Gillingham, John 1940–

(John Bennett Gillingham)

PERSONAL: Born August 3, 1940, in London, England; divorced; children: two. Education: Oxford University, B.A., B. Phil.

ADDRESSES: Home—Brighton, Sussex, England. Office—London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, Houghton St., London, England.

CAREER: Economist, political scientist, historian, educator, and author. University of London, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, England, beginning 1965, became senior lecturer and professor of history emeritus.

WRITINGS:

The Kingdom of Germany in the High Middle Ages (900–1200), Historical Association (London, England), 1971.

(Translator) H.E. Mayer, The Crusades, Oxford University Press (London, England), 1972.

The Life and Times of Richard I, introduction by Antonia Fraser, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1973.

Cromwell: Portrait of a Soldier, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1976.

Charlemagne, W. & R. Chambers, 1977.

Richard the Lionheart, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1978, Times Books (New York, NY), 1979, 2nd edition, New Amsterdam (New York, NY), 1991.

The Wars of the Roses: Peace and Conflict in Fifteenth-Century England, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1981, reprinted, Phoenix Press (London, England), 2001.

(Editor, with J.C. Holt) War and Government in the Middle Ages, Barnes & Noble (Totowa, NJ), 1984.

The Angevin Empire, Holmes & Meier (New York, NY) 1984, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

(Editor) Richard III: A Medieval Kingship, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

Richard Coeur de Lion: Kingship, Chivalry, and War in the Twelfth Century, Hambledon Press (Rio Grande, OH), 1994.

Richard I, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1999.

(With Peter Earle) The Middle Ages, edited by Antonia Fraser, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2000.

The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity, and Political Values, Boydell Press (Rochester, NY), 2000.

(With Ralph A. Griffiths) Medieval Britain: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

(With Danny Danziger) 1215: The Year of Magna Carta, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 2003, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.

(Editor) Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2002, Boydell (Rochester, NY), 2003.

Contributor to The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, edited by K.O. Morgan, Oxford University Press, 1984; History Makers, History of the English-speaking Peoples; and The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England; author of guide to further reading for Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis, edited and translated by H.E. Butler, Boydell (Rochester, NY), 2005. Contributor to history journals and Speculum. General editor, with Malcolm Falkus, Historical Atlas of Britain, Continuum (New York, NY), 1981, new edition, edited with John Gillingham, Crescent Books (New York, NY), 1987.

SIDELIGHTS: John Gillingham has authored or coauthored numerous history books on topics ranging from the Crusades to one of the author's most avid historical pursuits: the life and times of Richard the Lionheart, which he has studied for three decades. In his 1999 book, Richard I, Gillingham presents another biography of the renowned king. Fred A. Cazel, Jr., writing in History: Review of New Books, commented that "this book supersedes all this earlier work [on King Richard] as it draws on it." Cazel went on to write: "It also supplants all the other modern biographies of Richard because it is profoundly revisionist, presenting a different—and better—interpretation of Richard's life." Canadian Journal of History contributor Roy Martin Haines further commented: "This book—scholarly, provocative, and readable—is a distinguished contribution to a series now well underway."

The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity, and Political Values is a collection of fourteen of the author's essays published primarily in the 1990's. He discusses such historical events as England's invasion of Ireland and the development of "chivalry." Writing in the English Historical Review, Keith Stringer noted: "All told, this volume sustains an enviable excellence. The arguments are carefully nuanced yet robust and thought-provoking."

Gillingham teamed with John Danny Danziger to write 1215: The Year of Magna Carta. The authors take readers on a tour of England circa 1215, from common furnishings to the establishments of cathedrals, universities, and, most importantly, the idea of human freedoms as expressed in the Magna Carta. Writing in Publishers Weekly a reviewer observed that the authors reveal "that the Magna Carta was not an abstract thesis, but a brilliant response to a particular time and circumstance." A Kirkus Reviews contributor called 1215 "a reader-friendly glance at a turning point in history."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Journal of History, December, 2001, Roy Martin Haines, review of Richard I, p. 532.

Contemporary Review, June, 2000, review of Richard I, p. 335.

English Historical Review, November, 2000, S.D. Church, review of Richard I, p. 1231; November, 2001, Keith Stinger, review of The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity, and Political Values, p. 1246.

History: Review of New Books, spring, 2000, Fred A. Cazel, Jr., review of Richard I, p. 119,

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April, 2001, Simon Yarrow, review of Richard I, p. 363.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2004, review of 1215: The Year of Magna Carta, p. 255.

Library Journal, June 15, 2001, Michael Rogers, review of The Middle Ages, p. 108.

Medium Aevum, spring, 2006, review of The Autobiography of Gerald of Wales, p. 181.

Publishers Weekly, April 5, 2004, review of 1215, p. 49.