Gerald Leslie Harriss FBA (22 May 1925 - 2 November 2014) was an English historian of the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

. His work focused on the

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

, financial and administrative history of the period. Harriss was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. G. L. Harriss first came up to read Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford as an undergraduate in 1943 where he was tutored by K. B. McFarlane. After two years in the Royal Navy from 1944 to 1946, he returned to complete his degree and went on to research for a D.Phil. under the supervision of C. A. J. Armstrong, being elected to a Senior Demyship of Magdalen, which he held from 1950 to 1952. Harriss' first academic post was as an assistant lecturer in the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

from 1955 to 1956, before he was appointed a lecturer and later Reader in Medieval History in the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

from 1956 to 1967. In 1967, Harriss succeeded McFarlane, who had died suddenly the previous year, as Fellow and Tutor in Modern History of Magdalen College, also serving as College Librarian from 1968 to 1983. From 1990 to 1992, Harriss was Reader in Medieval History in the University of Oxford. Upon his retirement in 1992 he was elected an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College. In 1986, G. L. Harriss was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. ''Rulers and Ruled in Late Medieval England. Essays presented to Gerald Harriss'' (Hambledon, 1995), a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in his honour, edited by two of his former research students, Rowena E. Archer and Simon Walker, was published in 1995. Harriss' important contributions to medieval history were based upon his research into the growing financial demands and prerogatives of late medieval English government, which resulted in a series of important articles such as "Fictitious Loans", Ec.HR, 2nd series, 8 (1955-6), pp. 187–99; "Preference at the Medieval Exchequer", BIHR, 30 (1957), pp. 17–40; and "Aids, Loans and Benevolences", ''Historical Journal'', 6 (1963), pp. 1–19. In his magnum opus, ''King, Parliament and Public Finance in Medieval England to 1369'' (Oxford, 1975), Harriss placed the parliamentary-controlled system of royal finance in the context of the emergence of the crown as a corporate body separate from the person of the king, and its role in the development of English political society and the constitution. Harriss later benefited from the work of Simon Walker, particularly in relation to the retinue of John of Gaunt and the development of private forms of political authority alongside that of the crown. As well as succeeding McFarlane at Magdalen, Harriss also edited a posthumous collection of McFarlane's essays, ''Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights'', in 1972. In 1997, Harriss edited ''Letters to Friends 1940-1966'', a collection of McFarlane's correspondence with several of his distinguished students, including R. R. Davies,

Karl Leyser Karl Joseph Leyser (24 October 1920 – 27 May 1992) was a German-born British historian who was Fellow and Tutor in History, Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1948 to 1984, and Chichele Professor of Medieval History at Oxford University, from 1984 t ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

, and Harriss himself, published privately by Magdalen College.

Select publications

*''King, Parliament and Public Finance in Medieval England to 1369'', 1975 *''Henry V: The Practice of Kingship'' (ed.), 1985 *''Cardinal Beaufort. A Study in Lancastrian Ascendency and Decline'', 1988 *'Political Society and the Growth of Government in Late Medieval England', (journal article) 1993
''Shaping the Nation. England, 1360-1461''
2005

Related publication

*''Rulers and Ruled in Late Medieval England. Essays presented to Gerald Harris'', 1995

References

External links

* . 1925 births 2014 deaths English historians Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Academics of Durham University {{UK-historian-stub