Alwyn Ruddock

Alwyn Ruddock (1916–2005) was a noted British historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the "English" voyages of the 15th-century explorer John Cabot. Cabot and other English navigators of the time were trying to find lands to the West, such as the mythical "Isle of Brasil" or the North American lands first discovered by Icelanders in previous centuries.

Ruddock's first published research was a two-volume work (With David Beers Quinn) on The Port Books or Local Customs Accounts of Southampton (Vol I 1937 & Vol II 1938). During World War II, she taught in the history department of what was to become Southampton University. She also published in many of the top academic journals, such as English Historical Review, Economic History Review, and History.

In 1946 Ruddock moved to Birkbeck College, University of London where she published in 1951 Italian Merchants and Shipping in Southampton, 1270-1500 (1951). She was appointed the position of reader in history in 1952, and subsequently elected as a fellow of both the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the Royal Historical Society.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Ruddock's concerns shifted from the activities of Italian merchants in Southampton to a broader investigation of Italian mercantile networks and businesses in medieval Europe. She intended to produce a "big" book on Italian Merchants and Shipping. Around 1965, she claimed to have made a discovery in the archives of a Venetian banking family: documents relating to John Cabot's early activities, including a loan that the family advanced to him in c. 1496. For at least 25 years, she was promising to produce her Cabot book "soon"; in 1992 she undertook a formal book contract with the University of Exeter Press.

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