Michael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, specialising on the history of

medieval 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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

England, in particular the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

. He is retired, having been

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Durham University , 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_chan ...

and Head of the Department of History until 2007.

Early life

Prestwich is the son of two

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

historians, John Prestwich and Menna Prestwich. His father, "the redoubtable mediaevalist ... who knew so much and published so little", had worked at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

during the war, working among other things on the breaking of

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

codes. Michael was educated at the

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

, and then went to a well-known public school

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

, before winning a scholarship to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. After being awarded an MA and First in History, he completed his

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

with a thesis entitled ''Edward I's wars and their financing 1294-1307'' at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

Academic career

After a year as a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at Christ Church, Michael moved in 1969 to

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

where he stayed for ten years before moving to

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

as a

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

. He soon became

, and has been head of the department for two spells. For seven years in the 1990s he was Pro Vice-Chancellor, with a wide brief which even extended to health and safety. He was chairman of the trustees of the

Durham Union Society This is a list of social activities at the University of Durham, including details of clubs, societies and other common leisure activities associated with Durham University. Over 200 student clubs and organisations run within Durham Students' Uni ...

until 2013. He twice chaired the History panel for the

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British h ...

, in 1996 and 2001. Prestwich has provided support and encouragement to other historians, in particular

Ann Hyland Ann Hyland is a writer and historian who specialises in equestrianism and the development of horses. She is also a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational his ...

, who recognised his assistance in her work on medieval warhorses. Prestwich wrote the foreword for both of her books on the subject. On his retirement, he was presented with a festschrift, ''War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles c.1150-1500'', edited by

Chris Given-Wilson Chris Given-Wilson (born 1949) is a British historian and academic, specialising in medieval history. He was Professor of History of the University of St Andrews, where he is now professor emeritus. He is the author of a number of books. Car ...

, Ann Kettle and Len Scales. Prestwich was appointed OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.

Personal life

He is married to fellow Oxford-educated historian Maggie Prestwich, who recently retired as Senior Tutor at

Trevelyan College , motto_English = Truth more readily than falsehood , scarf = , named_for = George Macaulay Trevelyan , namesake = George Macaulay Trevelyan , established = 1966 , principal = Adekunle Adeyeye , vice_principal = I ...

. He lives in Western Hill in

, and has a dog and three grown-up children. He retired in 2008.

Select publications

*''War, Politics and Finance under Edward I'' (1972), *''The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1377'' (1980), *''Edward I'' (1988), *''English Politics in the Thirteenth Century '' (1990), *''Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: the English Experience'' (1996), *''Plantagenet England, 1225-1360'' (2005), *''Knight'' (2010),

Contributions

*Editor of a collection of his father's essays: ::J.O. Prestwich, ''The Place of War in English History, 1066-1214'' (2004) Woodbridge: Boydell Press *

Edward Mirzoeff Edward Mirzoeff CVO, CBE (born 11 April 1936) is a prominent British television producer and documentary filmmaker. Early life Mirzoeff won an Open Scholarship in Modern History to The Queen's College, Oxford in 1953, obtaining a BA (Oxon) in 1 ...

(2015) The sea of peril. ''The Oldie'' 322, June 2015, p. 30.

Notes

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prestwich, Michael 1943 births English historians British medievalists Living people Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Academics of the University of St Andrews Academics of Durham University British military historians Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford