Ole Jørgen Benedictow (born 22 July 1941) is a Norwegian historian. Having spent his entire professional career at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, he is especially known for his work on plagues, especially the Black Death.

Career

He was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. He graduated from the

with a cand.philol. degree in history in 1968, and was immediately hired as a research fellow. From early on he concentrated on 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 ...

. In 1977 he published ''Fra rike til provins 1448-1536'', volume five of the work ''Cappelens Norgeshistorie'', on

Norwegian history The history of Norway has been influenced to an extraordinary degree by the terrain and the climate of the region. About 10,000 BC, following the retreat inland of the great ice sheets, the earliest inhabitants migrated north into the territor ...

. He was promoted to associate professor, and from 1990 to 1992 he worked as manager of the Department of Archeology, Conservation and Historical Studies. In 1992 he took the dr.philos. degree with the

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

''Plague in the late Medieval Nordic Countries''. He followed in 1993 with ''The Medieval Demographic System of the Nordic Countries'', and was promoted to professor in medieval history in the same year. He is currently a

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 ...

. In 2002 he published ''Svartedauen og senere pestepidemier i Norge: pestepidemiens historie i Norge 1348-1654'', on the history of

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

in Norway. His main works having revolved mainly around Norway and the Nordic countries, Benedictow's book ''The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History'', from 2004, is an extensive study of the impact of the Black Death, drawing on material from all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Here he makes the claim that the Black Death caused the death of as much as 60% of the population of Europe. Such a high death rate was previously unheard of in the

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

of the field. The assertion has not been universally accepted in the historical community. In addition to his academic work, Benedictow is known for prolific writing in print media, as well as giving lectures outside of the university.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedictow, Ole Jorgen Norwegian medievalists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Writers from Oslo 1941 births Living people