Christopher Dyer
Encyclopedia
Christopher Charles Dyer CBE
FBA
(born 1944) is Leverhulme Emeritus
Professor
of Regional and Local History
and director of the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester
, England
.
where he studied under Rodney Hilton
, he has taught at the universities of Birmingham, and Edinburgh
where he counted amongst his students the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
, Gordon Brown
. He came to the University of Leicester in 2003.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
and social history
of medieval life, with an emphasis on the English Midlands
from the Saxon
period through to the 16th century. He was invited to deliver the Ford Lectures
in the University of Oxford
in a lecture series entitled 'An Age of Transition? Economy and Society in England in the Later Middle Ages'.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
FBA
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
(born 1944) is Leverhulme Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Regional and Local History
Local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context and it often concentrates on the local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history...
and director of the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Background
Educated at the University of BirminghamUniversity of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
where he studied under Rodney Hilton
Rodney Hilton
Rodney Howard Hilton, , was an English Marxist historian of the late medieval period and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He was born in Manchester and studied at Balliol College Oxford University and was a member of the Communist Party Historians Group before leaving the party in 1956...
, he has taught at the universities of Birmingham, and Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
where he counted amongst his students the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. He came to the University of Leicester in 2003.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
Work
Dyer is well known as the historian of everyday life, a recurring theme in his publications. Dyer looks at the economicEconomic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
and social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
of medieval life, with an emphasis on the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
from the Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
period through to the 16th century. He was invited to deliver the Ford Lectures
Ford Lectures
The Ford Lectures are a prestigious series of public lectures given annually in English or British History by a distinguished historian. Known commonly as "The Ford Lectures," they are properly titled "Ford's Lectures in British History" and they are given by a scholar elected to be "Ford's...
in the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in a lecture series entitled 'An Age of Transition? Economy and Society in England in the Later Middle Ages'.
Selected publications
- Making a Living in the Middle Ages: the People of Britain, 850–1520 (London and New Haven, 2002 (Yale UP); London, 2003 (Penguin);), New Haven, 2003 (American paperback, Yale UP), 403 pp.
- Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England c.1200–1520 (Cambridge 1989) 297 pp.
- Lords and Peasants in a Changing Society: the Estates of the Bishopric of Worcester, 680–1540 (Cambridge 1980) 427 pp.
- "The urbanizing of Staffordshire: the first phases", Staffordshire Studies, 14 (2002), pp. 1–31
- (with Jane Laughton), "Seasonal patterns of trade in the later Middle Ages: buying and selling at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 1400-1520", Nottingham Medieval Studies, 46 (2002), pp. 162–84.
- "Villages and non-villages in the medieval Cotswolds", Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 120 (2002), pp. 11–35.
- "The archaeology of medieval small towns", Medieval Archaeology, 47 (2003), 85-114.
- (with Phillipp R. Schofield), "Estudios recientes sobre la historia agraria y rural medieval britanica", Historia Agraria, 31 (2003), pp. 13–33.
- "Birmingham in the Middle Ages", in Birmingham: Bibliography of a City, ed. Carl ChinnCarl ChinnProfessor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn MBE, Ph.D. is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, media personality, local celebrity, and famous Brummie, whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham in England...
(Birmingham, 2003), pp. 1–14.
- "Alternative agriculture: goats in medieval England", in People, Landscape and Alternative Agriculture: Essays for Joan ThirskJoan ThirskIrene Joan Watkins Thirsk, MA , PhD, FBA, FRHistS is a British economic and social historian, specialized in the History of agriculture. She is one of the leading economic and social historians of the 20th century, having greatly influenced the methodology and direction of research...
, ed. R. W. Hoyle (Agricultural History Review Supplement Series, 3, 2004), pp. 20–38.
- '(with M. Ciaraldi, R. Cuttler and L. Dingwall), "Medieval tanning and retting at Brewood, Staffordshire: archaeological excavations 1999–2000", Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, 40 (2004), pp. 1–57.
- "The political life of the fifteenth-century English village", The Fifteenth Century, 4 (2004), pp. 135–57.
- An Age of Transition? Economy and Society in England in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 2005) [the Ford Lectures for 2001].
- "Bishop Wulfstan and his estates", in St Wulfstan and his World, ed. Julia Barrow and Nicholas Brooks (Aldershot 2005), pp. 137–45.