Mark Horowitz

Mark R. Horowitz

Visiting Lecturer, Tudor History

Mark Horowitz teaches a course entitled “The Tudor Kings” during Spring semester. His research centers on governance, administration, finance and law in late-medieval/early-Tudor England. He has presented scholarly papers in England, Ireland, Portugal and throughout the United States, and his academic publications have focused on the reign of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England. He was selected to be the Guest Editor for a special volume of the peer-reviewed journal Historical Research which he entitled Who was Henry VII? It marked the 500^th anniversary of the death of the king (1509-2009) and he selected scholars from both sides of the Atlantic to write articles. Mark as well wrote the Introduction and two articles for this volume, which turned out to be the best-selling issue in the publication’s 90-year history.

He has also reached broad audiences in various media showing the relevance of history to the present: as a Guest Columnist for USA TODAY; a weekly worldwide syndicated columnist for United Press International; a weekly radio commentator for an NBC-affiliate in Chicago; and as an OP-ED columnist in numerous newspapers. Mark was sponsored for two Pulitzer Prizes, in news commentary and in explanatory journalism. He pulled together this ‘historical perspective’ format and style in a book with the lofty title Stonehenge to Star Wars: Discovering the Present by Exploring the Past. His medieval brass rubbing collection, created from the monumental tomb effigies of English knights, ladies and churchmen from roughly 1250 to 1650, toured the United States and now resides in the permanent collections of the Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois-Urbana.

Mark was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). The patron is HM Queen Elizabeth II, although he admits that an invitation for tea at Buckingham Palace has yet to arrive.