Dame Janet Nelson DBE FRHistS FBA
Nelson in 2019
Born	Janet Laughland Muir (1942-03-28)28 March 1942 Blackpool,Lancashire, England
Died	14 October 2024(2024-10-14) (aged 82)
Other names	Jinty Nelson
Spouse	Howard Nelson ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 2010)​
Children	2
Academic background
Alma mater	Newnham College, Cambridge
Thesis	Rituals of Royal Inauguration in Early Medieval Europe (1967)
Doctoral advisor	Walter Ullmann
Academic work
Discipline	History
Sub-discipline	Medieval history
Institutions	King's College London
Doctoral students	Alex Burghart Paul Fouracre Sarah Hamilton Alice Rio
Main interests	Medievalkingship

Dame Janet Laughland NelsonDBE FRHistS FBA (née Muir; 28 March 1942 – 14 October 2024), also known asJinty Nelson, was a British historian and professor ofmedieval history atKing's College London.

Janet Muir was born on 28 March 1942 inBlackpool,Lancashire, the daughter of William Wilson Muir and Elizabeth Barnes Muir (née Laughland). She had a sister, Christine. She was educated atKeswick School,Cumbria, and atNewnham College, Cambridge, where she received herBA degree in 1964. She studied for aPhD under ProfessorWalter Ullmann on early medieval inauguration ritual, which was presented in 1967.^[1][2][3]

After working briefly in theForeign Office,^[2] Nelson was appointed a lecturer atKing's College, London, in 1970,^[4] promoted to Reader in 1987, to Professor in 1993, and Director of the Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies in 1994, retiring in 2007.^[5]

Although she had studied under Ullmann, in 1977 she published an article critiquing his work, which she saw as overly sympathetic to theCarolingian Empire's administrative bureaucracy. Instead, Nelson argued that Ullman had overestimated the Empire's ability or sophistication to reform itself as he had earlier proposed, thereby casting doubt on the decisiveness of theCarolingian Renaissance.^[2] She returned to the topic over her career, and while—inPaul Fouracre's words—"coming to appreciate the coherence of Carolingian thought, she also recognised that much of it was rhetorical".^[2]

Elected a Fellow of theRoyal Historical Society in 1979, Nelson was appointed the Society's first female President in 2001.^[6] Her first biography, in 1992, was of the 9th-centuryFrankish King,Charles the Bald.^[2] She was President of theEcclesiastical History Society (1993–94)^[7] and was a Vice-President of theBritish Academy (2000–01), which she had been elected to in 1996.^[2] In 2013 she gave the British Academy's Raleigh Lecture on History.^[8] The Jinty Nelson Award for Inspirational Teaching & Supervision in History was established by the Royal Historical Society in January 2018.^[9]

Nelson's research focused onearly medieval Europe, includingAnglo-Saxon England. She published widely onkingship, government, political ideas, religion and ritual, and increasingly on women and gender during this period. From 2000 to 2010 she co-directed, withSimon Keynes (ofCambridge University), the AHRC-funded projectProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England.^[10]

She published over 140 papers—half of which were gathered into four volumes of collected essays^[2]—as well as book-reviews. She co-founded^[2] and co-edited, withRosemary Horrox, the translation-seriesManchester Medieval Sources from 1991 until 2009, and from 2011 was co-editor, withHenrietta Leyser, ofThe Oxford History of Medieval Europe.^[5]

Her last bookKing and Emperor, a biography ofCharlemagne, was published in 2019.^[11] Reviewing the book for theFinancial Times, historianDavid Bates said, "Rigorous assessments of difficult evidence are mixed with what feels like invitations to conversation. Their effect is to transport readers away from the eighth and ninth centuries to the 21st — and into quite a few others as well — demonstrating the effectiveness of biography as a means to understand a seemingly remote age, a subject on which Nelson reflects insightfully."^[12]

Explaining her approach, she said: ".. my research has centred on early medieval European themes: politics and ritual, women's history and gender, ecclesiastical, social and cultural history. As my publications suggest, I tend to stick to choices, once made. My preferred genres are articles rather than books, collaborative and interdisciplinary projects rather than solo ones."^[13]

In 1965 Muir married theanthropologist Howard Nelson, who specialised inChinese culture, whom she had met at Cambridge.^[2][14] They had a son named Billy and a daughter named Lizzie before divorcing in 2010.^[15] Nelson was lifelong member of theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a supporter of theLabour Party.^[2]

Nelson hadAlzheimer's disease in her final years,^[2] and died on 14 October 2024, at the age of 82.^[16] King's College London published a tribute, describing Nelson as "an immensely important figure in the department, and at King's more generally.^[17]

Nelson was appointed aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2006 Birthday Honours and held honorary doctorates from the Universities ofEast Anglia (2004),^[18]St Andrews (2007),^[19]Queen's University Belfast (2009),^[20]York (2010),^[21]Liverpool (2010)^[22] andNottingham (2010).^[1]

Her bookKing and Emperor, a New Life of Charlemagne was awarded "History Book of The Year for 2019" byThe Daily Telegraph and theBBC.^[23]

• —— (2019).King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne. University of California Press.ISBN 978-0520-3142-07.^[24]
• ——; Kempf, D., eds. (2015).Reading the Bible in the Middle Ages. Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN 978-1474-2457-39.^[25]
• —— (2007).Courts, Elites and Gendered Power in the Early Middle Ages. Aldershot: Routledge.ISBN 978-0754-6593-34.^[26]
• ——; Wormald, D., eds. (2007).Lay Intellectuals in the Carolingian World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0521-8345-37.
• ——; Reuter, Timothy, eds. (2007).Medieval Politics and Modern Mentalities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0511-4972-16.
• ——; Linehan, P., eds. (2003).The Medieval World. London: Psychology Press.ISBN 978-1138-8486-89.
• ——; Stafford, P.; Martindale, J., eds. (2001).Law, Laity and Solidarities: Essays in Honour of Susan Reynolds. Manchester: Manchester University Press.ISBN 978-0719-0583-63.
• ——; Theuws, F., eds. (2000).Rituals of Power from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 978-9004-1090-25.
• —— (1999).Rulers and Ruling Families in Earlier Medieval Europe. London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0860-7880-27.
• —— (1996).The Frankish World, 750–900. London: A&C Black.ISBN 978-1852-8510-57.
• —— (1992).Charles the Bald. London: Routledge.ISBN 978-0582-0558-41.
• —— (1991).The Annals of St-Bertin. Manchester: Manchester University Press.ISBN 978-0719-0342-51.
• —— (1986).Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe. London: Bloomsbury.ISBN 978-0907-6285-90.

Nelson appeared on BBC television and radio, notably as an expert onMichael Wood's 2013 BBC TV seriesKing Alfred and the Anglo Saxons.^[27]

• Biography on the King's College London website
• Transcript of interview at theInstitute of Historical Research, London, 30 May 2008
• Dame Janet Nelson – Honorary Graduate video interview, published byUniversity of Nottingham, 11 August 2010

• 1942 births
• 2024 deaths
• Academics of King's College London
• Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
• British women medievalists
• Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
• Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• English historians
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• People from Blackpool
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• Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society
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