Richard William Barber FRSL FSA

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

 FRHistS (born 1941) is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days. He has specialised in Arthurian

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 legend, beginning with a general survey, Arthur of Albion (1961) which is still in print in a revised edition. His other major interest is historical biography; he has published on Henry Plantagenet (1964) and among his other books is the standard biography of Edward, the Black Prince

Edward, the Black Prince

Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....

, Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. The interplay between history and literature was the theme of The Knight and Chivalry, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1971 and he returned to this theme in The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (2004); this was widely praised in the UK press, and had major reviews in The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

and The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

. He is currently working on a group biography of the first knights of the Order of the Garter.

Barber's other career has been as a publisher. In 1969 he helped to found The Boydell Press, which later became Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Boydell & Brewer

Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editions, and translations of material related to the...

, one of the leading publishers in medieval studies

Medieval studies

-Development:The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books like G. G. Coulton's Ten Medieval Studies , to emphasize a greater interdisciplinary approach to a historical subject...

, and was group managing director until 2009. In 1989, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, in association with the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

, started the University of Rochester Press in upstate New York. The group currently publishes over 200 titles a year.

Select bibliography

• Arthur of Albion: an introduction to the Arthurian literature and Legends of England (Barrie & Rockliff with Pall Mall P, 1961).
• The Knight and Chivalry (London; 1970).
• The Figure of Arthur (London: Longman, 1972).
• King Arthur: in Legend and History (Boydell Press, 1973).
• Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine (London; 1978).
• Life and Campaigns of the Black Prince (1979).
• The Arthurian Legends: An Illustrated Anthology (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1979).
• Legends of Arthur (The Boydell Press
  Boydell & Brewer
  Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editions, and translations of material related to the...
  
  ; 2001) ISBN 0-85115-837-4
• The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief (London: Allen Lane & Harvard University Press; 2004). ISBN 978-0-674-01390-2
• The Holy Grail, The History of a Legend (Penguin Books Ltd; 2004).
• The Reign of Chivalry (2nd Ed. UK: The Boydell Press; 2005) ISBN 1-8438-3182-1

• Edited and introduced by Richard Barber: Myths & legends of the British Isles (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1999).

Collaborations

• with Juliet Barker
  Juliet Barker
  Juliet R. V. Barker FRSL is a British historian, specialising in the Middle Ages and literary biography. She is the author of a number of well-regarded works on the Brontës, William Wordsworth, and medieval tournaments...
  
  : Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1989).

External links