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Prof. Green Brings His Research Home to Harlaxton David Green after his Wednesday night presentation. (Photo by Emilee Shake) By Emilee Shake Harlaxton College Web Design Student Thursday, February 14, 2008   England could have been a much different place in the 14th century if the Black Prince had outlived his father and become king, Harlaxton College British Studies Professor David Green told about 50 people Wednesday night in the Great Hall. Green, who was the first in a series of Great Hall speakers this semester, was expounding on his new book, "Edward the Black Prince: Power in Medieval Europe." Green is the author of three books published in 2001, 2002, and the latest in 2007. He is also currently writing a book on the Hundred Years War for Yale University Press. Green began writing after just after he received his Ph.D. at Nottingham University. “The British system requires people to publish,” Green said. When asked about the impetus for his writings on the Black Prince, Green described it as being “fairly accidental.” He explained how, generally, the first book one writes is based off his or her dissertation. With Green, his first book, "The Black Prince," began as information that he used from his dissertation. Still intrigued by the history of the Black Prince, Green continued to research. In 2001 everything came together, and his first book was published. At Green’s presentation last night, he started by talking about a few questions that his book addresses: How different would England have been if Edward would have outlived his father, Edward II, to become king, and how did the prince earn his name and reputation? Green explained what was happening in the 14th century -- “the constant cycle of war, plague, and famine” -- and how that affected the time of The Black Prince. Many people from the community attended the presentation Wednesday night and applauded Green’s exposition and research. In addition to these books, Green recently had an article published in the Journal of British Studies, which is based at the University of Chicago. The name of the article is, “Lordship and Principality: Colonial Policy in Ireland and Aquitaine in the 1360s.” In a broad sense, this article discusses national identity, he said. The rest, Green describes as “specialist information, not totally general.” When asked the most important thing that an undergraduate student could learn from his article, Green advised students to take away the fact, “it can be quite dangerous to look at geographical areas in isolation. The boundaries we put on nations tend to be artificial.” Green said he has found it fruitful to combine his teaching with his research. "The article came out of teaching," he said. "It was through teaching a course on medieval Ireland when I first started seeing parallels. Ideally, teaching and research should be combined.”