Ian Mortimer | |
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Born | 1967 (age 56–57) [1] Petts Wood, London Borough of Bromley, England |
Alma mater | University of Exeter University College London |
Genre | History, historiography, historical fiction |
Website | |
www |
Ian James Forrester Mortimer (born 1967), [1] FSA , FRHistS , is a British historian and writer of historical fiction. He is best known for his book The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England , which became a Sunday Times bestseller in paperback in 2010.
Ian James Forrester Mortimer was born in 1967, in Petts Wood, and was educated at Eastbourne College, the University of Exeter (BA, PhD, DLitt) and University College London (MA). He has BA, MA and PhD degrees in history. [2]
Between 1993 and 2003, he worked for several major research institutions, including the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, the University of Exeter, and the University of Reading. From 2000-2003, he was the University of Exeter's first professional archivist. [2]
His first publications were poems, published in various literary magazines. In 2000, his work "31 December 1999" was awarded the University of Exeter's prize for a "poem for the Millennium", open to all present and past students of the university, and judged by the then poet laureate, Andrew Motion.[ citation needed ]
Since 2001, he has been a self-employed writer. [2] From 2003 to 2009, he published a sequence of biographies of medieval political leaders: first Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, then Edward III, and Henry IV, in addition to 1415, a year in the life of Henry V. [2]
Mortimer's best-known book is The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, first published in the United Kingdom in 2008. It was followed by The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England (which became a BBC TV series, presented by the author), The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain and The Time Travellers Guide to Regency Britain. [2]
He is also well known for pioneering, in his first two books and an article in The English Historical Review , the argument (based on evidence such as the Fieschi Letter) that Edward II did not die in Berkeley Castle in 1327. [3] [2]
Mortimer has also carried out research into the social history of early modern medicine. His essay "The Triumph of the Doctors" was awarded the 2004 Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society. In this essay he demonstrated that ill and injured people close to death shifted their hopes of physical salvation from an exclusively religious source of healing power (God, or Jesus Christ) to a predominantly human one (physicians and surgeons) over the period 1615–1670, and argued that this shift of outlook was among the most profound changes western society has ever experienced.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, Mortimer entered the genre of historical fiction, publishing the first book from his Elizabethan era Clarenceux Trilogy using the pen name of James Forrester. James Forrester are Mortimer's middle names. [4] [5] His fourth novel, The Outcasts of Time, was published under his ordinary name: it won the 2018 Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction.[ citation needed ]
In 2003, he was appointed by the Secretary of State Member of Dartmoor National Park Authority, representing the parishes. In 2009, he was reappointed as a Member by the Secretary of State, this time representing the national interest – a role which he continued to perform until 2017.[ citation needed ]
Other public appointments have included the Lord Chancellor's Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research, 2011–17 (subsequently known as the Forum on Archives and Academic Research) and the Fabric Advisory Committee of Exeter Cathedral, 2011–16.[ citation needed ]
In a 2010 essay by Mortimer, he criticised Wikipedia's spurning of primary sources, and its apparent inability to publish the latest research done by experts in a field, citing his involvement with editing the birth date of Henry V as an example. [a] He wrote that Wikipedia "elevates discarded and outdated opinion to the same level or even above that of well-evidenced knowledge". [6] In a short piece written in 2012, he was again highly critical of Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales. In this piece, he opined that "the structure of Wikipedia promotes hearsay, prejudice, supposition and superficiality on an equal footing with genuine information and understanding", and that Wales created the resource for his own political ends. [7]
Mortimer is the nephew of the British tennis player Angela Mortimer.[ citation needed ]
Among his interests, he includes running. In 2017, he wrote a memoir about the meaning of running, which relates the various lessons he had learnt from taking part in parkrun and half marathons – which was published as Why Running Matters: lessons in life, pain and exhilaration, from 5K to the marathon (Summersdale, 2019).[ citation needed ]
Mortimer is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). [2]
On 12 February 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA). [8]
Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England, managed by English Heritage; much of it is in ruins. The castle was founded after the Norman Conquest of 1066; with development through to the Tudor period. It has been described by the architectural historian Anthony Emery as "the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship".
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the yeoman class. He is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green.
Edward III, also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous and unorthodox reign of his father, Edward II. Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His fifty-year reign is one of the longest in English history, and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English Parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death. He outlived his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, and was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II.
Isabella of France, sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France, was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II, and de facto regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of King Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Isabella was notable in her lifetime for her diplomatic skills, intelligence, and beauty. She overthrew her husband, becoming a "femme fatale" figure in plays and literature over the years, usually portrayed as a beautiful but cruel and manipulative figure.
Alfred Leslie Rowse was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall.
