Jonathan Riley-Smith, English medieval historian, Died at 78

Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith was born on June 27, 1938, and died on September 13, 2016.

He was a historian of the Crusades, and a former Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History.

Smith was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Jonathan was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA (1960), MA (1964), PhD (1964), and LittD (2001).

Over the period of his career, he taught at the University of St Andrews, Queens’ College, Cambridge, Royal Holloway College, London as well as at Trinity College.

Smith’s many respected publications on the origins of the crusading movement and the motivations of the first crusaders deeply influenced the current historiography of the crusades.

Jonathan Riley-Smith was a Knight of Grace and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

He was married to Louise, an artist, and was a convert to Catholicism.

Himself and his wife had three children, including singer-songwriter Polly Paulusma.

He died after a long illness.

Jonathan Riley-Smith passed away at 78 years old.