Alexander Clarence Flick

Born in 1869 and active well into the early twentieth century, Alexander Clarence Flick was an American historian best known for writing large-scale works on European and church history. Records available online identify him as a professor of European history at Syracuse University, and later as State Historian of New York.

His best-known book is The Rise of the Mediaeval Church and Its Influence on the Civilisation of Western Europe from the First to the Thirteenth Century, first published in 1909. He also wrote The Decline of the Medieval Church and Modern World History, showing a career-long interest in the long development of Western institutions, religion, and society.

Flick's work was written for readers who wanted broad historical explanation rather than narrow specialist debate. Even today, his titles suggest an author concerned with the big picture: how churches, states, and social structures changed Europe across centuries. He died in 1942.