author
William Stubbs
1825–1901
A leading Victorian historian and churchman, he helped turn the study of medieval England into a disciplined, source-based field. His writing shaped how generations of readers understood the growth of English institutions and the medieval past.
1 Audiobook
The early Plantagenets
by William Stubbs
About the author
Born in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, in 1825, William Stubbs became one of the most influential historians of medieval England. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and built a career that joined scholarship with service in the Church of England.
Stubbs is especially remembered for founding the systematic study of English medieval constitutional history. As Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, he was known for careful work with original documents, and books such as Constitutional History of England and Select Charters made him a major authority for students of the Middle Ages.
Later in life, he served as Bishop of Chester and then Bishop of Oxford. That combination of historian, editor of sources, teacher, and bishop gives his work a distinctive character: learned and exacting, but always connected to the larger story of English public and religious life.