# Derek Pearsall

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Derek_Pearsall
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Derek_Pearsall.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Pearsall
> Source revision: 1354242898
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|British medievalist (1931–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
'''Derek Albert Pearsall''' (1931–2021) was an English [medievalist](/source/Medieval_studies) and Chaucerian who wrote and published widely on [Chaucer](/source/Geoffrey_Chaucer), [Langland](/source/William_Langland), [Gower](/source/John_Gower), [manuscript](/source/manuscript) studies, and [medieval history](/source/medieval_history) and culture.<ref>Gustafson, Kevin. “New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies and Reading Practices: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall.” ''Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History'' 18 (2015).</ref> He was the co-director for the Centre for Medieval Studies at the [University of York](/source/University_of_York) and was the Gurney Professor of English Literature at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).<ref>{{cite web |title=People |url=https://english.fas.harvard.edu/our-people |accessdate=13 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Brewer">{{cite book|editor=Aers, David|chapter=''Preface'' by Derek Brewer|title=Medieval Literature and Historical Inquiry: Essays in Honor of Derek Pearsall|location=Cambridge|publisher=D. S. Brewer|year=2000|pages=vii–ix|isbn=9780859915557|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgh_IQeuqz4C&pg=PR7}}</ref> In 1998, he delivered the [British Academy](/source/British_Academy)'s Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lectures|website=The British Academy|url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectures/listings/sir-israel-gollancz-memorial-lectures/}} [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2466/101p077-Pearsall.pdf text]</ref>

==Early and personal life==
Pearsall was born in Birmingham to parents Elsie (née Rawlins) and Joseph, a shop fitter toolmaker, and attended [King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys](/source/King_Edward_VI_Camp_Hill_School_for_Boys). The first in his family to go to university,<ref name="tg obit"/> Pearsall earned a [B.A.](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) in 1951 and an [M.A.](/source/Master_of_Arts) in 1952 from the [University of Birmingham](/source/University_of_Birmingham) (UK).<ref name=Brewer/>

In 1952 in [King's Lynn](/source/King's_Lynn), Pearsall married Rosemary Elvidge (d. 2004), whom he had met as a student. They had five children.<ref name="tg obit">{{Cite journal|url=https://theguardian.com/theguardian/2021/dec/24/derek-pearsall-obituary|title=Derek Pearsall obituary|journal=The Guardian|first=Ronald|last=Waldron|date=24 December 2021|accessdate=26 April 2024}}</ref> The couple considered York, where they returned to upon retirement and had a permanent house in [Clifton](/source/Clifton%2C_York), to be their home.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.york.ac.uk/medieval-studies/news/pearsallobituary/|title=In Remembrance of Derek Pearsall|website=University of York|date=17 October 2021|accessdate=26 April 2024}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160503035729/http://www3.nd.edu/~pearsall/ Complete Bibliography]. A complete up-to-date bibliography of Derek Pearsall's published work.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearsall, Derek}}
Category:1931 births
Category:2021 deaths
Category:Academics from Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:Academics of King's College London
Category:Academics of the University of York
Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham
Category:British medievalists
Category:English historians
Category:Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
Category:Harvard University faculty
Category:People educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys

{{England-historian-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Derek Pearsall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Pearsall) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Pearsall?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.