Norman Housley is a professor of History at the University of Leicester. Educated at the University of Cambridge, Housley was a research student of Jonathan Riley-Smith. He was research fellow in history at Girton College in 1979 and came to the University of Leicester in 1983. He retired after a long and distinguished career in 2016. Housley is an authority on the history of the crusading movement and has written several books on the subject. His books encompass largely the period 1200–1580, but more recently the scope of Housley's work has focused on the 15th and early 16th centuries.