Peter Spufford, (18 August 1934 – 18 November 2017) was a British historian and academic, specialising in the economics of

Medieval Europe 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 ...

. He was

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of European History at the

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Early life and education

Spufford was born on 18 August 1934. He was educated at

Kingswood School (''In The Right Way Quickly'') , established = , closed = , type = Independent , religious_affiliation = Methodist , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

, a

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in Bath, Somerset. He studied at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1956 and a

Doctor of Philosophy 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 ...

(PhD) degree in 1963.

Academic career

Spufford began his academic career as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

from 1958 to 1960. He then moved to the University of Keele, where he rose through the ranks from assistant lecturer to lecturer to

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this conce ...

, and finally to

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, between 1960 and 1979. In 1979, Spufford returned to the

, having been elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of Queens' College, Cambridge. He additionally held positions in the

Faculty of History, University of Cambridge The Faculty of History is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge. Teaching and research of history has centuries old roots at Cambridge and the first Regius Professorship of Modern History was established by King Geor ...

: he was a university lecturer from 1979 to 1990,

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in Economic History from 1990 to 2000, and

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of European History from 2000 to 2001. He retired from full-time academia in 2001 and was appointed

Emeritus Fellow ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Queens' College. His intellectual legacy consists of a trio of highly influential books: Money and Its Uses in Medieval Europe (1988), a groundbreaking study of the role of coined money and credit in the working of the medieval economy; the Handbook of Medieval Exchange (1986), a reference work gathering up all of the then-known data on the rates at which currencies in medieval western Europe were exchanged, across the period; and Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe (2003), an illustrated study of medieval trade routes, banking, merchant life and commodity trading. While all three books have shaped the academic study of the medieval economy, the third also found an enthusiastic audience among general readers – and as a resource for fantasy novelists including Daniel Abraham and Guy Gavriel Kay. Spufford joined the

Society of Genealogists The Society of Genealogists (SoG) is a UK-based educational charity, founded in 1911Fowler, S School of Advanced Study, University of London. Date unknown. Retrieved 2011-10-30. to "promote, encourage and foster the study, science and knowledge ...

in 1955, became a Fellow of the Society in 1969, and served as its Vice-President from 1997 to 2012. He edited the Society's journal from 1961 to 1963. He was also President of the

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for the 1959/1960 academic year and later served as Vice-President.

Personal life

Spufford was married to Professor

Margaret Spufford Honor Margaret Spufford, (''née'' Clark; 10 December 1935 – 6 March 2014), known as Margaret Spufford, was a British academic and historian. She was Professor of Social and Local History at the University of Roehampton from 1994 to 2001. Earl ...

(née Clark; 1935–2014) who was a British academic and historian. They had two children; a son, Francis, and a daughter, Bridget, who pre-deceased them; Bridget is well remembered by Bridget's Hostel for disabled students in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

.'SPUFFORD, Prof. Peter', ''

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'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 23 Sept 2017
/ref> Spufford died on 18 November 2017. His funeral was held on 24 November at the Church of St Mary and St Andrew,

Whittlesford Whittlesford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and also the name of an old hundred. The village is situated on the Granta branch of the River Cam, seven miles south of Cambridge. Whittlesford Parkway railway station serves the village. L ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

Honours

In 1968, Spufford was elected

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FRHistS). The following year he became a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists (FSG). On 11 January 1990, he was elected

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FSA). In 1994, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). In 2005, he was awarded the

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of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spufford, Peter 1934 births 2017 deaths British medievalists Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Society of Genealogists Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Academics of Keele University

Early life and education

Academic career

Personal life

Honours

See also

References