Peter Sawyer (historian) facts for kids
Peter Hayes Sawyer (born 1928, died 2018) was a British historian. He was famous for his ideas about the Vikings and his studies of Medieval England. Sawyer's early book, The Age of the Vikings, changed how people thought about Vikings. He said they were "traders, not just raiders." This was different from the old idea that Vikings only wanted to destroy and steal.
Peter Sawyer also made a special list of old Anglo-Saxon charters. These are important historical documents. Today, these old papers are known by "Sawyer numbers" (like "S 407") because of his work.
Peter Sawyer's Life Story
Peter Sawyer was born in Oxford, England, on June 25, 1928. His father, Bill Sawyer, was a tobacconist. Peter grew up in Oxford, but he stayed with relatives in Milford Haven during World War II.
He went to Oxford University from 1948 to 1951. He studied Modern History there. After Oxford, he continued his studies at the University of Manchester.
Peter Sawyer then taught at several universities. He was an assistant at the University of Edinburgh. Later, he became a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. In 1964, he started teaching at the University of Leeds. He became a professor of Medieval History in 1970. At Leeds, he helped start the International Medieval Bibliography. This is a big list of medieval studies.
He retired early from Leeds in 1982. But he kept teaching and doing research. He worked at Göteborg University in Sweden. He also visited and taught at universities in the United States. These included the University of Minnesota and the University of California, Berkeley. Later, he worked in Trondheim, Norway, and then in Uppsala, Sweden.
Peter Sawyer passed away in Uppsala, Sweden, in July 2018. He was 90 years old.
Peter Sawyer's Writings
Peter Sawyer wrote many important books and papers. One of his early works was:
- Textus roffensis : Rochester cathedral library manuscript A.3.5. (1957–62)
