Christopher Allmand obituary | History

My fellow medievalist Christopher Allmand, who has died aged 86, was a historian of the hundred years conflict, particularly throughout and after the reign of Henry V, to which Christopher devoted a significant examine in 1992.

He was an necessary determine in a golden era of British students who made a considerable contribution to the examine of later medieval French historical past, notably Peter Lewis, Richard Vaughan, Kenneth Fowler, Michael CE Jones and Malcolm Vale. The sphere was a pure alternative for Christopher, provided that his mom was from Normandy and French was spoken within the household residence.

Christopher was born in Hampstead, north London, to Marguerite (nee Malicorne), a full-time spouse and mom, and Arthur Allmand, professor of chemistry at King’s Faculty London, who had been awarded the Navy Cross in 1916. After Ampleforth faculty in North Yorkshire, Christopher studied historical past at Oriel Faculty, Oxford, the place he met Bernadette Heath on a French literary weekend; they married in 1964.

Lancastrian Normandy (c1415-50) was the topic of his doctoral analysis at Oxford below the supervision of EF Jacob. The ensuing thesis knowledgeable a later, necessary guide on Lancastrian Normandy (1983), however it’s in all probability for his extremely accessible historical past, The Hundred Years Conflict (1988), finally translated into 5 European languages, for which Christopher stays greatest identified.

Right here and elsewhere, he thought of conflict within the spherical moderately than in slender navy phrases: the way it affected teams such because the clergy or townsfolk, or its influence on literature. He would later attribute this strategy to the affect of KB McFarlane, however extra broadly it was an strategy shared by students who had skilled the influence of warfare in their very own lives. In Christopher’s case, his older brother, Michael, was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously, whereas his sister, Marguerite, served at Bletchley.

Christopher turned a lecturer in historical past at Bangor College in 1964, then went to the historical past division at Liverpool College in 1967, the place he progressed from lecturer to professor. He was head of division at Liverpool, and inside the wider career he served for a number of years as literary director of the Royal Historic Society.

On retirement from Liverpool College in 1998, Christopher edited plenty of necessary collections of essays, produced an formidable examine of the reception of Vegetius (2011) within the center ages, and – strenuous to the final – assembled simply months earlier than his loss of life a set of his personal essays, which is able to stay a staple of undergraduate studying lists for years to come back.

Bernadette, the dedicatee of most of his books, died final 12 months. He’s survived by their daughters, Catherine, Sarah, Celia and Alison.

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