Alan V. Murray

Alan V. Murray is a Scottish historian and philologist specializing in the history of the Crusades, medieval warfare and tournaments, and Middle High German language and literature. He is Professor of Medieval European History at the University of Leeds and a former Director of the International Medieval Bibliography (IMB).

Education

Murray grew up in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, where he attended Galashiels Academy. He studied Ancient, Medieval and Modern History and German Language and Literature at the University of St Andrews, developing his interests on the Crusader States with Hugh Kennedy and literature of the crusades with Jeffrey Ashcroft. and graduating with an M.A. in Medieval History and German in 1980. He taught English at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg before returning to St Andrews in 1981 to undertake a PhD under Kennedy's supervision. His thesis, "Monarchy and Nobility in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099–1131: Establishment and Origins", was completed in 1988. During his doctoral studies, Murray spent 1984–1986 studying History, German and Folk Music at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

Career

In 1988 Murray joined the University of Leeds as Editorial Assistant with the International Medieval Bibliography, gaining promotion in 1990 to Assistant Editor. In 1995 Murray became Editor of the printed version of the bibliography. With his colleague Rhiannon Lawrence-Francis he oversaw its digitisation, alongside ongoing print publication, initially for publication on CD-ROM (a project completed in 2000), followed by publication online (first published 2002). Murray retired from his editorship in 2024 and was succeeded by Dr Melanie Brunner. In 1995, while assistant editor of the IMB, Murray founded the journal Bulletin of International Medieval Research. The Bulletin later merged with Leeds Studies in English to become Leeds Medieval Studies, of which Murray was also an editor; the first volume of the new journal was published in 2021.

Alongside his bibliographic and editorial work, Murray developed his role as a teacher and researcher. He first appears in the University of Leeds Calendar on the board of studies of the Leeds Centre for Medieval Studies (now Institute for Medieval Studies) for the academic year 1990–91. He became Lecturer in Medieval Studies in 2004, advancing to Senior Lecturer, and becoming Professor of Medieval European History in 2023. In collaboration with the Royal Armouries, he led development of teaching and research on medieval tournaments at Leeds.

Research

Murray's earliest research was on the composition of the First Crusade (1096-1099) and the early history of the Frankish principalities of Outremer, and was especially informed by prosopographical and pragmatic approaches. He later became interested in the history of the Baltic region, and edited three collections of essays bringing together work by historians in Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, U.S.A. and Canada. In 2011 he received the Vilis Vitols Award, bestowed annually by the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies for the best article published in the Journal of Baltic Studies. He has also published numerous essays on medieval German literature, medieval Flanders, and tournaments. Many of these were written in German, while others have been translated into Estonian, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Slovene and Turkish. His biography of Baldwin of Bourcq, count of Edessa and king of Jerusalem (published 2022), won the J. F. Verbruggen Prize, awarded by De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History "for the best book on medieval military history published within the prior three years". He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an elected member of the Baltische Historische Kommission.

As a student Murray worked during vacations as a labourer, a tourist guide at Abbotsford House (Melrose), a clerical officer with the Scottish Special Housing Association, and as a musician. He plays fiddle, whistle, guitar and Northumbrian smallpipes and has won prizes for singing and piping at traditional music festivals at Rothbury (1980) and Newcastleton (1988).

Major works

Author

• Murray, Alan V. (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History 1099–1125. Occasional publications of the Linacre Unit for Prosopographical Research, 4. Oxford (GB): Prosopographica et genealogica. ISBN 978-1-900934-03-9.
• Murray, Alan V. (2015). The Franks in Outremer: Studies in the Latin Principalities of Palestine and Syria, 1099–1187. Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS1056. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781472468857.
• Murray, Alan V. (2022). Baldwin of Bourcq: Count of Edessa and King of Jerusalem (1100–1131). Rulers of the Latin East. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-47980-5.

Editor

• Forde, Simon; Johnson, Lesley; Murray, Alan V., eds. (1995). Concepts of National Identity in the Middle Ages. Leeds Texts and Monographs. New series, 14. Leeds: Leeds Studies in English. ISBN 0902296248.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (1998). From Clermont to Jerusalem: The Crusades and Crusader Societies, 1095–1500. Selected Proceedings of the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, 10–13 July 1995. International Medieval Research, 3. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 2503506674.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2001). Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier, 1150–1500. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0325-2.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2009). The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier. Farnham, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-6483-3. OCLC 310096942.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2006). The Crusades: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576078620.
• Rider, Jeff; Murray, Alan V., eds. (2009). Galbert of Bruges and the Historiography of Medieval Flanders. Washington, D.C: Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-1719-2. OCLC 317623420.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2014). The North-Eastern Frontiers of Medieval Europe: The Expansion of Latin Christendom in the Baltic Lands. The expansion of Latin Europe, 1000–1500, 4. Farnham: Ashgate Variorum. ISBN 9781409436805.
• Murray, Alan V., ed. (2015). The Crusades to the Holy Land: The Essential Reference Guide. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LLC. ISBN 978-1-61069-779-8.
• Murray, Alan V.; Watts, Karen, eds. (2020). The Medieval Tournament as Spectacle: Tourneys, Jousts and pas d'armes, 1100–1600. Royal Armouries Research Series, 1. Woodbridge: Boydell. ISBN 9781787449237.

Database

• Riley-Smith, J. S. C.; Phillips, Jonathan; Murray, Alan V.; Perry, Guy; Morton, Nicholas (2016). "A Database of Crusaders to the Holy Land, 1095-1149". The Digital Humanities Institute, University of Sheffield. Retrieved 2024-10-03.

External links

• Bibliothèque nationale de France {BnF Data}
• ORCiD record