Antonia Gransden (; 7 October 1928 – 18 January 2020), 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 species; as well as the ...

and

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, was Reader in

Medieval History In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. She was author of works in medieval

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

, including the massive two-volume study ''Historical Writing in England'', covering a thousand years of historical writing from the 6th to the 16th century. Work at the British Museum fuelled her fascination with

Bury St Edmunds Abbey The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine Monastery, monasteries in England, until its Dissolution of the Monasteries, dissolution in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suff ...

. She went on to edit the records of the abbey, resulting in a two-volume ''History of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds'', which she completed aged 86.

Life

Gransden was born Antonia Morland in Compton Dundon, Somerset. Her father was a director of Morlands clothing company in

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, Somerset. Educated at

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as ...

and

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, she gained a first class degree and studied for a PhD, which she went on to earn from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She spent a decade as assistant keeper in the British Museum reading room from 1952, before joining Nottingham University as an assistant lecturer in 1964. She married Ken Gransden in 1957 and the couple had two daughters. However, the marriage was dissolved in 1977. She retired from Nottingham University in 1989. Antonia Gransden was a long-standing member of the Labour Party, and an advocate for women's rights to education, equal pay and opportunities. She died from bronchopneumonia at a care home in

Keinton Mandeville Keinton Mandeville, commonly referred to as Keinton, is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on top of Combe Hill, west of Castle Cary. The village has a population of 1,215. It is located next to Barton St David. The villa ...

, Somerset, on 18 January 2020 at the age of 91. At the time of her death her "magisterial" two volumes on ''Historical Writing in England'' remained unsurpassed.

Select bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gransden, Antonia 1928 births 2020 deaths Academics of the University of Nottingham Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford English medievalists British women medievalists 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians English women historians Alumni of the University of London Deaths from pneumonia in England Deaths from bronchopneumonia