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Susan Reynolds
British historian (1929-2021) · United Kingdom · On the map · Writers · Died at 92
Susan Reynolds FBA was a British medieval historian whose book Fiefs and Vassals: the Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted (1994) was part of the academic critique on the concept of feudalism as classically portrayed by previous historians such as François-Louis Ganshof and Marc Bloch.
Susan Reynolds is read about 20 times a day, in 9 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 24 August 2026
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About this person
Reynolds rejected typical ideas of feudalism and presented a medieval society structured through 'horizontal' groups. According to The Guardian, "Few books have been more intensely discussed by professional medieval historians. Largely as a consequence of this work, the word 'feudalism', or the 'F-word', as it came to be called by historians, began to lose currency among British medievalists." Reynolds did not only write books that have changed the way we think about the past, but was also someone who was constantly examining her own ideas and whose interests were extraordinarily wide-ranging.
