Catherine Hanley (born 1972) is a writer and researcher specialising in the Middle Ages.[1]

Biography

Hanley was born in Perth, Western Australia. She gained a degree and a PhD at the University of Sheffield and was a postdoctoral researcher there on the Partonopeus de Blois project.[2] While working as an academic she published a number of articles on medieval warfare and its portrayal in contemporary narrative literature; she also wrote War and Combat 1150-1270: The Evidence from Old French Literature which was published by Boydell and Brewer in 2003.[3] She was as a contributor to the Oxford Encyclopaedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology (Oxford University Press, 2010).[4]

After leaving academia she started to write historical fiction, and is the author of a series of medieval murder mystery novels featuring Edwin Weaver as the central character. The novels are set against the backdrop of the baronial war in the early 13th century, when the nobles of England rebelled against King John and invited Prince Louis of France to take the throne, before some of them changed their minds following John’s death and the accession of his nine-year-old son Henry III. The books in the series, all published by The History Press, are:

In addition to fiction, Hanley also began writing popular non-fiction history. Her book Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England (a biography of Louis VIII of France) was published by Yale University Press in 2016. It was well received, reviews calling it 'a captivating account' (Publishers Weekly),[6] 'a fast-paced biography' (The Times Literary Supplement),[7] and 'serious history, as well as a gripping and poignant story' (BBC History Magazine).[8] Hanley wrote a biography of the Empress Matilda, Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior, which was published by Yale University Press in 2019.[9][10] In 2022 she published Two Houses, Two Kingdoms: A History of France and England, 1100-1300, also with Yale University Press; the Times Literary Supplement noted that it was 'written with verve and based on impeccable scholarship'.[11]

During the early 2000s, Hanley also worked as a cricket writer,[12] publishing articles in the UK in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Wisden Cricket Monthly and the website wisden.com, and in Australia in the magazine Inside Cricket and in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack Australia. She made a brief return to cricket writing in 2013 with some articles for the Wisden India website.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Catherine Hanley – Historian and author". Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Front page". www.dhi.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Boydell & Brewer Publishers". boydellandbrewer.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Oxford University Press: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: Clifford J. Rogers". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  5. ^ "The Historical Novels Review: Book Review Magazine of the Historical Novel Society". Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
  6. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England by Catherine Hanley. Yale Univ, $40 (296p) ISBN 978-0-300-21745-2". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  7. ^ Taylor, Alice (10 February 2017). "Biography". Times Literary Supplement. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Reviews of Louis - CatherineHanley.co.uk". www.catherinehanley.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  9. ^ "CatherineHanley.co.uk". www.catherinehanley.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Matilda by Catherine Hanley review – from warrior to queen of England". the Guardian. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  11. ^ "The Capetian and Angevin dynastic squabbles". TLS. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Non-fiction – Catherine Hanley". Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Posts by Catherine Hanley | Cricket News | Blogs | Articles | Wisden India". Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.

External links

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