Reynolds, Susan, 1929-2021
by Professor David L. d'Avray FBA and Professor John Hudson FBA
- Date
- 28 Feb 2022
- Number of pages
- 26 (pages 139-164)
Susan Reynolds was elected to the British Academy after she had worked out a new framework for the medieval history of England, France, Germany and northern Italy. The breakthrough book was her Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe 900–1300 (1984); it brought all levels of society together in a synthesis, and was a stunning achievement. Her subsequent Fiefs and Vassals (Oxford, 1994) left a generation reluctant even to use the word ‘feudalism’, and other important contributions continued until not long before she died. In 2001 she was honoured with a Festschrift entitled Law, Laity and Solidarities.
Posted to Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, 20