The grave of Jenny Wormald, Dean Cemetery

Jennifer "Jenny" Wormald HonFSA Scot (18 January 1942 – 9 December 2015) was a Scottish historian who studied

late medieval The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

and

early modern Scotland Scotland in the early modern period refers, for the purposes of this article, to Scotland between the death of James IV in 1513 and the end of the Jacobite risings in the mid-eighteenth century. It roughly corresponds to the early modern perio ...

Life

Jennifer (Jenny) was born in Glasgow on 18 January 1942, and was adopted by Margaret (née Dunlop) and Dr Thomas Tannahill, a general practitioner, and was then known as Jenny Tannahill. She was educated at Glasgow High School for Girls, and went on to study history at the University of Glasgow, where she completed her PhD Her thesis was on the history of the late medieval Scottish nobility through analysis of a kind of document known as a

bond of manrent Manrent refers to a Scottish contract of the mid-15th century to the early 17th century, usually military in nature and involving Scottish clans. The bond of manrent was commonly an instrument in which a weaker man or clan pledged to serve, in r ...

. Wormald taught at the University of Glasgow between 1966 and 1985, and then St Hilda's College,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, between 1985 and 2005. She held a variety of other posts in this time, including Fellow Librarian and Senior Tutor at St Hilda's. Her most important research was on bloodfeud in early modern Scotland, particularly in her article "Bloodfeud, Kindred and Government in Early Modern Scotland", which was highly influential. Wormald also produced a study of the reign of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

. She was most recently an Honorary Fellow in Scottish History at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 158 ...

. Wormald was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usua ...

on 30 November 2015. She died in Edinburgh on 9 December 2015. She is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

on the south side of the main entrance path.

Personal life

In 1963, Jennifer Tannahill married Alfred Lawson Brown. As Brown was a devout Roman Catholic, she converted to Catholicism when they married. They had one son and later divorced. In 1980 she married the historian

Patrick Wormald Charles Patrick Wormald (9 July 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a British historian born in Neston, Cheshire, son of historian Brian Wormald. He attended Eton College as a King's Scholar. From 1966 to 1969 he read modern history at Balliol Colle ...

, and together they had two sons. They divorced in 2001.

Select bibliography

* "Bloodfeud, Kindred and Government in Early Modern Scotland", ''Past and Present'', 87 (1980). * ''Court, Kirk and Community: Scotland 1470–1625''. Edward Arnold. 1981 ** reprinted Edinburgh University Press. 1991 * "James VI and I: Two Kings or One?", ''History'', 68 (1983). * "Gunpowder, Treason and Scots", ''Journal of British Studies'', 24 (1985). * ''Lords and Men in Scotland: Bonds of

Manrent Manrent refers to a Scottish contract of the mid-15th century to the early 17th century, usually military in nature and involving Scottish clans. The bond of manrent was commonly an instrument in which a weaker man or clan pledged to serve, in ...

, 1442-1603''. John Donald. 1985 * ''Mary Queen of Scots: a Study in Failure''. George Philip. 1988 ** 2nd edition, as ''Mary Queen of Scots: Politics, Passion and a Kingdom Lost''. George Philip. 2001 * (editor) ''Scotland Revisited''. Collins & Brown. 1991 * (Editor & contributor), ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Scotland''. Oxford University Press. 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wormald, Jenny 20th-century Scottish historians Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of St Hilda's College, Oxford British women historians 1942 births 2015 deaths Scottish adoptees Converts to Roman Catholicism Fellows of the Royal Historical Society People educated at the High School of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Oxford Writers from Glasgow Scottish women academics Scottish Roman Catholics 21st-century Scottish historians