Denys Hay (29 August 1915 – 14 June 1994) was a British

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 ...

specialising in medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Europe, and notable for demonstrating the influence of Italy on events in the rest of the continent.

Life

He was born in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

on 29 August 1915 the son of Rev W. K. Hay and his wife, Janet Waugh. He was educated at the Newcastle Royal Grammar School then won a place at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a 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 second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served from 1940 in the RASC, and was then seconded to the Cabinet Office as one of the team of war historians set up at the instigation of Winston Churchill. With MM Postan and JD Scott, he contributed to the volume on The Design and Development of Weapons (HMSO 1964). He lectured in Modern History at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

from 1946 until 1954, then becoming Professor of Medieval and Renaissance HistoryCollins, Roger and Goodman, Anthony. ''Medieval Spain: culture, conflict, and coexistence'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2002
at Google Books until he retired in 1980. He was also Vice-Principal of the university from 1971 - 75. He is remembered with the "Denys Hay Seminar" there. On retirement, he was visiting professor at the University of Virginia, and then Professor of History at the European University Institute in Florence. He was Editor of the English Historical Review from 1959 - 1967, President of the Historical Association from 1967 - 70, President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (1979–80). He was the general editor for the ''Longman History of Italy'', as well as the distinguished series ''A General History of Europe'' also published by

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 14 June 1994.

Family

In 1937, he married Sarah Gwyneth Morley. They had one son and two daughters.

Books

* ''The Anglica historia of Polydore Vergil, AD 1485-1537'', editor (1950) * ''Polydore Vergil: Renaissance Historian and Man of Letters'' (

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1952) * ''From Roman Empire to Renaissance Europe'' (1953); revised as ''The Medieval Centuries'' (1964) * ''Europe: The Emergence of an Idea'' (

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

, 1957) * '' New Cambridge Modern History'', volume 1, editor (1957) * ''The Italian Renaissance in its Historical Background'' (1961; 1977) * ''Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries'' (A General History of Europe, Longman, 1966; 2nd ed 1989) * ''The Age of the Renaissance'', editor (

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 1967; 2nd ed 1986) * ''Italian Clergy and Italian Culture in the Fifteenth Century'' (1973) * ''Annalists and Historians: Western Historiography from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Centuries'' (1977) * ''Renaissance Essays'' (1988) * ''Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1380-1530'' (Longman History of Italy, Longman, 1989)

References

External links

Memoir (PDF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Denys 1915 births 1994 deaths 20th-century British historians Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society Historians of the Renaissance History journal editors