Michael Thomas Clanchy (28 November 1936 – 29 January 2021) was a British medievalist who was Professor Emeritus of

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

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hou ...

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 ...

and Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

Early life and education

Clanchy was born in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, in 1936, the son of Henry, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

captain from an Irish Catholic family, and Virginia, a New Zealander, and was educated at Ampleforth College. He went up to

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 ...

to read history, matriculating at

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...

in 1956 and taking a second class degree three years later. After two years teaching at Presentation College, Reading, Clanchy returned to Merton in 1961, and was awarded his DipEd the following year.

Career

Clanchy became a lecturer at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1964, and was well known for his books, such as ''From Memory to Written Record'' (1979; revised and expanded editions 1993 and 2013: a study of the triumph of literacy in medieval England), ''England and its Rulers 1066–1272'' (1983; revised editions 1998, 2006 and 2014), and ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' (1997). His interests primarily lay in law and government in the 12th and 13th centuries. He was Patron of the London Medieval Society. In 1985 he left Glasgow, and moved to London; he took up an honorary position at

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

and taught 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 ...

, whilst continuing his research independently. This led to the publication of ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' in 1997, on the strength of which he was elected as a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

in 1999. Clanchy appeared on '' In Our Time'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, firstly in 2005 regarding

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philos ...

and Héloïse d'Argenteuil, and secondly discussing

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

in May 2009. His work has been translated into a number of different languages, including French, German, Italian, and Norwegian.

Personal life

In 1963 Clanchy married Joan Milne, whom he had met whilst at University; they had a daughter,

Kate Kate may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American author o ...

, and a son.

Publications

* "The franchise of return of writs", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 5th ser., vol. 17 (1967) * "Did Henry III have a policy?", ''History'', vol. 53 (1968) * ''Civil Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249'' (1971) * ''The Roll and Writ File of the Berkshire Eyre of 1248'',

Selden Society The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its sphere ...

, vol. 90 (1973) * "Moderni in education and government in England", ''Speculum'' 58 (1975) * ''From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307'' (Oxford, 1979); 2nd ed. 1993; 3rd ed. 2013 * ''England and its Rulers, 1066–1272: Foreign Lordship and National Identity'' (London, 1983); 2nd ed. 1998; 3rd ed. 2006; 4th ed. 2014 * "Looking back to the invention of printing", in D. P. Resnick (ed.), ''Literacy in Historical Perspective'' (Library of Congress, D.C., 1983) * ''Ranulf Glanvill, Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie qui Glanvilla vocatur'', ed. and trans. G. Derek G. Hall with a guide to further reading by Michael T. Clanchy (Oxford, 1993) * "Learning to Read in the Middle Ages and the Role of Mothers," in ''Studies in the History of Reading'', ed. Greg Brooks and A. K. Pugh (Reading: Centre for Teaching of Reading, 1984), 33–39. * ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' (1997) * ed. ''Letters of Abelard and Heloise'' (2003) * "Law and theology in twelfth-century England: the works of Master Vacarius (c.1115/1120–c.1200)", ''Disputatio'', vol. 10 (2006) * "Did mothers teach their children to read?", in Lesley Smith & Conrad Leyser (eds), ''Motherhood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400–1400'' (2011) * "Was Abelard right to deny that he had written a Book of Sentences?" Part 2, Controversy and Exchange, in ''Rethinking Abelard: A Collection of Critical Essays'' (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 2014)

References

External links