Barbara Yorke
FRHistS
The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...
FSA (born 1951, Barbara Anne Elizabeth Troubridge)
is a historian of
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, specialising in many subtopics, including
19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently
emeritus professor
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
of early Medieval history at the
University of Winchester
The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005.
Winchester University ...
, and is a fellow of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...
. She is an honorary professor of the Institute of Archaeology at
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
.
Biography
Barbara Yorke, then Troubridge, attended
Horsham High School for Girls.
She studied history and archaeology at
Exeter University
The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School o ...
, where she studied for both her undergraduate degree (1969–1972) and her Ph.D.
At Exeter she studied with
Professor Frank Barlow for medieval history classes, and
Lady Aileen Fox for archaeology classes. Archaeologist Ann Hamlin and historian Mary Anne O'Donovan influenced Yorke's interest in the early Christian church.
Yorke started postgraduate study in 1973, supervised by Barlow and the early modern historian Professor Ivan Roots. Her thesis, “Anglo-Saxon Kingship in Practice 400–899”, was examined in 1978 by
Henry Loyn, and the work "broke new ground in its consideration of the historical development of royal genealogies as well as opening up new lines of enquiry in the study of often fragmentary, laconic sources".
Her first academic appointment was at King Alfred’s College (now the University of Winchester) in 1977, while she was writing up her Ph.D.
Yorke was appointed as Reader in 1993 and Professor of Early Medieval History in 2001, making her one of the 1,700 women to hold the position of professor out of 11,000 UK professors at the time.
Yorke presented "King Alfred and the traditions of Anglo-Saxon kingship" at the 2011
Toller Lecture.
A conference ''Saints, Rulers and Landscapes in Early Medieval Wessex'' was held in honour of Yorke's retirement at the Wessex Centre for History & Archaeology at the University of Winchester in September 2014.
Some of the papers were published along with additional material as a
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
, ''The Land of the English Kin'', edited by Ryan Lavelle and Alexander Langlands, both former students of Yorke.
Scholarship
Yorke has made important contributions to the post-medieval reception of the Middle Ages, otherwise known as '
medievalism
Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages of Europe, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and variou ...
', especially concerning how the reputation and public image of King Alfred has developed from the post-Conquest period, through the Victorian era, to the present – a phenomenon she terms 'Alfredism'.
Appointments
Yorke has held several high-profile academic appointments including
* Vice-President of the Royal Archaeological Institute
* Board of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
* Council of the Society of Antiquaries
* Member of the Fabric Advisory Committee to Winchester Cathedral
Selected publications
*''Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England''. London, Seaby, 1990.
*''Wessex in the Early Middle Ages''. Continuum International, 1995.
*''Bishop Aethelwold: His Career and Influence''. The Boydell Press, 1997.
*''The Anglo-Saxons''. Sutton, 1999.
*''The Millenary Celebrations of King Alfred in Winchester 1901''. Hampshire Papers 17 (Winchester, 1999)
*''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses''. Continuum International, 2003.
*“Alfredism: The Use and Abuse of King Alfred’s Reputation in Later Centuries,” in ''Alfred the Great. Papers from the Eleventh-Centenary Conferences'', ed. Timothy Reuter (Aldershot, 2003), pp. 361–80
*''The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain, 600–800''. Longman, 2006.
*“The ‘Old North’ From the Saxon South in Ninteteenth-Century Britain,” in ''Anglo-Saxons and the North'', ed. Matti Kilpiö, Leena Kahlas-Tarkka, Jane Roberts, and Olga Timofeeva (Tempe, AZ, 2009), pp. 131–50.
References
External links
Staff page at the University of WinchesterInterview with Professor Emerita Barbara Yorke, Part 1.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yorke, Barbara
1951 births
Living people
Academics of the University of Winchester
Alumni of the University of Exeter
Anglo-Saxon studies scholars
British women medievalists
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Historians of monarchy and royalty
20th-century English historians
20th-century British women writers
21st-century British women writers
21st-century English historians