Philip Mansel

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Philip Mansel (born 1951) is a British historian of courts and cities, and the author of a number of books about the history of France and the

Balliol College, Oxford, and obtained a doctorate at University College London in 1978.[1]
He has lived in Paris, Istanbul and Beirut and now lives in London.

Career

Philip Mansel's first book, Louis XVIII, was published in 1981 and this – together with subsequent works such as

Paris Between Empires 1814–1852
(2001) – established him as an authority on the French monarchy, a fact recognised later by his appointment as Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. Seven of his books have been translated into French. In 2019 his book King of the World: The life of Louis XIV, was published in London by Penguin. It has been translated into Dutch, Italian, French and German and was published in the US in 2020 by UChicago.

Sultans in Splendour, with over 100 photographs on monarchs of the Middle East before 1945 was published in 1988,

about the history of Smyrna, Beirut and Alexandria, was published in 2010. The last two have been translated into Italian, Greek and Turkish.

In 2016, Mansel's book Aleppo: The Rise and Fall of Syria's Great Merchant City was released.[4] The book features the author's history of the city in Part 1, as well as 15 primary source accounts in Part 2, collected from British and French consuls, merchants, scientists, and travelers to Aleppo over the past 400 years.[5][6] A revised and updated paperback edition was published in 2018.[7]

In 1995, Mansel was a co-founder of the

Society for Court Studies, together with David Starkey, Robert Oresko and Simon Thurley. For 20 years he was the editor of the Society's journal, The Court Historian.[8]

He is a Fellow of the

Royal Asiatic Society, and president of the Conseil Scientifique of the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles.[9]

Mansel was awarded the London Library Life in Literature prize in 2012.[10]

Over the past 30 years Mansel has contributed reviews and articles to a wide range of newspapers and journals, including History Today, The English Historical Review, The International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Apollo. Currently he writes for The Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement and Cornucopia.

Mansel has lectured all over the world – including the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey – and has made a number of appearances on radio and television, including in the two-part Channel 4 documentary Harem and in Versailles (BBC2, 2012). He has been interviewed on French, Belgian, Turkish and Lebanese television.

Books

The Levantine Heritage Foundation

Philip Mansel is a trustee of the Levantine Heritage Foundation.

Kimmeridge Project

Philip Mansel is actively involved in the Kimmeridge Project, whose objective is to provide a secure and permanent home for the scientifically valuable Etches Fossil Collection, in a world class facility in Kimmeridge. The resulting Jurassic Marine Life Centre will open up access to this important educational resource and provide the village of Kimmeridge with a centre for the local community.

In 1995 Mansel started a campaign to save

The Landmark Trust
. Clavell Tower is now the Trust's most popular property.

References

  1. ^ "Philip Mansel – writes about Monarchs And Courts, Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century in France". Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Turkish delights". The Independent. 4 November 1995. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean by Philip Mansel: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  4. ^ I.B.Tauris. "Aleppo The Rise and Fall of Syria's Great Merchant City". Shorthand. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  5. ^ Elif Shafak (17 June 2016). "Aleppo: The Rise and Fall of Syria's Great Merchant City', by Philip Mansel". www.ft.com. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  6. ^ "The rise and fall of Aleppo, Syria's great merchant city". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. .
  8. ^ "The Society for Court Studies". Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Philip Mansel – Senior Fellow of the IHR | Institute of Historical Research". Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  10. ^ "Historian Philip Mansel Wins 2012 London Library Life In Literature Award Supported By Heywood Hill - News". Heywood Hill. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  11. ^ Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 27 April 2003
  12. ^ Discreet Charms of a Priapic Adventurer, Tim Blanning, Times Literary Supplement, 13 June 2003
  13. ^ The Emperor's Real Clothes Roy Strong, The Spectator, 6 August 2005
  14. ^ Winds of Cosmopolitanism - Making Sense of the Past, The Economist, 9 December 2010

External links