Roberto Sabatino Lopez (October 8, 1910 – July 6, 1986) was an Italian-born American historian of medieval European economic history. He taught for many years at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

as a

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

of History.

Early life and education

Roberto Sabatino Lopez was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Italy. His family were

Sephardi Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

. He received a doctorate from the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

in 1932 and taught

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 various universities, serving at one point as Chair of History at the

University of Genoa The University of Genoa () is a public research university. It is one of the largest universities in Italy and it is located in the city of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. The original university was fou ...

. Lopez fled

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

's regime for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1939, where he came under the influence of

Cecil Roth Cecil Roth (5 March 1899 – 21 June 1970) was an English historian. He was editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. Life Roth was born in Dalston, London, on 5 March 1899. His parents were Etty and Joseph Roth, and Cecil was the younge ...

. Robert L. Reynolds, a friend of Lopez, informed him that an American Ph.D. was necessary to find tenure at an American university, and through the influence of Reynolds, Lopez enrolled in the graduate history program at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. Here he gained a Ph.D. in 1942.

Early work in the United States

From 1942 to 1944 Lopez worked for

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

and in the Italian section of the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

in New York City. There he met his future wife, Claude-Anne Kirschen, a wartime refugee from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

who had come to New York with her family in 1940. He afterward maintained that his successful courtship of her was his supreme wartime accomplishment.

Marriage and family

Lopez married Claude-Anne Kirschen, a Jewish refugee from Belgium, in 1946. They had two sons, Michael and Lawrence, after moving to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

. The children were raised in the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

faith.

Academic career

In 1946, Lopez was hired as an assistant professor at

. He rose through the academic ranks to full professor. He was honored by selection as a

of History, a recognition of his academic contributions. Lopez was one of the first Jews appointed at Yale University. At Yale, in 1962 Lopez founded the interdisciplinary graduate program in Medieval Studies, and served as its chairman for many years. Originally a master's program, it awarded doctorates by 1965. When founded, it was the third such medieval studies program in the United States. Lopez trained a number of distinguished medieval scholars, among them David Herlihy, Edward M. Peters, and Patrick J. Geary. Lopez retired from the Yale faculty in 1981 after 35 years at the university. Lopez's main contributions to the field were in the history of trade and commerce in the medieval Mediterranean. He was particularly interested in showing the dynamism and creativity of medieval towns and economic networks. Other scholars had frequently compared them unfavorably to those of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

. In his best-known book, ''The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages'' (1971, with numerous reprints), Lopez argued that the key contribution of the medieval period to European history was the creation of a commercial economy. He said it was first based in the Italo-Byzantine eastern Mediterranean, but eventually extended to the

Italian city-states The Italian city-states were numerous political and independent territorial entities that existed in the Italian Peninsula from antiquity to the formation of the Kingdom of Italy in the late 19th century. The ancient Italian city-states were E ...

and through the rest of Europe. Lopez noted that it was the Renaissance period that was characterized by economic decline. Lopez's scholarship was underpinned by his expert knowledge of medieval agriculture, industry and especially coinage. At the end of his career, Lopez maintained close ties to Israeli academia. He was affiliated with the

Israel Institute for Advanced Studies The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (; IIAS, or IAS in Israel) is a research institute in Jerusalem, devoted to academic research in physics, mathematics, the life sciences, economics, and comparative religion. It is a self-governing body, ...

and the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, and his advice was sought on the tenure cases of Israeli medievalists. Lopez died from cancer in 1986. His library and papers were acquired by

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

."The Robert S. Lopez Collection"
Arizona State University

Books

*''Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World'' (edited with Irving W. Raymond) (1955; 2nd ed. 1969) *''The Tenth Century: How Dark the Dark Ages?'' (1959) *''The Birth of Europe'' (1966) *''The Three Ages of the Italian Renaissance'' (1970) *''The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages'' (1971) *''Byzantium and the World around It: Economic and Institutional Relations'' (1978) *''The Shape of Medieval Monetary History'' (1986)

Notes

Sources

External links

*Robert S. Lopez (1979)
"The Birth of Medieval Banking"Survey of Lopez's career and scholarship
(at Arizona State)
Robert Sabatino Lopez Papers (MS 1459).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Robert S. 1910 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Italian historians 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century Sephardi Jews Economic historians Italian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Italian Jews Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Jewish American historians Writers from Genoa University of Milan alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Yale University faculty Yale Sterling Professors Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America People of the United States Office of War Information Italian Sephardi Jews 20th-century American male writers Corresponding fellows of the British Academy American people of Italian-Jewish descent