In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies. The histories—along with those of contemporary Renaissance playwrights—help define the genre of history plays. The Shakespearean histories are biographies of English kings of the previous four centuries and include the standalones King John, Edward III and Henry VIII as well as a continuous sequence of eight plays. These last are considered to have been composed in two cycles. The so-called first tetralogy, apparently written in the early 1590s, covers the Wars of the Roses saga and includes Henry VI, Parts I, II & III and Richard III. The second tetralogy, finished in 1599 and including Richard II, Henry IV, Parts I & II and Henry V, is frequently called the Henriad after its protagonist Prince Hal, the future Henry V.
Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, 1st Earl of March, was an English nobleman and powerful marcher lord who gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. Her mother was of the royal House of Lusignan. In November 1316, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322 for having led the marcher lords in a revolt against King Edward II in what became known as the Despenser War.
Robert Geoffrey Trease FRSL was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with Bows Against the Barons and ending with Cloak for a Spy in 1997. His work has been translated into 20 languages. He is best known for the children's novel Cue for Treason (1940).
The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer, known as Edward II, is a Renaissance or early modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays, and focuses on the relationship between King Edward II of England and Piers Gaveston, and Edward's murder on the orders of Roger Mortimer.
In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with the reign of Henry VII. Under the Tudor dynasty, art, architecture, trade, exploration, and commerce flourished. Historian John Guy (1988) argued that "England was economically healthier, more expensive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time since the Roman occupation.
Hugh Despenser, 1st Baron Despenser, also referred to as "the Younger Despenser", was the son and heir of Hugh Despenser, Earl of Winchester, and his wife Isabel Beauchamp, daughter of William Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick. He rose to national prominence as royal chamberlain and a favourite of Edward II of England. Despenser made many enemies amongst the nobility of England. After the overthrow of Edward, he was eventually charged with high treason and ultimately hanged, drawn and quartered.
The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rolls or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or Treasury, and its successors, as well as the Exchequer of Ireland. The earliest date from the 12th century, and the series extends, mostly complete, from then until 1833. They form the oldest continuous series of records concerning English governance kept by the English, British, Irish and United Kingdom governments, covering a span of about 700 years. The early medieval ones are especially useful for historical study, as they are some of the earliest financial records available from the Middle Ages. A similar set of records was developed for Normandy, which was ruled by the English kings from 1066 to 1205, but the Norman Pipe rolls have not survived in a continuous series like the English.
The Southampton Plot was a conspiracy to depose King Henry V of England, revealed in 1415 just as the king was about to sail on campaign to France as part of the Hundred Years' War. The plan was to replace him with Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer of Chirk was a 14th-century Marcher lord, notable for his opposition to Edward II of England during the Despenser War.
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The wars were fought between supporters of the House of Lancaster and House of York, two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The conflict resulted in the end of Lancaster's male line in 1471, leaving the Tudor family to inherit their claim to the throne through the female line. Conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Exeter, Devon, England.
The Royal Clarence Hotel is a former hotel in Cathedral Yard, Exeter, Devon, England. It is often described as the first property in England to be called a hotel; however, The German Hotel, London, was described in this way in 1710, so it is probably the second. Since 2005 the 53-bedroom hotel was branded as ABode Exeter.
The Parliament of 1327, which sat at the Palace of Westminster between 7 January and 9 March 1327, was instrumental in the transfer of the English Crown from King Edward II to his son, Edward III. Edward II had become increasingly unpopular with the English nobility due to the excessive influence of unpopular court favourites, the patronage he accorded them, and his perceived ill-treatment of the nobility. By 1325, even his wife, Queen Isabella, despised him. Towards the end of the year, she took the young Edward to her native France, where she entered into an alliance with the powerful and wealthy nobleman Roger Mortimer, who her husband previously had exiled. The following year, they invaded England to depose Edward II. Almost immediately, the King's resistance was beset by betrayal, and he eventually abandoned London and fled west, probably to raise an army in Wales or Ireland. He was soon captured and imprisoned.
Bruce Mortimer Stanley Campbell, FBA, MRIA, MAE, FRHistS, FAcSS is a British economic historian. From 1995 to 2014, he was Professor of Medieval Economic History at Queen's University Belfast, where he remains an emeritus professor.
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century is a handbook about Late Medieval England by British historian Ian Mortimer. It was first published on 2 October 2008 by The Bodley Head, and a later edition with more pages was released on 29 February 2012. The volume debunks and explains various myths about the period.
Ian Mortimer was born in Petts Wood, Kent in 1967. He won a scholarship to Eastbourne College (Sussex) and later read for degrees in history and archive studies at the University of Exeter and University College London. He has BA, MA and PhD degrees in history, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.