Michael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, specialising on the history of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

England, in particular the reign of Edward I. He is retired, having been

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

at Durham University and Head of the Department of History until 2007.

Early life

Prestwich is the son of two

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

historians, John Prestwich and Menna Prestwich. His father, "the redoubtable mediaevalist ... who knew so much and published so little", had worked at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

during the war, working among other things on the breaking of

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

codes. Michael was educated at the

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

, and then went to a well-known public school

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey Londo ...

, before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. After being awarded an MA and First in History, he completed his D.Phil. with a thesis entitled ''Edward I's wars and their financing 1294-1307'' at Christ Church, Oxford.

Academic career

After a year as a lecturer at Christ Church, Michael moved in 1969 to St Andrews where he stayed for ten years before moving to

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

as a

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

. He soon became

, and has been head of the department for two spells. For seven years in the 1990s he was Pro Vice-Chancellor, with a wide brief which even extended to health and safety. He was chairman of the trustees of the Durham Union Society until 2013. He twice chaired the History panel for the

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British hig ...

, in 1996 and 2001. Prestwich has provided support and encouragement to other historians, in particular

Ann Hyland Ann Hyland is a writer and historian who specialises in equestrianism and the development of horses. She is also a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary.StaffConsultants, advisers, and contributors Oxford English Dictionary Ann Hyland ...

, who recognised his assistance in her work on medieval warhorses. Prestwich wrote the foreword for both of her books on the subject. On his retirement, he was presented with a festschrift, ''War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles c.1150-1500'', edited by Chris Given-Wilson, Ann Kettle and Len Scales. Prestwich was appointed OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.

Personal life

He is married to fellow Oxford-educated historian Maggie Prestwich, who recently retired as Senior Tutor at Trevelyan College,

. He lives in Western Hill in

, and has a dog and three grown-up children. He retired in 2008.

Select publications

*''War, Politics and Finance under Edward I'' (1972), *''The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1377'' (1980), *''Edward I'' (1988), *''English Politics in the Thirteenth Century '' (1990), *''Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: the English Experience'' (1996), *''Plantagenet England, 1225-1360'' (2005), *''Knight'' (2010),

Contributions

*Editor of a collection of his father's essays: ::J.O. Prestwich, ''The Place of War in English History, 1066-1214'' (2004) Woodbridge: Boydell Press * Edward Mirzoeff (2015) The sea of peril. ''The Oldie'' 322, June 2015, p. 30.

Notes

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prestwich, Michael 1943 births English historians British medievalists Living people Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Academics of the University of St Andrews Academics of Durham University British military historians Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford