Read works of Susan Reynolds at 百家争鸣 |
Specifically, she believes that the technical terms used in documents prior to around 1100 do not necessarily hold the meanings hitherto ascribed to them; and that clerks of later periods tended to read into earlier documents meanings and relationships current in their own day. In her view, direct ownership of land was more prevalent in the early middle ages than has been thought, and the decline of central authority has been exaggerated.
She is an Emeritus Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall.