Michael Thomas Clanchy (28 November 1936 – 29 January 2021) was Professor Emeritus of

Medieval History In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

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 ...

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 ...

Early life and education

Clanchy was born in Reading in 1936, the son of Henry, a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

captain from an Irish Catholic family, and Virginia, a New Zealander, and was educated at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

. He went up to Oxford to read history, matriculating at

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

in 1956 and taking a second class degree three years later. After two years teaching at

Presentation College, Reading The Elvian School was an independent school in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom run by the Licensed Trade Charity as a co-educational, non-denominational Christian school. It was previously the Roman Catholic boys' school Presentation College, ...

, Clanchy returned to Merton in 1961, and was awarded his DipEd the following year.

Career

Clanchy became a lecturer at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1964, and was well known for his books, such as ''From Memory to Written Record'' (1979; revised and expanded editions 1993 and 2013: a study of the triumph of literacy in medieval England), ''England and its Rulers 1066–1272'' (1983; revised editions 1998, 2006 and 2014), and ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' (1997). His interests primarily lay in law and government in the 12th and 13th centuries. He was Patron of the London Medieval Society. In 1985 he left Glasgow, and moved to London; he took up an honorary position at

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

and taught at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, whilst continuing his research independently. This led to the publication of ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' in 1997, on the strength of which he was elected as a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

in 1999. Clanchy appeared on ''

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, firstly in 2005 regarding

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...

and

Héloïse d'Argenteuil Héloïse (; c. 1100–01? – 16 May 1163–64?), variously Héloïse d'ArgenteuilCharrier, Charlotte. Heloise Dans L'histoire Et Dans la Legende. Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion Quai Malaquais, VI, Paris, 1933 or Héloïse du Paraclet, wa ...

, and secondly discussing

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

in May 2009. His work has been translated into a number of different languages, including French, German, Italian, and Norwegian.

Personal life

In 1963 Clanchy married Joan Milne, whom he had met whilst at University; they had a daughter and a son.

Publications

* "The franchise of return of writs", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 5th ser., vol. 17 (1967) * "Did Henry III have a policy?", ''History'', vol. 53 (1968) * ''Civil Pleas of the Wiltshire Eyre, 1249'' (1971) * ''The Roll and Writ File of the Berkshire Eyre of 1248'',

Selden Society The Selden Society is a learned society and registered charity concerned with the study of English legal history. It functions primarily as a text publication society, but also undertakes other activities to promote scholarship within its spher ...

, vol. 90 (1973) * "Moderni in education and government in England", ''Speculum'' 58 (1975) * ''From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307'' (Oxford, 1979); 2nd ed. 1993; 3rd ed. 2013 * ''England and its Rulers, 1066–1272: Foreign Lordship and National Identity'' (London, 1983); 2nd ed. 1998; 3rd ed. 2006; 4th ed. 2014 * "Looking back to the invention of printing", in D. P. Resnick (ed.), ''Literacy in Historical Perspective'' (Library of Congress, D.C., 1983) * ''Ranulf Glanvill, Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie qui Glanvilla vocatur'', ed. and trans. G. Derek G. Hall with a guide to further reading by Michael T. Clanchy (Oxford, 1993) * "Learning to Read in the Middle Ages and the Role of Mothers," in ''Studies in the History of Reading'', ed. Greg Brooks and A. K. Pugh (Reading: Centre for Teaching of Reading, 1984), 33–39. * ''Abelard: A Medieval Life'' (1997) * ed. ''Letters of Abelard and Heloise'' (2003) * "Law and theology in twelfth-century England: the works of Master Vacarius (c.1115/1120–c.1200)", ''Disputatio'', vol. 10 (2006) * "Did mothers teach their children to read?", in Lesley Smith & Conrad Leyser (eds), ''Motherhood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400–1400'' (2011) * "Was Abelard right to deny that he had written a Book of Sentences?" Part 2, Controversy and Exchange, in ''Rethinking Abelard: A Collection of Critical Essays'' (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 2014)

References

External links