Fletcher, Richard (Alexander) 1944-2005

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FLETCHER, Richard (Alexander) 1944-2005

PERSONAL: Born March 28, 1944, in England; died February 28, 2005, in Nunnington, North Yorkshire, England. Education: Worcester College, Oxford University, B.A., D.Phil.

CAREER: University of York, Heslington, York, England, lecturer in history, beginning 1969, reader, beginning 1992.

AWARDS, HONORS: Wolfson Literary Award for history, 1989, and Los Angeles Times Book Award, 1990, both for The Quest for El Cid.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon in the Twelfth Century, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1978.

St. James Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmirez of Santiago de Compostela, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), 1984.

The Quest for El Cid, Hutchinson (London, England), 1989.

Who's Who in Roman Britain and Angle-Saxon England: 55 B.C.-A.D. 1066, St. James Press (Chicago, IL), 1989.

Moorish Spain, Weidenfeld (London, England), 1992.

The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., HarperCollins (London, England), 1996, published as The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity, Holt (New York, NY), 1998.

Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, Allen Lane/Penguin (New York, NY), 2002.

The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation, Allen Lane (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of articles on medieval Spanish history to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS: Historian Richard Fletcher wrote a number of books about England and Europe, focusing especially on the medieval period. Scholarly praise for Fletcher's work began with his first book, The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon in the Twelfth Century, which chronicles the twelfth-century affairs of the Roman Catholic Church in a region of present-day Spain. John F. Stephens, writing in the Hispanic American Historical Review, concluded that "this impressive scholarly work will serve as a treasure trove of data and a necessary corrective." English Historical Review contributor Walter Ullmann called the book "a very competent, carefully worked, and valuable study." By writing The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon, Fletcher "greatly illuminated many aspects of twelfth-century Spanish life," concluded a reviewer for Choice.

Fletcher used W. O. Hassall's British Isles, 55 B.C. to 1485 as the foundation for his Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England: 55 B.C.-A.D. 1066. Reviewing the work in Choice, V. R. Hotchkiss noted that "Fletcher has managed to combine scholarly caution with a lively style to make the accounts both accurate and entertaining."

In The Quest for El Cid Fletcher investigates the life of Rodrigo Diaz, the legendary Spanish soldier known as El Cid. According to Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Lynn Hunt, Fletcher uses historical documents to "demystify" El Cid, the subject of The Poem of the Cid, as well as a Hollywood movie and other popular representations. Although El Cid is often depicted as a heroic, gallant soldier of Christ, Fletcher asserts that he was an eleventh-century mercenary who fought for both Muslim and Christian leaders, kept the goods he plundered, and tortured and killed his enemies.

Reviewing The Quest for El Cid in the New York Times, Ian Gibson praised Fletcher's treatment of a complex subject: "Picking his way confidently through a tangle of Castilian, Leonese, and Aragonese kings and queens, Catalan counts, Jewish advisers, Moorish potentates and historians, betrayals and betrothals, battles and intrigues, Mr. Fletcher manages to put together a remarkable picture of eleventh-century Spain." Hunt further noted that "the problem with the demystifying mode is that it makes all myth, and with it all sense of greatness, crumble to dust," but the critic stated that "this is a Cid from whom we have much to learn." Peter Linehan, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, complimented Fletcher for using historical documents instead of literary sources to produce The Quest for El Cid, observing that "the lively narrative of this invariably interesting book requires no further embellishment." Fletcher won the 1989 Wolfson Literary Award for history and a 1990 Los Angeles Times Book Award for his efforts in producing The Quest for El Cid.

Fletcher discusses the cultural changes Christianity produced in various regions of the Roman Empire in The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., a work published in the United States as The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. In the New Statesman, Geoffrey Wheatcroft called the book an "enthralling" text that "will occupy as many happy hours as half a dozen thrillers together." Reviewing The Barbarian Conversion in the New York Times Book Review, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto argued that Fletcher could have used "some of the analogous cases and anthropological literature that he commends in a footnote to be used 'sparingly and judiciously' by other historians, but virtually ignores himself," yet praised the author as "a born teacher" and concluded that "no book on such an important and demanding subject combines entertainment, information, and stimulation more judiciously." Robert L. Wilken reviewed The Barbarian Conversion for the Los Angeles Times Book Review. According to Wilken, "It is a magnificent story, the beginning of European Christian culture, and Richard Fletcher tells it with immense learning, keen insight, and literary grace."

In Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Fletcher relates the saga of a family enmity that endured for sixty years. The feud began in 1016, when Earl Uhtred of Northumbria agreed to submit to Canute, the Danish king of England. As Uhtred and forty of his men pledged their loyalty to Canute, they were attacked and killed by a rival named Thurbrand. Uhtred's son Ealdred later avenged his father's death by killing Thurbrand, then formed a friendship with Thurbrand's son Carl. The two were planning a joint pilgrimage to Rome when, in 1038, Carl changed his mind and instead avenged his father's murder by killing Ealdred. Such feuds were common in Anglo-Saxon culture, and Fletcher showed how they were governed by custom, rules, and political considerations.

Pauline Stafford stated in the Times Literary Supplement that while Bloodfeud is not always successful as a history of twelfth-century England, it is nevertheless "a stirring story of blood, murder and revenge." Offering higher praise, Christopher Silvester, reviewing the book for the London Sunday Times, approved of the way the author imparts a sense of the landscape in which the story takes place, as well as of his many digressions to discuss taxation, church politics, marriage customs, and many other subjects. As Silvester concluded, "Fletcher writes with precision and wit. He has a nose for nuance, a ready supply of pithy phrases, and no time for the obfuscatory jargon that besets so much contemporary academic writing." "Bloodfeud," he emphasized, "dazzles and delights."

