Denys Hay


Denys Hay was a British historian specializing in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and notable for demonstrating the influence of Italy on events in the rest of the continent.

Life

He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 29 August 1918 the son of Rev W. K. Hay and his wife, Janet Waugh. He was educated at the Newcastle Royal Grammar School then won a place at Oxford University.
During the Second World War, he was officially employed as a war historian.
He lectured in Modern History at the University of Edinburgh from 1945 until 1954, then becoming Professor of Medieval and Renaissance History until he retired in 1980, and is remembered with the "Denys Hay Seminar" there. His final posting was to the European University Institute in Florence, where he was Professor in the History Department. He was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society.
He died in Edinburgh on 14 June 1994.

Family

In 1937, he married Sarah Gwyneth Morley. They had one son and two daughters.

Books