Many important people in the field of medieval studies passed away in the year 2023. We wanted to acknowledge them and their contributions to the field.
We also included a few people who passed away in late 2022 and were not included in last year’s list.
Michael J.B. Allen – Former Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCLA and scholar of literature. Click here to read his obituary from the Renaissance Society of America.
Jere Bacharach – Professor at the University of Washington and historian of the medieval Middle East. Click here to read his obituary from the University of Washington.
Bernard S. Bachrach – Professor at the University of Minnesota and scholar of medieval military history. Click here to read our obituary of Bernie.
Rudy Bell – Professor of History at Rutgers University and historian of medieval and early modern Italy. Click here to read more about his life.
Hans Belting – Professor of Art History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University and a medieval art historian. Click here to read his obituary from The Courtauld.
Jim Bradbury – Senior Lecturer at Borough Road College and medieval military historian. Click here to read his obituary from The Guardian.
Geraldine Branca – Professor of English Emerita at Merrimack College and a scholar focusing on Chaucer. Click here to read more about her life.
Ariel Brecht – a PhD student at the University of Toronto who researched medieval religion. Click here to read more about her life.
Clive Burgess – Professor of Medieval History at Royal Holloway and historian of medieval religion. Click here to read his obituary from Royal Holloway.
Robert L. A. Clark – Professor of French at Kansas State University and scholar of medieval French literature and culture. Click here to read more about his life.
Rosemary Cramp – Professor at Durham University and an archaeologist specializing in Anglo-Saxon England. Click here to read her obituary from The Society for Medieval Archaeology.
Natalie Zemon Davis – Professor at the University of Toronto and a leading historian of the pre-modern world. Click here to read our look back at her life.
Katherine Fischer Drew – Professor of History at Rice University and historian of medieval law. Click here to read his obituary from Rice University.
Tom Duncan – Professor at the University of St. Andrews and a scholar of medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
JoAnna Dutka – Professor at the University of Toronto and scholar of medieval music and drama. Click here to read her obituary.
Colmán Etchingham – Lecturer in Early Irish History at Maynooth University and historian of early medieval Ireland. Click here to read his obituary from the Irish Independent.
Damian Evans – Co-Director of the Greater Angkor Project and archaeologist. Click here to read more about his life from The Guardian.
Deanna Genelle Evans – Professor of English at Bemidji State University, she was an expert in medieval literature and medieval women’s studies. Click here to read her obituary.
Richard Fawcett – an Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments of Historic Scotland and expert in medieval Scottish church architecture.
Mark L. Fuehrer – Professor of Philosophy at Augsburg University, he researched medieval thinkers. Click here to read more.
Julia Garwood – novelist who wrote historical romances, some set in the Middle Ages. Click here to read her obituary from The Washington Post.
Helmut Gneuss – Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and a historian of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary.
Joseph W. Goering – Professor at the University of Toronto and a historian of medieval Europe and intellectual history. Click here to read his obituary from the University of Toronto.
Johanna Green – Senior Lecturer in Information Studies at the University of Glasgow and a scholar of the Middle Ages and digital scholarship. Click here to read our look back on her life.
Franklin Henderson – Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, he also researched medieval liturgy. Click here to read more about his life.
Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller – Chair of the Middle Ages at the University of Hamburg and scholar of social and religious history. Click here to view his Wikipedia page.
Rudolf Hiestand – Chair of Medieval History at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and historian of the Crusades. Click here to read his obituary.
Lenka Hlávková – Head of the Institute of Musicology at Charles University and an expert on medieval music. She was killed during the mass shooting in Prague on December 21, 2023. Click here to read her biography on Wikipedia.
Paul Hyams – Professor at Cornell University and historian of medieval England. Click here to read this obituary written by his wife, Elaine Hyams.
Uwe Israel – Chair of Medieval History at the Technische Universität Dresden and historian of medieval Europe. Click here to read his obituary.
Elizabeth Jeffreys – Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature, University of Oxford and scholar of the Byzantine world. Click here to read her obituary from The Greek Herald.
James John – Professor of History at Cornell University, he studied medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary.
Leonard Johnson – Professor of French at the University of California at Berkeley and scholar of late medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
Natalie Johnson – Staff member at the University of Manitoba and historian. Click here to read her obituary.
Haris Kalliga – Director of the Gennadius Library and scholar of the Byzantine world. Click here to read her obituary from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Michael Kauffmann – Director at The Courtauld and scholar of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary from The Courtauld.
John Kieran Kealy – Professor at the University of British Columbia and scholar of Middle English literature. Click here to read about his life from the University of British Columbia.
