Peter David Partner (15 July 1924 – 17 January 2015) was a British historian, particularly of medieval Rome and the Middle East.

Life

Peter Partner was born 15 July 1924 to David and Bertha Partridge Partner in Little Heath, Hertfordshire. His father was with the Metropolitan Police and his mother ran a café in Barnet. During World War II, he served on minesweepers. After the war, he attended

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

to read law, but switched to history. In 1953, he married Leila May Fadil (d. 1990), niece of historian Albert Hourani. Partner worked as a journalist for many years with ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', writing the lead article the first week of the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. He also wrote for ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' and broadcast frequently for the BBC on Arab topics. In 1955, Partner accepted a position to teach history at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, where he remained for thirty years. Partner wrote a number of reviews for ''The New York Review of Books'', as well as articles for ''History Today'', and the ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History''.Partner, Peter. "Camera Papae: Problems of Papal finance in the Later Middle Ages", ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'', 1958, pp. 55-68 He died on 17 January 2015 at the age of 90.

Works

Partner was a historian of medieval and Renaissance Rome, as well as the Middle East, and was known for his studies of papal administration and diplomacy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. * ''The Papal State Under Martin V: The Administration and Government of the Temporal Power in the Early Fifteenth Century'' (British School at Rome, 1958) * ''A Short Political Guide to the Arab World'' (Pall Mall, 1960) * ''The Lands of St. Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance'' (Eyre Methuen, 1972) * ''Renaissance Rome 1500-1559: A Portrait of a Society'' (University of California Press, 1976) * ''The Murdered Magicians: The Templars and their Myth'' (Oxford University Press, 1982) * ''Arab Voices: The BBC Arabic Service 1938-1988'' (BBC, 1988) * ''The Pope's Men: The Papal Civil Service in the Renaissance'' (Clarendon Press, 1990) * ''God of Battles: Holy Wars of Christianity and Islam'' (HarperCollins, 1997) * ''Two Thousand Years of Christianity'' (Andre Deutsch, 1999); 2 vols. ''The First Millennium'' and ''The Second Millennium'' * ''The Story of Christianity'' (Andre Deutsch, 2005)

References

1924 births 2015 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford English historians People from Potters Bar Teachers at Winchester College {{England-historian-stub