Until I retired in September 2019, I was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton where I also served as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities between 2010 and 2018.
I took my BA in History at the University of Manchester in 1975, and then studied for a one-year MA by research on the County Palatine of Chester when in the hands of Henry V as both Prince of Wales and King (1399-1422). I was fortunate to gain a post in 1976 at what was then Teesside Polytechnic which combined teaching experience with doctoral study on Military Organization in Lancastrian Normandy 1422-1450 (1985). From 1978 I was in the Department of History at the University of Reading, subsequently serving as Head of Department and Director of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, until my appointment as Professor of Medieval History at Southampton.
Between 2008 and 2011 I was President of the Historical Association. I have also been a Vice President of the Royal Historical Society and Trustee of the Royal Armouries as well as Chair of the Battlefields Trust. I have served on two REF History sub panels. Currently I am Master of the Worshipful Company of Fletchers (2021-2) in its 650th anniversary year.
I have published widely on late medieval history, and given many invited papers across Europe as well as in the USA and Australia. I also edited the Journal of Medieval History from 2001 to 2008 and am now editor of the Berkshire Record Society as well as of the Boydell series War in History. I have worked closely for many years with the Centre Historique at Azincourt, and was chair of the Agincourt 600 charity linked to the 600th anniversary of the battle.
I was elected a member of the Société de l’Histoire de France in 1980, and am also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Historical Association, and a membre titulaire of the Société des Antiquaires de Normandie.