Kenneth Hyde

John Kenneth Hyde (14 August 1930 – 10 December 1986) was an English historian, known for his research on the city in medieval Italy, and on medieval descriptions of cities. He held the chair in medieval history of the University of Manchester (1979–86).

Early life and education Hyde's family owned an iron and steel works, located at Stoke-on-Trent in 1930 when Kenneth Hyde was born. He was educated at Mostyn House on the Wirral, Cheshire, and the Oundle School, Northamptonshire, and then served in the Ordnance Corps. After his national service, he attended Worcester College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in modern history in 1953, followed by a Diploma in Social Anthropology. His DPhil, also from Oxford, was on medieval Italy, supervised by D. M. Bueno de Mesquita.

Career Hyde researched in Padua with Paolo Sambin in the mid-1950s. In 1961, he joined the medieval history group in the history department of the University of Manchester, remaining there for the rest of his career, as assistant lecturer and then senior lecturer (1973–79). He held the chair of medieval history at the university from 1979 until his death. His 1973 book, Society and Politics in Medieval Italy, was particularly successful.

His lifelong interest in industrial history, especially watermills and canals, led him to be one of the founders of the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum, later the National Waterways Museum.

Selected publications Books Literacy and its Uses: Studies on Late Medieval Italy by Kenneth Hyde, Daniel Waley, ed. (Manchester University Press; 1993) Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350 (Macmillan; 1973) Padua in the Age of Dante (Manchester University Press; 1966) Research papers "Medieval Descriptions of Cities ". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library (1966) 48: 308–40