Francis Robin Houssemayne Du Boulay, FBA (19 December 1920 – 2 January 2008) was a distinguished medieval historian and 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 ...

Education

Known as Robin Du Boulay, he was born at

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

on 19 December 1920. He lived in

Alexandria, Egypt Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

, until he was 8 years old, where his father worked. He then gained a place at Christ's Hospital, and was subsequently awarded an exhibition to read history at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. Du Boulay's undergraduate studies were interrupted by the Second World War, and he was commissioned in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1943, but he returned to Balliol in 1945 and graduated with First Class honours in history in 1947.

Career

Upon graduation, Du Boulay joined the faculty of the history department of

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a lead ...

.
The Times Du Boulay was Professor of Medieval History at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

from 1960 to 1982, and was elected a Fellow of the

in 1980.

Select publications

* ''The Lordship of Canterbury'' (1966) * ''An Age of Ambition'' (1970) * ''Germany in the Later Middle Ages'' (1983) * ''The England of Piers Plowman'' (1991) * ''Servants of Empire'' (2011 – published posthumously)

References

1920 births 2008 deaths 20th-century English historians British medievalists Historians of England Historians of Germany Historians of the British Empire People from Chislehurst Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People educated at Christ's Hospital Fellows of the British Academy Academics of Bedford College, London British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers British expatriates in Egypt Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Fellows of the Royal Historical Society {{Academic-bio-stub