Beata Maria Kitsikis-Panagopoulos – Professor of Art and Humanities at San Jose State University who researched medieval and Byzantine architecture. Click here to read more about her life from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Anne Lingard Klinck – Professor of English at the University of New Brunswick and scholar of Old English. Click here to learn more about her life.
Onno Kneepkens – Professor of medieval Latin at the University of Groningen and a scholar of logic and grammar in the Middle Ages. Click here to read more.
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie – Chair of History of Modern Civilization at Collège de France and well-known as a history of the peasantry. His book, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error and Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, is considered a classic text among medievalists. Click here to read his obituary from The New York Times.
Marilyn Ruth Livingstone – historian and novelist. Click here to read her obituary, written by her husband, Morgen Witzel.
Peter Mack – Professor at the University of Warwick and scholar of Renaissance Europe. Click here to read his obituary from The Guardian.
Wilferd Madelung – Professor of Islamic History at the University of Oxford and historian of the medieval Islamic world. Click here to read his obituary from the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Jack Marler – Associate Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University and scholar of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary from Saint Louis University.
Janet Martin – Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University and scholar of medieval Latin. Click here to read her obituary from Princeton University.
Hans Eberhard Mayer – Professor of Medieval and Modern History at the University of Kiel and historian of the Crusades. Click here to read this obituary from the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East.
Tom McLeish – Professor of Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York and an interdisciplinary scholar. Click here to read his obituary from the Centre for Medieval Studies.
James McNelis – Professor of English at Wilmington College and scholar of medieval literature and Tolkien studies. Click here to learn more about him.
Marion Meade – historian and novelist. Click here to read her obituary.
James Ivan Miller – Professor at Northern Illinois University and scholar of medieval hagiography. Click here to read his obituary from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.
Monika Otter – Associate Professor at Dartmouth University and a scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature. Click here to read her obituary from Dartmouth.
Robert G. Ousterhout – Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania and a scholar of art and architecture in the Byzantine Empire. Click here to read his life from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Robert Palmer – Professor of Law and History at the University of Houston, he researched law in medieval England. Click here to read more.
Aristeides Papadakis – Professor at the University of Maryland and Byzantine historian. Click here to read his obituary from the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Russell Peck – Professorship of English at the University of Rochester and scholar of Middle English. Click here to read this tribute from TEAMS. See also this tribute from Michael Livingston.
David Peterson – Professor of History at Washington and Lee University, his work focused on medieval and Renaissance Italy. Click here to read this obituary.
John Richards – Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow and scholar of late medieval and Renaissance art. Click here to read more about his life.
James Duncan Robertson – Professor of French at Augusta University and scholar of medieval literature. Click here to read his obituary from The Augusta Chronicle.
Michael Rogers – Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and historian of early Islamic art. Click here to read his obituary from The Times.
Delbert W. Russell – Professor at the University of Waterloo and scholar of medieval French literature. Click here to read his obituary from the Waterloo Region Record.
Jeffrey Russell – Professor at University of California – Santa Barbara and scholar of medieval theology. Click here to read more.
Corine Schleif – Professor at Arizona State Univeristy and history of medieval and Renaissance art. Click here to read her obituary from the Renaissance Society of America.
George B. Stow – Professor of History at LaSalle University and scholar of ancient and medieval times. Click here to read his obituary from LaSalle University.
John A. Tedeschi – Founding Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newbury and scholar of 16th-century Italian religious history. Click here to learn more about his life.
William Telesca – Professor of History at LeMoyne College and scholar of medieval ecclesiastical history. Click here to read his obituary.
Joseph B. Trahern – Professor at the University of Tennessee and scholar of Old English. Click here to read more about his life.
Lorna Walker – Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews. Click here to read about her life of the University of St Andrews.
Colin Wilcockson – Lecturer and Director at Pembroke College of the University of Cambridge, he was a scholar of Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life from Pembroke College.
John Francis Wippel – a Priest and Professor at the Catholic University of America, he was considered a leading scholar in the metaphysical thought of Thomas Aquinas. Click here to read his obituary.
Susan Wood – Lecturer and Fellow at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford and medieval ecclesiastical historian. Click here to read more about her from the University of Oxford.
John Woodhouse – Professor of Italian at the University of Oxford who researched the Renaissance era. Click here to read his obituary from Magdalen College.
Vera Zalesskaya – Researcher in The State Hermitage Museum and curator of Byzantine art. Click here to read her obituary from the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Eugene Zumwalt – Professor of English at California State University, Fresno, where he researched medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
If there was a person left off this list, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]
Many important people in the field of medieval studies passed away in the year 2023. We wanted to acknowledge them and their contributions to the field.
