Richard Abels FRHistS (born 1951) is professor emeritus of history at the United States Naval Academy.[1] Abels is a specialist in the military and political institutions of Anglo-Saxon England.[2] He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (elected 1990) and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America (2024).[3][4] Abels' approach to medieval military history focuses upon the influence of culture upon the practice and representation of warfare.[5] With his wife Ellen Harrison, Abels is also the co-author of an article examining the role played by women in the Cathar heresy based upon a statistical analysis of Inquisitiorial registers.
Podcast: "'Tis But A Scratch: Fact & Fiction About the Middle Ages" (2022)