Peter Fleming (28 March 1958 – 21 April 2025) was a professor of medieval history at the University of the West of England. He specialised in the history of migration, urban history and the development of Bristol during the Middle Ages.
Life and career Fleming was born in 1958 to a working class family. He studied at University College Swansea, before being appointed to Bristol Polytechnic (now UWE) in 1987, to develop the History Department's research on teaching on medieval and early modern history. He made his name as a historian of fifteenth century England, with a particular interest in Bristol history.
Fleming died in April 2025 following a prolonged illness. His wife, Ann Rippin, died in 2023. Ill health had limited his scholarship during his last ten years, but his final book, Late Medieval Bristol, was published in 2024.
Selected works Fleming's books include:
Fleming, Peter & Kieran Costello (1998). Discovering Cabot's Bristol : Life in the Medieval and Tudor Town. Redcliffe Press Regionalism and Revision: The Crown and Its Provinces in England, 1250–1650 (edited with Anthony Gross and J. R. Lander, Hambledon, 1999)Reviews of Regionalism and Revision: Rosemary Horrox, The English Historical Review, W. M. Ormrod, History, A. Compton Reeves, Albion, Family and Household in Medieval England (Palgrave, 2001)Reviews of Family and Household in Medieval England: Cordelia Beattie, Reviews in History, Eric Boston, History, Albrecht Classen, Mediaevistik, Miriam C. Davis, Albion, , Christopher Dyer, The English Historical Review, Rosalind Field, Medium Aevum, Chris J. Given-Wilson, Speculum, , C. Woolgar, The Medieval Review, Gloucestershire's Forgotten Battle: Nibley Green, 1470 (with Michael Wood, Tempus, 2003)Reviews of Gloucestershire's Forgotten Battle: Michael Hicks, The English Historical Review, Nigel Saul, History, Bristol: Ethnic Minorities and the City, 1000–2001 (with Madge Dresser, Phillimore, 2007) The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar, editor (Bristol Record Society, Vol. 67, 2015)
He is also the author of:
Fleming, Peter (2012). 'Processing Power: Performance, Politics and Place in Early Tudor Bristol' in A. Compton Reeves (ed.), Personalities and Perspectives of Fifteenth-Century England (ACMRS, Tempe, Arizona)
References