We also included a few people who passed away in late 2022 and were not included in last year’s list.
Michael J.B. Allen – Former Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCLA and scholar of literature. Click here to read his obituary from the Renaissance Society of America.
Jere Bacharach – Professor at the University of Washington and historian of the medieval Middle East. Click here to read his obituary from the University of Washington.
Bernard S. Bachrach – Professor at the University of Minnesota and scholar of medieval military history. Click here to read our obituary of Bernie.
Rudy Bell – Professor of History at Rutgers University and historian of medieval and early modern Italy. Click here to read more about his life.
Hans Belting – Professor of Art History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University and a medieval art historian. Click here to read his obituary from The Courtauld.
Jim Bradbury – Senior Lecturer at Borough Road College and medieval military historian. Click here to read his obituary from The Guardian.
Geraldine Branca – Professor of English Emerita at Merrimack College and a scholar focusing on Chaucer. Click here to read more about her life.
Ariel Brecht – a PhD student at the University of Toronto who researched medieval religion. Click here to read more about her life.
Clive Burgess – Professor of Medieval History at Royal Holloway and historian of medieval religion. Click here to read his obituary from Royal Holloway.
Robert L. A. Clark – Professor of French at Kansas State University and scholar of medieval French literature and culture. Click here to read more about his life.
Rosemary Cramp – Professor at Durham University and an archaeologist specializing in Anglo-Saxon England. Click here to read her obituary from The Society for Medieval Archaeology.
Natalie Zemon Davis – Professor at the University of Toronto and a leading historian of the pre-modern world. Click here to read our look back at her life.
Katherine Fischer Drew – Professor of History at Rice University and historian of medieval law. Click here to read his obituary from Rice University.
Tom Duncan – Professor at the University of St. Andrews and a scholar of medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
JoAnna Dutka – Professor at the University of Toronto and scholar of medieval music and drama. Click here to read her obituary.
Colmán Etchingham – Lecturer in Early Irish History at Maynooth University and historian of early medieval Ireland. Click here to read his obituary from the Irish Independent.
Damian Evans – Co-Director of the Greater Angkor Project and archaeologist. Click here to read more about his life from The Guardian.
Deanna Genelle Evans – Professor of English at Bemidji State University, she was an expert in medieval literature and medieval women’s studies. Click here to read her obituary.
Richard Fawcett – an Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments of Historic Scotland and expert in medieval Scottish church architecture.
Mark L. Fuehrer – Professor of Philosophy at Augsburg University, he researched medieval thinkers. Click here to read more.
Julia Garwood – novelist who wrote historical romances, some set in the Middle Ages. Click here to read her obituary from The Washington Post.
Helmut Gneuss – Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and a historian of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary.
Joseph W. Goering – Professor at the University of Toronto and a historian of medieval Europe and intellectual history. Click here to read his obituary from the University of Toronto.
Johanna Green – Senior Lecturer in Information Studies at the University of Glasgow and a scholar of the Middle Ages and digital scholarship. Click here to read our look back on her life.
Franklin Henderson – Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, he also researched medieval liturgy. Click here to read more about his life.
Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller – Chair of the Middle Ages at the University of Hamburg and scholar of social and religious history. Click here to view his Wikipedia page.
Rudolf Hiestand – Chair of Medieval History at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and historian of the Crusades. Click here to read his obituary.
Lenka Hlávková – Head of the Institute of Musicology at Charles University and an expert on medieval music. She was killed during the mass shooting in Prague on December 21, 2023. Click here to read her biography on Wikipedia.
Paul Hyams – Professor at Cornell University and historian of medieval England. Click here to read this obituary written by his wife, Elaine Hyams.
Uwe Israel – Chair of Medieval History at the Technische Universität Dresden and historian of medieval Europe. Click here to read his obituary.
Elizabeth Jeffreys – Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature, University of Oxford and scholar of the Byzantine world. Click here to read her obituary from The Greek Herald.
James John – Professor of History at Cornell University, he studied medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary.
Leonard Johnson – Professor of French at the University of California at Berkeley and scholar of late medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
Natalie Johnson – Staff member at the University of Manitoba and historian. Click here to read her obituary.
Haris Kalliga – Director of the Gennadius Library and scholar of the Byzantine world. Click here to read her obituary from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Michael Kauffmann – Director at The Courtauld and scholar of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary from The Courtauld.
John Kieran Kealy – Professor at the University of British Columbia and scholar of Middle English literature. Click here to read about his life from the University of British Columbia.
