Colin F. Richmond (born 1937) is a British historian of late medieval England. After degrees from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

and the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, he spent his entire career teaching at

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

, rising to become Professor of Medieval History.

Early life and education

Richmond studied at

Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is a mixed sex education#UK, mixed-sex grammar school with Academy (English school), academy status located in Hurst Road (A222 road, A222), Sidcup in the London Borough of Bexley, England. It is located a ...

before receiving his undergraduate degree from the

in 1959. He then began graduate study at the

under the supervision of

K.B. McFarlane Kenneth Bruce McFarlane, FBA (18 October 1903 – 16 July 1966) was one of the 20th century's most influential historians of late medieval England. Life McFarlane was born on 18 October 1903, the only child of A. McFarlane, OBE. His father was ...

. In 1963, he was awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(DPhil) degree for a thesis entitled "Royal Administration and the Keeping of the Seas, 1422-1485".

Academic career

After completing his doctorate, Richmond took up a teaching post at

, where he spent the remainder of his career. He was appointed Professor of Medieval History in 1993. He retired from full-time academia in 1997, and was appointed

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, 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". ...

. He has published a number of monographs, scholarly articles and book chapters on medieval history and the Holocaust, notable for their maverick style.Michael Rines, "A Medieval Historian and Holocaust Authority", ''The Woodbridge Society Newsletter'', Spring 2011, 9-10
/ref> He has also published a range of spoof articles in legitimate academic journals, collected in ''The Penket Papers and Other Stories'' (1986) and ''Fabrications: The Adventures of Anthony Woodville'', 2 vols. (self-published, 2016). In 2005, he was the recipient of 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 ...

edited by Margaret Aston and Rosemary Horrox, entitled ''Much Heaving and Shoving: Late-Medieval Gentry and their Concerns: Essays for Colin Richmond''.

Notable Quotations

* "The analytical spirit obstructs enjoyment" (''The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase'', p. ix)

Selected works

* ''

John Hopton John Hopton (died 1558) was the last Roman Catholic Bishop of Norwich. He was a member of the Dominican Order by 1516, in Oxford. He was educated at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he took a doctorate in theology. During the reign of ...

: A Fifteenth Century Suffolk Gentleman'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). * ''The Penket Papers and Other Stories'' (Gloucester: Sutton, 1986). * ''The

Paston Family The ''Paston Letters'' are a collection of correspondence between members of the Paston family of Norfolk gentry and others connected with them in England between the years 1422 and 1509. The collection also includes state papers and other impo ...

in the Fifteenth Century: The First Phase'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). * ''The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: Fastolf's Will'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). * ''The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century: Endings'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001). *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Colin Date of birth missing (living people) British historians British medievalists People educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School Alumni of the University of Leicester Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of Keele University 1937 births Living people