Donald MacGillivray Nicol,FBA, MRIA (4 February 1923 – 25 September 2003) was an EnglishByzantinist.

Nicol was born inPortsmouth,Hampshire, to aChurch of Scotland minister, and received a classical education atKing Edward VII School inSheffield andSt Paul's School inLondon. Registering as aconscientious objector in 1941, he served in 1942–1946 in theFriends' Ambulance Unit, with which he first visitedGreece in 1944–1945, visitingIoannina and theMeteora monasteries.

After his wartime experiences, Nicol matriculated atPembroke College, Cambridge, to read classics, graduating in 1949.^[4] He then returned to Greece in 1949–1950 as a member of theBritish School at Athens. During this time, he also visitedMount Athos, spendingEaster 1949 at theHilandar Monastery, and revisited Meteora. In 1950, Nicol married Joan Mary Campbell, with whom he had three sons. He completed his doctoral thesis at Cambridge in 1952. The thesis, on the medievalDespotate of Epirus, led to his first book,The Despotate of Epiros. His thesis supervisor wasSteven Runciman, with whom Nicol formed a lifelong friendship, nurtured in theAthenaeum Club.

On completion of his doctorate, Nicol's first academic posting was as Lecturer in Classics at theUniversity College Dublin from 1952 to 1964. He spent 1964–1966 as visiting fellow atDumbarton Oaks, and was then Senior Lecturer and Reader in Byzantine History,University of Edinburgh (1966–1970). In 1970 he was named to the historic chair ofKoraës Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at theKing's College London, a post he held until 1988. In 1977–1980 he was Assistant Principal of the King's College, and Vice-Principal in 1980–1981. He was the founding editor ofByzantine and Modern Greek Studies journal (1975),^[5] whose publication he oversaw until 1983, and served as president of the Ecclesiastical History Society in 1975–1976. In 1989–1992, he was director of theGennadius Library (Γεννάδειος Βιβλιοθήκη) inAthens.

Nicol became a member of theRoyal Irish Academy in 1960, President of theEcclesiastical History Society (1975-76)^[6] and a Fellow of theBritish Academy in 1981. For his contributions to the history of medievalEpirus, the city ofArta made him an honorary citizen in 1990, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Ioannina in 1997. He died inCambridge in 2003.

• Nicol, Donald M. (1957).The Despotate of Epiros (1. ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1984) [1957].The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479: A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages (2. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521261906.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1968).The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100-1460: A Genealogical and Prosopographical Study. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1972).Byzantium: Its Ecclesiastical History and Relations with the Western World: Collected Studies. London: Variorum.ISBN 9780902089358.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1975).Meteora: The Rock Monasteries of Thessaly. London: Variorum.ISBN 9780902089730.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1972).The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 (1. ed.). London: Rupert Hart-Davis.ISBN 9780246105592.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1993) [1972].The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 (2. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521439916.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1979).The End of the Byzantine Empire. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers.ISBN 9780841906617.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1979).Church and Society in the Last Centuries of Byzantium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521224383.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1988).Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations (1. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521341578.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1992) [1988].Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations (2. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-42894-1.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1990).Joannes Gennadios, the Man: A Biographical Sketch. Athens: American School of Classical Studies.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1991).A Biographical Dictionary of the Byzantine Empire. London: Seaby.ISBN 978-1-85264-048-4.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1992).The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans (1. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-41456-2.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (2002) [1992].The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans (2. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-89409-8.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1994).The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits, 1250-1500 (1. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (1996) [1994].The Byzantine Lady: Ten Portraits, 1250-1500 (2. ed.). Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Nicol, Donald M. (1996).The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383 (1. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Nicol, Donald M. (2002) [1996].The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383 (2. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Nicol, Donald M., ed. (1997).Theodore Spandounes: On the Origins of the Ottoman Emperors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9780521585101.

• Bryer, Anthony (3 October 2003),"Professor Donald Nicol (Obituary)",The Independent, archived fromthe original on 8 October 2009
• Beaton, Roderick (3 October 2003),"Donald Nicol",The Guardian
• "Professor Donald Nicol",The Times, 8 October 2003
• Beaton, Roderick;Macrides, Ruth;Magdalino, Paul;Nelson, Jinty;Sutherland, Stewart (2015),"Donald MacGillivray Nicol, 1923–2003"(PDF),Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy,14:423–437,ISSN 2753-6777
• Magdalino, Paul (14 July 2020)."Paul Magdalino" (Interview). Interviewed by Anna Stavrakopoulou; Audrey Pettner. Washington, DC:Dumbarton Oaks.

• 1923 births
• 2003 deaths
• Writers from Portsmouth
• People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield
• People educated at St Paul's School, London
• British conscientious objectors
• People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit
• Academics of King's College London
• Academics of the University of Edinburgh
• Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• British Byzantinists
• Fellows of the British Academy
• Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society
• Members of the Royal Irish Academy
• Academics of University College Dublin
• Historians of medieval Greece
• Scholars of Byzantine history

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