Michael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval 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 ...

. 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 ...

of History at Durham University and Head of the Department of History until 2007.

Early life

Prestwich is the son of two Oxford 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 1 ...

during the war, working among other things on the breaking of U-boat codes. Michael was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, 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 Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 ...

. 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 at Christ Church, Michael moved in 1969 to St Andrews 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, 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 hist ...

, 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