David Bates (historian)

David Bates (born 30 April 1945) is a British historian of Britain and France during the period from the tenth century to the thirteenth century. He has written many books and articles during his career.

The most important of his books are:

The two most recent of these books seek to create an analytical framework for the expansion of the Normans in Western Europe and to propose a radical revision of the life of William the Conqueror. The first of them was published by Oxford University Press and the second by Yale University Press in the English Monarchs series. Normandy before 1066, when published in 1982, was a significant reinterpretation of Normandy’s early history. Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum contains the texts of all of William the Conqueror’s charters, including many unknown or scarcely known ones. All of these four books are based on extensive researches in the archives and libraries in France and Normandy that have uncovered a lot of new or inadequately known material and on a determination to place the history of the Normans and the lands they occupied and settled within a European and a modern interpretative context.

He is now an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, a Life Member of Clare Hall in the University of Cambridge, and a Vice-President of the Dugdale Society.

He has also held many visiting posts and fellowships. These include:

He has given many prestigious public lectures. These include :

In addition to his publications, he has taken on many responsibilities for the welfare of the study of History and for the Arts and Humanities in general during his career. At Cardiff he was Head of History and Welsh History, at Glasgow, Head of the Departments of Medieval History and History and of the School of History and Archaeology. As Director of the Institute of Historical Research, he held one of the most important posts in the UK historical profession.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Centenary Fellow of the Historical Association, a Member of the Academy of Europe, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

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