Michael Postan
Encyclopedia
Sir Michael Moissey Postan 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...

  was a British historian.

He was born in Bendery, Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

, and studied at the St Vladimir University in Kiev, leaving the USSR after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

 and settling in the UK. He had positions at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

 and at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

, before being appointed Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, from 1937. He was known as an economic historian of medieval Europe.

The multi-volume Cambridge Economic History of Europe from the Decline of the Roman Empire was a large project he planned, and it was largely completed under his editorship.
I: The Agrarian Life of the Middle Ages 2nd edition 1966, editor
II: Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages (1952) edited with Edward Miller
Edward Miller (historian)
-Life:He was born at Acklington Park, the son of a shepherd. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Morpeth and went on to excel at Cambridge, specialising in mediaeval history...

 and Cynthia Postan
III: Economic Organization and Policies in the Middle Ages (1963) edited with E. E. Rich and Edward Miller
IV: edited with E. E. Rich and Edward Miller
V: (1977) edited by E. E. Rich and C. H. Wilson
VI: The Industrial Revolutions and After (1966) edited with H. J. Habbakuk
VII: The Industrial Economies: Capital, Labour and Enterprise (1978) edited with Peter Mathias
Peter Mathias
Peter Mathias is a British economic historian. He attended Colston's School and Bristol Grammar School where he became interested in history. In December 1945, he applied for a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge; instead he won an Exhibition at Jesus College, Cambridge during Summer 1946...

, Part 2 extending to the United States, Japan and Russia
VIII: The Industrial Economies: The Development of Economic and Social Policies (1989) edited by Peter Mathias and Sidney Pollard

Family

He married first the historian Eileen Power
Eileen Power
Eileen Edna LePoer Power was an important British economic historian and medievalist. Eileen Power was the eldest daughter of a stockbroker and was born at Altrincham in 1889. She was a sister of Rhoda Power, the children's writer and broadcaster...

. After her death, he married Lady Cynthia Rosalie Keppel, daughter of the 9th Earl of Albemarle
Walter Keppel, 9th Earl of Albemarle
Walter Egerton George Lucian Keppel, 9th Earl of Albemarle MC was a British nobleman and soldier, styled Viscount Bury from 1894 to 1942.-Life:...

, with whom he had two sons.

Works

  • Studies in English Trade in the 15th Century (1933) with Eileen Power
  • The Historical Method in Social Science An Inaugural Lecture (1939)
  • British War Production (1952, HMSO). (Part of the History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series)
  • Carte Nativorum: A Peterborough Abbey Cartulary of the Fourteenth Century (1960) with C. N. L. Brooke
  • Design and Development of Weapons : Studies in Government and Industrial Organisation (1964) with D. Hay and J. D. Scott. HMSO (Part of the History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series)
  • An Economic History of Western Europe 1945 - 1964 (1967)
  • Fact and Relevance: Essays on Historical Method (1971)
  • The Mediaeval Economy and Society: Economic History of Britain, 1100-1500 (1972) Pelican Economic History of Britain 1
  • Essays on Medieval Agriculture and General Problems of the Medieval Economy (1973)
  • Mediaeval Trade and Finance (1973)
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