Kenneth Bruce McFarlane (1903–1966) was one of the 20th century's most influential historians of late medieval England. He was born on 18 October 1903 and was the only child of A. McFarlane, OBE. His father was a civil servant in the Admiralty and the young McFarlane's childhood was an unhappy one. This may have led to the deep melancholy that seemed to pervade much of his adult life.[1] His family sent him to public school at Dulwich College as a "day-boy." McFarlane did not particularly like the atmosphere of the public school and in 1922 he earned a scholarship to read history at Exeter College Oxford. His tutor during these years was C. T. Atkinson. McFarlane became a fellow of Magdalen College in 1927, where he remained for the rest of his life. Many of his colleagues and students found him difficult to approach, but for those who could break through the facade he became a great and true friend. McFarlane also found through the help of his great friend Dr. Helena Wright and her family a home and a family of sorts. In Wright's house he found that he could be himself, find refuge from the daily grind of the University, and a place of joy. McFarlane never married.
His most important contribution to the field was his revision of the understanding of late medieval feudal relationships, known as "bastard feudalism". The old consensus, promoted primarily by Bishop Stubbs, was that payment for service in feudal relationships had promoted greed and civil strife. McFarlane pointed out the adhesive effect of this, and other forms of patronage, as a field of common interest for the crown and the landed aristocracy.
Although his scholarship and methods have had great influence on later historians, McFarlane did not publish widely in his own lifetime. The main sources for his scholarship are the book Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights, his Ford Lectures from 1953 published in 1980 as The Nobility of Later Medieval England, and the essays and shorter articles published by his student G. L. Harriss in 1981 under the title England in the Fifteenth Century. Much of his influence on historiography is the result of his Ph D students who held posts in many British universities. Although McFarlane himself would never have wished to spawn a "school of history," through his students that is - in many ways - what he did.
He left behind him a vast collection of correspondence that has been deposited in his library with Magdalen College. A number of the letters that McFarlane wrote to his friends were published privately through Magdalen College in 1997. The vast bulk of his correspondence, however, remains unpublished.