Michael Prestwich (born 30 January 1943) is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the reign of Edward I. He is currently Professor of History at Durham University, and was Head of the Department of History until 2007.

Early life

Prestwich is the son of two Oxford historians, John and Menna Prestwich. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, and then went to a well-known public school Charterhouse, before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. He completed his D.Phil on Edward I's wars and their financing at Christ Church, Oxford.

Academic career

After a year as a lecturer at Christ Church, Michael moved in 1969 to St Andrews where he stayed for ten years before moving to Durham as a Reader. He soon became Professor, and has been head of the Department for two spells. For seven years in the 1990s he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor, with a wide brief which even extended to health and safety. He is chairman of the trustees of the Durham Union Society. He twice chaired the History panel for the Research Assessment Exercise, in 1996 and 2001.

Prestwich has provided support and encouragement to other historians, in particular Ann Hyland, who recognised his assistance in her work on medieval warhorses. Prestwich wrote the foreword for both of her books on the subject.

Personal life

He is married to fellow Oxford-educated historian Maggie Prestwich, who recently retired as senior tutor at Trevelyan College, Durham. He lives in Western Hill in Durham, and has a dog and three grown up children. He retired in 2008.

Select publications

• War, Politics and Finance under Edward I (1972), ISBN 0571090427
• The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1377 (1980), ISBN 031280251X
• Edward I (1988), ISBN 0413281507
• English Politics in the Thirteenth Century (1990), ISBN 0333414349
• Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: the English Experience (1996), ISBN 0300064527
• Plantagenet England, 1225-1360 (2005), ISBN 0198228449

Contributions

• Editor of a collection of his father's essays:

:J.O. Prestwich, The Place of War in English History, 1066-1214 (2004) Woodbridge: Boydell Press ISBN 1-84383-098-1

Notes

1. Home page
2. Acknowledgements, p V, The Warhorse 1250-1600, and p VII, The Medieval Warhorse: From Byzantium to the Crusades, both by Ann Hyland

External links

• Home page
• Interview with Michael Prestwich about the evolution of the discipline of history