Richard Alexander Fletcher (28 March 1944, in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, England – 28 February 2005, in Nunnington, England) 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 ...

who specialised in the

medieval 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 ...

period.

Early years

Richard Fletcher was the eldest child and only son of Alexander Kendal Humphrey Fletcher, a banker from

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, by his marriage to Monica Elizabeth Hastings Medhurst/Fletcher. His childhood home was at Wighill, near

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, north-east of Leeds and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the lowest road crossing-point o ...

. He attended, as a scholar,

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

and Worcester College, Oxford where he was taught by James Campbell and achieved a First Class Honours degree.

Professional career

In 1969, he was appointed as a lecturer at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

where he remained for the rest of his career, becoming professor of history in 1998. His first book, published in 1978 and based on his doctoral thesis, was entitled "The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century", which pointed the way for an academic career much of which would focus on medieval Spain. Fletcher was one of the outstanding talents in English and Spanish medieval scholarship.

Personal

Richard Fletcher married Rachel Mary Agnes Toynbee, herself a granddaughter both of another notable historian and of a British Liberal prime minister, in 1976. The marriage produced three children.

Select bibliography of Fletcher's publications

* ''The Quest for El Cid''. 1989, 1991. * ''Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England'', 1989 (first volume of ''Who's Who in British History'') * ''Moorish Spain''. 1992. * ''The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386AD'' London 1997 , as
The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity
' Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999. * * ''Christian-Muslim Understanding in the Later Middle Ages''. 2003. * ''The Cross and The Crescent: The Dramatic Story of the Earliest Encounters Between Christians and Muslims''. 2005.

Bibliography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Richard A. 1944 births 2005 deaths British medievalists People from York People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford 20th-century English historians 21st-century English historians Historians of the University of York Wolfson History Prize winners