Fletcher takes an in-depth look at the relationship between two of the world's great religions in The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation. He points out here the shared heritage of the two religions, but notes that for centuries, they have found key concepts in each others' belief systems nearly impossible to grasp. To Muslims, for example, the idea of a Holy Trinity is considered polytheistic, and the two religions diverge widely on their views of civil and divine authority. Fletcher comments on the harmonious interactions between the two faiths, as well, but finds them to be far less frequent than their hostilities, particularly as the centuries wore on. The Cross and the Crescent is "compact and very clearly argued, and is easy for a non-specialist to follow," remarked Bernard Hamilton in History Today. A Kirkus Reviews writer recommended The Cross and the Crescent as "a well-tempered survey of nearly a thousand years of Muslim-Christian interaction—most of it unhappy,"and concluded that it is "smoothly written and useful in understanding events of the past—and present."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Libraries, May, 1991, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England: 55 B.C.-A.D. 1066, p. 464.

Antioch Review, fall, 1990, T. C. Holyoke, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 540.

Atlantic Monthly, May, 1990, Phoebe-Lou Adams, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 133.

Booklist, March 1, 1990, Bennett D. Hill, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 1414; August, 1991, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, p. 2176; March 1, 1998, Steve Schroeder, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., p. 1069; January 1, 2004, Ray Olson, review of The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation, p. 793.

Bookwatch, January, 1993, review of Moorish Spain, p. 2.

Choice, March, 1979, review of The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon in the Twelfth Century, p. 134; September, 1990, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 194; July, 1991, V. R. Hotchkiss, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, p. 1758.

Contemporary Review, July, 1990, Esmond Wright, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 52.

Economist, November 4, 1989, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 111; June 13, 1998, review of The Barbarian Conversion, p. S5.

English Historical Review, January, 1980, Walter Ullmann, review of The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon in the Twelfth Century, pp. 197-198; November, 2003, Alexander Murray, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 1353.

Harper's, February, 2004, John Leonard, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 73.

Hispanic American Historical Review, November, 1979, John F. Stephens, review of The Episcopate in the Kingdom of Leon in the Twelfth Century, pp. 715-716.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, February, 1991, A. J. Forey, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 107; October, 1993, Hugh Kennedy, review of Moorish Spain, p. 494.

History Today, April, 1990, Colin Smith, review of The Quest for El Cid, pp. 57-58; September, 1992, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, review of Moorish Spain, p. 58; July, 2003, Bernard Hamilton, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 58.

Journal of World History, fall, 2000, Gregory G. Guzman, review of The Barbarian Conversion, p. 367.

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 1990, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 237; September 1, 1992, review of Moorish Spain, p. 1102; December 15, 1997, review of The Barbarian Conversion, p. 1814; May 15, 2003, review of Bloodfeud, p. 728; December 1, 2003, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 1389.

Library Journal, March 1, 1990, Bennett D. Hill, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 98; September 15, 1992, Robert Andrews, review of Moorish Spain, p. 75; February 1, 1998, James F. DeRoche, review of The Barbarian Conversion, p. 98.

Library Media Connection, September, 1991, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, p. 61.

Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1990, Lynn Hunt, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 2.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 9, 1990, pp. 2, 13; Robert L. Wilken, review of The Barbarian Conversion, September 6, 1998, pp. 6-7.

New Statesman, October 31, 1997, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., pp. 43-44; April 7, 2003, Ziauddin Sardar, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 48.

News Statesman & Society, May 22, 1992, review of Moorish Spain, p. 39.

New York Times Book Review, April 8, 1990, Ian Gibson, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 35; July 14, 1991, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 32; March 29, 1998, Felipe Frenandez-Armesto, review of The Barbarian Conversion, p. 22.

Observer (London, England), October 1, 1989, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 49; May 31, 1992, review of Moorish Spain, p. 59; September 7, 1997, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., p. 15; April 7, 2002, review of Bloodfeud, p. 14; May 18, 2003, p. 17.

Publishers Weekly, February 2, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 72.

Reference and Research Book News, June, 1991, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, p. 4; August, 1993, review of Moorish Spain, p. 7.

School Librarian, November, 1989, review of Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo Saxon England, p. 169.

Spectator, September 16, 1989, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 41; November 25, 1989, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 39; May 23, 1992, Raymond Carr, review of Moorish Spain, pp. 29-30; September 13, 1997, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., p. 35; November 15, 1997, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., p. 39; November 22, 1997, review of The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity, 371-1386 A.D., p. 47; March 2, 2002, Simon Keynes, review of Bloodfeud, p. 35; March 22, 2003, Jonathan Sumption, review of The Cross and the Crescent, p. 39.

Speculum, April, 1992, Marvin Lunenfeld, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 411; January, 2003, Michael Harney, review of The World of El Cid, p. 134.

Sunday Times (London, England), February 24, 2002, Christopher Silvester, review of Bloodfeud, p. 38.

Times (London, England), February 13, 2002, Iain Finlayson, review of Bloodfeud, p. 9.

Times Literary Supplement, October 6, 1989, Peter Linehan, review of The Quest for El Cid, p. 1098; April 13, 2001, David Abulafia, review of The World of El Cid, p. 33; July 12, 2002, Pauline Stafford, review of Bloodfeud, p. 26.

Washington Post Book World, July 6, 2003, review of Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, p. 15.