 – King John’s Testament and the Last Days of his Reign – English Historical Review pg.505–528 ISSN 1477-4534
2009 – The care of the royal tombs in English cathedrals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the case of the effigy of King John at Worcester – The Antiquaries Journal ISSN 1758-5309
2008 – Paganism in conversion age Anglo Saxon England: the evidence of Bede's Ecclesiastical History reconsidered – History pg.162–180 ISSN 1468-229X
2007 – Aspects of the royal itinerary in twelfth-century England – Thirteenth Century England pg.31–45 ISSN 0269-6967
1995 – The rewards of royal service in the household of King John: a dissenting opinion – English Historical Review pg.277–302 ISSN 1477-4534
1994 – The earliest English muster roll, 18/19 December 1215 – Historical Research pg.1–17 ISSN 1468-2281
