Jonathan Riley-Smith

Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith (27 June 1938 – 13 September 2016) was a historian of the Crusades,¹ and, between 1994 and 2005, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge.² He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.³ He has been described as "quite simply the leading historian of the crusades anywhere in the world".⁴

Early life

Riley-Smith was the eldest of four children born into a prosperous Yorkshire brewing family. His maternal grandfather (to whose memory he later dedicated his book What Were the Crusades?) was the British Conservative Party MP, John Craik-Henderson (1890-1971).⁵ He attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA (1960), MA (1964), PhD (1964), and LittD (2001).⁶

Academic career

Riley-Smith taught at the University of St Andrews (1964–1972), Queens' College, Cambridge (1972-1978), Royal Holloway College, London (1978–1994) as well as at Emmanuel (1994–2005).² His many publications focus on the origins of the crusading movement and the motivations of the first crusaders, and suggests that the was primarily inspired by religious idealism, penitence, and sympathy for eastern Christians rather than a desire for material gains.