Wendy Elizabeth Davies (born 1942) is an emeritus professor of history 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 = ...

, England. Her research focuses on rural societies in early medieval Europe, focusing on the regions of Wales, Brittany and Iberia.

Career

Davies studied for her BA degree (1964) and PhD degree (1970) in history at UCL. Following positions in Munich and

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

(1970–76), she returned to UCL as a lecturer in medieval history in 1977. She became a professor in 1985 and thereafter became head of the department of history, then dean of the Faculty of Arts, dean of the Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences and, from 1995, UCL Pro-Provost (European Affairs). She was made a fellow of UCL in 1997. She is also a founding fellow of the

Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

Research

Her teaching originally covered a wide area of European and English

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 ...

history it more recently concentrated on Celtic subjects working across and within the disciplines of history, archaeology and

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic studies. She is particularly well known for her studies of early Welsh and

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

history. She is co-director, with Prof.

James Graham-Campbell James Graham-Campbell (born 1947)"James Graham-Campbell"
Celtic Inscribed Stones Project Roughly 400 known ogham inscriptions are on stone monuments scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the fifth and sixth centuries. Their language is predominantly Primitive Irish, but a few examples record fragments of the ...

', established to build a database of all known early medieval Celtic inscribed stones. For the last twenty years she has also convened a major research group, known as the 'Bucknell Group', with the aim of examining the social significance of early medieval European

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

s. She is notable for her analysis of the Llandaff Charters. She has a special interest in the economic and social structure of Western European pre-industrial rural communities and the ways in which they used land and for fifteen years ran, with Dr Grenville Astill, the "East Brittany Survey", a multidisciplinary research programme into settlement and land-use changes. Much of her work has involved collaboration with others and she believes in the importance of fieldwork in teaching and research. Her responsibility for co-ordinating and developing the college's European strategy required her to represent the provost and president both abroad and at home and to advise him on major European

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

trends, maintain the college's membership of European networks and work with to promote the good reputation of UCL. She is particularly concerned that academic qualifications be speedily recognised within Europe.

Awards and honours

In 1988, Davies was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She was elected as a 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 ...

in 1992. In 2001 she was a distinguished visiting professor at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

. She served as a member of council from 2002 to 2003 and vice-president of the

from 2003 to 2005. UCL marked her retirement at a reception on 30 October 2007. She was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Publications

* * ''An Early Welsh Microcosm: Studies in the Llandaff Charters'' (1978) * ''The Llandaff Charters'' (1979) * ''Wales in the Early Middle Ages'' (1982) * ''The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe'' (edited, with Paul Fouracre, 1986) * ''Small worlds: the Village Community in Early Medieval Brittany'' (1988) * ''Patterns of Power in Early Wales'' (1990) * ''A Breton Landscape'' (with Grenville Astill, 1997) * ''From the Vikings to the Norman's'' (2003) * ''Acts of Giving: Individual, Community, and Church in Tenth-Century Christian Spain'' (2007) * ''Welsh History in the Early Middle Ages'' (2009) *''Windows on Justice in Northern Iberia, 800-1000'' (2016)

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Wendy Living people Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Birmingham British women historians Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales Officers of the Order of the British Empire People associated with the History Department, University College London People associated with the UCL Institute of Archaeology Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Welsh historians Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America 1942 births 21st-century Welsh historians