Susan Reynolds FBA (27 January 1929 – 29 July 2021) was a British medieval historian whose book Fiefs and Vassals: the Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted (1994) was part of the academic critique on the concept of feudalism as classically portrayed by previous historians such as François-Louis Ganshof and Marc Bloch.
Largely as a consequence of this work, the word "feudalism", or the "F-word", as it came to be called by historians, began to lose currency among British medievalists.
[2] Reynolds was born in London, the daughter of a solicitor, and after Howell’s School, Denbigh took a first degree at Lady Margaret Hall ("LMH"), at the University of Oxford.
[3] In an interview for the Institute of Historical Research, Reynolds pointed out that the archival diploma was her only higher qualification; she never gained either an MA or a PhD in history, but had only a bachelor's degree.
In her view, direct ownership of land was more prevalent in the early Middle Ages than had been thought, and the decline of central authority had been exaggerated.