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Michael Lynch,FRHistS,FRSE,FSA Scot (born 15 June 1946) is a retired Scottishhistorian and a leading expert in the history of theScottish Reformation and pre-modern urbanisation in the Scottish kingdom. In 2010, five years after his retirement, he was described by one reviewer as 'one of the most influential historians in Scotland of the last thirty years', whose work has been characterised by an 'ability to bring ecclesiastical, cultural and urban perspectives to traditional Scottish political and governmental histories', as well as the ability 'to clarify a difficult theory within a deceptively simple phrase'.[1]
Lynch was born inAberdeen.[2] He was educated atAberdeen Grammar School before taking degrees at theUniversity of Aberdeen and theUniversity of London. His first academic post was a lectureship in the history department at University College, Bangor (nowBangor University), from 1971 to 1979. From there he took up a lectureship in the Scottish history department at theUniversity of Edinburgh, where, in 1993, he was appointedSir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography, holding this Chair—the oldest and most distinguished Scottish history professorship in the world—until his retirement in 2005. As Professor he served as chairman of theAncient Monuments Board for Scotland (1996–2002), president of theSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland (1996–1999), and a trustee of theNational Museum of Scotland (2002–2005).
Upon his retirement, Lynch was named an honorary research professor at Edinburgh, and latterly an honorary professorial fellow at the same university.
Lynch is not to be confused with Michael J. Lynch (born 1938), a British historian at theUniversity of Leicester who specializes inNazi Germany, Mao's China and Stalinist Russia.
Lynch's monographs to date include:
Lynch's editorial publications include:
