Dr. Compton Reeves presents original research at 2025 International Congress of Medieval Studies.
American Branch Research Officer and former Chair, Dr Compton Reeves, presented a paper at the 2025 ICMS in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in a session sponsored by The Yorkist History Trust. His paper addressed the work of Paul Murray Kendall, whose 1955 biography of Richard III won many accolades and still remains a standard text about this king. Kendall was Distinguished Professor of English at Ohio University in Athens, OH, and inspired generations of Ricardians, including Philippa Langley, to look further into the controversy over Richard III’s historical reputation. Fittingly, Dr Reeves followed in Kendall’s footsteps at Ohio University, ultimately attaining the position of Head of its History Department, where he is now Professor Emeritus of Medieval History. Dr Reeves also expressed appreciation for Kendall’s book “The Yorkist Age” which showed Edward IV’s openness to learning and his people management skills.
Other presenters at the session included Dr Philip Muijtjens, Dr Edward Meek, Dr Christian Steer, and Dr Ted Westervelt. See here for a full summary of the sessions sponsored by the Yorkist History Trust at the ICMS.
The Yorkist History Trust was founded by the Richard III Society in the UK as a charitable trust to support the research and writings of scholars specializing in 15th century British history. It has supported the publication of numerous books which set the highest standards of scholarship in this area, including The Crowland Chronicle Continuations 1459-1486, ed. Nicholas Pronay and John Cox (1986), The Hours of Richard III, ed. Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs (1990), Richard III: Lordship, Loyalty and Law, ed. P. W. Hammond (1984, repr. 2000), and more recently, The Lordship of Middleham in 1465–6 and 1473–4, transcript and translation by Jonathan Mackman (2023). For more about its catalogue, see here.
