The UAB is sad to announce the death of honorary doctorate Thomas N. Bisson
American historian Thomas N. Bisson, honorary doctor of the UAB, has passed away. The University wishes to extend its deepest condolences to his family and friends and to all those who knew and loved him.
He was nominated for an honorary doctorate in 1990 by the University Institute of Medieval Studies. The investiture ceremony took place on 9 May 1991, at the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, where Dr Bisson delivered a master lecture entitled "On the Institution of Peace and Power". His sponsor was Professor Frederic Udina, honorary dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities.
He held the position of assistant professor at Brown University, Princeton, Berkeley and Harvard. He was member of several prestigious academies, such as the American Philosophical Society, the Medieval Academy of America, and the International Commission for the History of Parliamentary Institutions. He was also a corresponding member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. In 2001, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Government of Catalonia.
He was a leading expert on the medieval history of Catalonia and the whole of the Crown of Aragon, focusing particularly on topics such as the assemblies and their representativeness as a precedent for the Catalan medieval courts. He was the author, among other works, of the monographs The Military Origins of Medieval Representations, Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia, The Medieval Crown of Aragon. A Short History and A General Court of Aragon.