Richard Hugh Britnell (21 April 1944, in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

– 17 December 2013"It is with regret that we announce the death of Richard Britnell on Tuesday 17 December 2013"
Durham University website; retrieved 20 December 2013.) was Professor (later Professor Emeritus) of the Department of History,

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

. An economic historian, his work demonstrated that "commerce played an essential part in medieval life". His obituary in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' stated that "Not many academics can be said to have moved the boundaries of their subject, yet no one meeting Richard encountered any pretension or flamboyance". He was a prolific author.

Career

Britnell was born on 21 April 1944, the son of Ronald Britnell and Edith (née Mason), both of whom were teachers. He was educated at

Bedford Modern School Bedford Modern School (often called BMS) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in The Harpur Trust, born from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the s ...

''School of the Black and Red'', by A.G. Underwood (1981); updated 2010. P.284 and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

. After

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, Britnell was appointed a lecturer at Durham University, initially in the economic history department. He later moved to the history department where he was made a professor in 1997 although forced to take early retirement in 2003 due to ill health. However, he continued to work as emeritus professor and continued to publish work and be involved in the life of the university and the city. Britnell's academic work dealt with medieval economic history, a field in which he was regarded as a pioneer. He was a prolific author and in 2005 was elected Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy 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 same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

. His obituary in ''

'' stated that "Not many academics can be said to have moved the boundaries of their subject, yet no one meeting Richard encountered any pretension or flamboyance".

Family life

In 1973, Britnell married Jenny, a lecturer in French at Durham University; they had two sons. Britnell died on 17 December 2013.

Selected publications

* "Bureaucracy and literacy" in Lansing, C. and English, E.D. (eds.), ''A companion to the medieval world''. Chichester:

Wiley-Blackwell Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...

, pp. 413–434; . * "The Commercialisation of English Society, 1000-1500". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. . * (ed., with

A. J. Pollard Anthony James Pollard (born 1941) is a British medieval historian, specialising in north-eastern England during the Wars of the Roses. He is considered a leading authority on the field. He is emeritus professor of the University of Teesside. In ad ...

) ''The McFarlane Legacy: Studies in Late-Medieval Politics and Society''. Stroud: Sutton (1995) . * "Markets, Trade and Economic Development in England and Europe, 1050-1550". Ashgate, 2009..

References

External links

Richard Britnell's personal webpage
Academics of Durham University People educated at Bedford Modern School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British historians Economic historians 1944 births 2013 deaths Fellows of the British Academy People from Wrexham Place of death missing Surtees Society {{UK-historian-stub