Antonia Gransden
Antonia Gransden (née Morland; 7 October 1928 – 18 January 2020), English
Work at the British Museum fuelled her fascination with the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. She then went on to edit the records of the abbey, resulting in a two-volume History of the Abbey of Bury St Edmonds, which she completed aged 86.
Life
Gransden was born Antonia Morland.[2] Her father was a director of Morlands clothing company in Glastonbury, Somerset.[1] Educated at Dartington Hall and Somerville College, Oxford, she gained a first class degree and studied for a PhD. She spent a decade as assistant keeper in the British Museum reading room from 1952, before joining Nottingham University as an assistant lecturer in 1964.[1]She married Ken Gransden in 1957 and the couple had two daughters. However, the marriage was dissolved in 1977.[3] She retired from Nottingham University in 1989.[1]
Antonia Gransden was a long-standing member of the Labour Party, and an advocate for women's rights to education, equal pay and opportunities. She died on 18 January 2020 at the age of 91.[1] At the time of her death her "magisterial" two volumes on Historical Writing in England remained unsurpassed.[4]
Select bibliography
- A History of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, 1257-1301. Simon of Luton and John of Northwold (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2015)
- (ed.) The Letter-Book of William of Hoo: Sacrist of Bury St Edmunds, 1280–1294 (Ipswich: Suffolk Records Society, 1963)
- (ed. & trans.) The Chronicle of Bury St Edmunds 1212–1301 (London; Edinburgh: Nelson, 1964)
- (ed.) The Customary of the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk: (from Harleian MS. 1005 in the British Museum) (Henry Bradshaw Society, 1973)
- Historical Writing in England, c.550 to c.1307 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974)
- Historical Writing in England, c.1307 to the Early Sixteenth Century (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982)
- Legends, Traditions, and History in Medieval England (London: Hambledon Press, 1992)
References
- ^ a b c d e James Clark (16 February 2020). "Antonia Gransden obituary".
- ^ "Antonia Gransden, 91: Medievalist, watercolourist and friend of EM Forster". The Times. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- ^ Murray, Penelope (3 August 1998). "Obituary: K. W. Gransden". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
- ^ Fulton, Helen (2020). "Medieval Historical Writing: Britain and Ireland, 500–1500 ed. by Jennifer Jahner, Emily Steiner, and Elizabeth M. Tyler (review)". Studies in the Age of Chaucer. 42: 413–7.