Dr Harriet Lyon Shortlisted for Whitfield Book Prize

Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press) by Dr Harriet Lyon, Fellow in History at Christ’s College, has been shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society Whitfield Book Prize. The prestigious award is for an outstanding first monograph in the field of British and Irish History.  

Taking the long view, Memory and the Dissolution explores how the suppression of the monasteries was remembered by witnesses and subsequent generations. Exposing and repudiating the assumptions of a conventional historiography that has long been coloured by Henrician narratives and sources, Lyon’s book reveals that the fall of the religious houses was remembered as one of the most profound and controversial transformations of the entire English Reformation.

'I am surprised and delighted that Memory and the Dissolution of the Monasteries has been shortlisted for the Whitfield Prize and am grateful to the judges and the Royal Historical Society for their consideration,' Dr Lyon said. 'It is a particular pleasure to be on an all-female shortlist, alongside five excellent historians. The book is the culmination of my Cambridge PhD and Junior Research Fellowship, and I am grateful to all my friends and colleagues in the Faculty and at Christ's College for their enthusiasm and support.'

The prize winner will be announced on July 22.