Brian Tierney (medievalist)

Brian Tierney
Born	(1922-05-07)May 7, 1922 Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England
Died	November 30, 2019(2019-11-30) (aged 97)
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Known for	Medieval church history, church law, and political theory
Scientific career
Fields	Medieval studies
Institutions	Catholic University of America Cornell University

Brian Tierney DFC & Bar (May 7, 1922 – November 30, 2019)^[1] was an English historian and medievalist. He was a member of the faculty of the Catholic University of America for eight years until becoming a professor of medieval history at Cornell University in 1959, where he was later appointed as the Goldwin Smith Professor of Medieval History in 1969 and the first Bowmar Professor of Humanistic Studies in 1977.^[2]

His speciality was medieval church history, focusing on the structure of the medieval church and the medieval state, and the influences of the interaction between these on the development of Western institutions.^[2] He was widely recognized as a leading authority on medieval church law and political thought. His work in these fields also proved relevant to some of the modern debates about Roman Catholic ecclesiology. Tierney's most recent book was Liberty and Law: The Idea of Permissive Natural Law, 1100-1800. (Catholic University Press, 2014). He continued to work on medieval history until the time of his death.