Richard Alexander Fletcher (28 March 1944, in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, England – 28 February 2005, in
Nunnington
Nunnington is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. The River Rye runs through. Its population, including Stonegrave, taken at the 2011 census was 361. It is rich in listed historic buildings.
Histo ...
, England) was a
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
who specialised in the
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 period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
period.
Early years
Richard Fletcher was the eldest child and only son of Alexander Kendal Humphrey Fletcher, a banker from
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...
, by his marriage to Monica Elizabeth Hastings Medhurst/Fletcher. His childhood home was at
Wighill, near
Tadcaster. He attended, as a scholar,
Harrow School and
Worcester College, Oxford where he was taught by James Campbell and achieved a First Class Honours degree.
Professional career
In 1969 he was appointed as a lecturer at the
University of York where he remained for the rest of his career, becoming professor of history in 1998. His first book, published in 1978 and based on his doctoral thesis, was entitled "The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century", which pointed the way for an academic career much of which would focus on medieval Spain. Fletcher was one of the outstanding talents in English and Spanish medieval scholarship.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft (born 23 December 1945) is a British journalist, author, and historian.
Early life and education
Wheatcroft is the son of Stephen Frederick Wheatcroft (1921–2016), OBE, and his first wife, Joyce (née Reed). He wa ...
"Richard Fletcher Historian fascinated by medieval Spain"
''The Guardian'', 18 March 2005.
Personal
Richard Fletcher married Rachel Mary Agnes Toynbee, herself a grand daughter both of
another notable historian and of a
British Liberal prime minister, in 1976. The marriage produced three children.
Select bibliography of Fletcher's publications
* ''The Quest for El Cid''. 1989, 1991.
* ''Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England'', 1989 (first volume of ''Who's Who in British History'')
* ''Moorish Spain''. 1992.
* ''The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386AD'' London 1997 , as
The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity' Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.
*
* ''Christian-Muslim Understanding in the Later Middle Ages''. 2003.
* ''The Cross and The Crescent: The Dramatic Story of the Earliest Encounters Between Christians and Muslims''. 2005.
Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Richard A.
1944 births
2005 deaths
British medievalists
People from York
People educated at Harrow School
Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
20th-century English historians
21st-century English historians
Academics of the University of York