Peter Anthony Linehan (11 July 1943 – 9 July 2020) was a British historian of

medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the History of Spain that began in the 5th Century following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the Early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves ...

. He was a fellow of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

, where he was Dean of Discipline, and a fellow of the British Academy.

Life

Linehan was born in Mortlake, London, the son of a brokerage clerk and a teacher, and attended St Benedict's School, Ealing. He first visited Spain in 1959. He joined St John's College in 1961 as an undergraduate to study History. He remained at St John's where he became a research fellow in 1966. He completed his PhD on "Reform and reaction: the Spanish kingdoms and the Papacy in the thirteenth century", under the supervision of Walter Ullmann. This won the Thirlwall Prize and Seeley medal for 1970-1, and formed the basis for his first book, "The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century" (1971). At St John's, Linehan served as a Tutor, Tutor for Graduate Affairs, Director of Studies in History three times, and Dean of Discipline for 11 years. Linehan was influenced by Walter Ullmann, Christopher Cheney, Raymond Carr, Geoffrey Barraclough, and his tutor Ronald Robinson. He became a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1971 and a corresponding member of the

Real Academia de la Historia The Real Academia de la Historia (RAH, 'Royal Academy of History') is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the diff ...

in 1996. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2002. In 2018, he was awarded an honorary degree from the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Personal life

He died in 2020 aged 76 from heart disease. He was survived by his wife Christine and their three children, Gabriel, Frances and Samuel.

Books

* The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century (1971) * Spanish Church and Society, 1150-1300 (1983) * Past and Present in Medieval Spain (1992) * History and the Historians of Medieval Spain (1993) * The Ladies of

Zamora Zamora may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe Spain * Zamora, Spain, a city in the autonomous community of Castilla y León * Province of Zamora, a province in the autonomous community of Castilla y León * Associated with the city and ...

(1997) * The Processes of Politics and the Rule of Law (2002) * The Mozarabic Cardinal: the life and times of Gonzalo Pérez Gudiel (2004, with Francisco J. Hernández) * Spain 1157–1300: a partible inheritance (2008) * St John's College, Cambridge: A History (2011) * Historical Memory and Clerical Activity in Medieval Spain and Portugal (2012) * Portugalia Pontificia: Materials for the history of Portugal and the Papacy 1198–1417 (2012) * At the Edge of Reformation: Iberia before the Black Death (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linehan, Peter 20th-century British historians Historians of Spain Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 21st-century British male writers British male non-fiction writers 20th-century British male writers 21st-century British historians 1943 births 2020 deaths British medievalists