Beata Maria Kitsikis-Panagopoulos – Professor of Art and Humanities at San Jose State University who researched medieval and Byzantine architecture. Click here to read more about her life from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Anne Lingard Klinck – Professor of English at the University of New Brunswick and scholar of Old English. Click here to learn more about her life.
Onno Kneepkens – Professor of medieval Latin at the University of Groningen and a scholar of logic and grammar in the Middle Ages. Click here to read more.
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie – Chair of History of Modern Civilization at Collège de France and well-known as a history of the peasantry. His book, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error and Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, is considered a classic text among medievalists. Click here to read his obituary from The New York Times.
Marilyn Ruth Livingstone – historian and novelist. Click here to read her obituary, written by her husband, Morgen Witzel.
Peter Mack – Professor at the University of Warwick and scholar of Renaissance Europe. Click here to read his obituary from The Guardian.
Wilferd Madelung – Professor of Islamic History at the University of Oxford and historian of the medieval Islamic world. Click here to read his obituary from the Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Jack Marler – Associate Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University and scholar of medieval manuscripts. Click here to read his obituary from Saint Louis University.
Janet Martin – Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University and scholar of medieval Latin. Click here to read her obituary from Princeton University.
Hans Eberhard Mayer – Professor of Medieval and Modern History at the University of Kiel and historian of the Crusades. Click here to read this obituary from the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East.
Tom McLeish – Professor of Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of York and an interdisciplinary scholar. Click here to read his obituary from the Centre for Medieval Studies.
James McNelis – Professor of English at Wilmington College and scholar of medieval literature and Tolkien studies. Click here to learn more about him.
Marion Meade – historian and novelist. Click here to read her obituary.
James Ivan Miller – Professor at Northern Illinois University and scholar of medieval hagiography. Click here to read his obituary from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal.
Monika Otter – Associate Professor at Dartmouth University and a scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature. Click here to read her obituary from Dartmouth.
Robert G. Ousterhout – Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania and a scholar of art and architecture in the Byzantine Empire. Click here to read his life from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Robert Palmer – Professor of Law and History at the University of Houston, he researched law in medieval England. Click here to read more.
Aristeides Papadakis – Professor at the University of Maryland and Byzantine historian. Click here to read his obituary from the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Russell Peck – Professorship of English at the University of Rochester and scholar of Middle English. Click here to read this tribute from TEAMS. See also this tribute from Michael Livingston.
David Peterson – Professor of History at Washington and Lee University, his work focused on medieval and Renaissance Italy. Click here to read this obituary.
John Richards – Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow and scholar of late medieval and Renaissance art. Click here to read more about his life.
James Duncan Robertson – Professor of French at Augusta University and scholar of medieval literature. Click here to read his obituary from The Augusta Chronicle.
Michael Rogers – Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and historian of early Islamic art. Click here to read his obituary from The Times.
Delbert W. Russell – Professor at the University of Waterloo and scholar of medieval French literature. Click here to read his obituary from the Waterloo Region Record.
Jeffrey Russell – Professor at University of California – Santa Barbara and scholar of medieval theology. Click here to read more.
Corine Schleif – Professor at Arizona State Univeristy and history of medieval and Renaissance art. Click here to read her obituary from the Renaissance Society of America.
George B. Stow – Professor of History at LaSalle University and scholar of ancient and medieval times. Click here to read his obituary from LaSalle University.
John A. Tedeschi – Founding Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newbury and scholar of 16th-century Italian religious history. Click here to learn more about his life.
William Telesca – Professor of History at LeMoyne College and scholar of medieval ecclesiastical history. Click here to read his obituary.
Joseph B. Trahern – Professor at the University of Tennessee and scholar of Old English. Click here to read more about his life.
Lorna Walker – Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews. Click here to read about her life of the University of St Andrews.
Colin Wilcockson – Lecturer and Director at Pembroke College of the University of Cambridge, he was a scholar of Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life from Pembroke College.
John Francis Wippel – a Priest and Professor at the Catholic University of America, he was considered a leading scholar in the metaphysical thought of Thomas Aquinas. Click here to read his obituary.
Susan Wood – Lecturer and Fellow at St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford and medieval ecclesiastical historian. Click here to read more about her from the University of Oxford.
John Woodhouse – Professor of Italian at the University of Oxford who researched the Renaissance era. Click here to read his obituary from Magdalen College.
Vera Zalesskaya – Researcher in The State Hermitage Museum and curator of Byzantine art. Click here to read her obituary from the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Eugene Zumwalt – Professor of English at California State University, Fresno, where he researched medieval literature. Click here to read more about his life.
If there was a person left off this list, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]
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