Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol


Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol was a Spanish medieval historian, who worked at the and Institut d'Estudis Catalans.

Early life and education

Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol was born in Barcelona on 25 August 1940. Ferrer i Mallol received a degree in philosophy in 1963 from the University of Barcelona, and completed a PhD from the same institution in 1984.

Academic focus

Ferrer i Mallol's academic career spanned from 1963 to 2011. Her work focused upon Catalonia in the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly economic and merchant trading in those periods. She believed that the Mudéjar Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities living in Catalonia and Valencia in the 14th century managed to co-exist due to religious segregation. She believed this segregation and discrimination was forced upon the Mudéjar community.

Career

In 1972, she began working at the , initially as a Scientific Assistant for. From 1981–1984, she also worked on the Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana for the Generalitat de Catalunya. was her understudy at the IMF between 1985 and 1994. In 1991, fellow Catalan medieval historian gave Ferrer i Mallol his last work, so that she could publish it for him posthumously. From 1992 until 2014, she was a member of the historical and archaeological department of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. She was the secretary of the IEC from 1995–2001, then the vice-president from 2001–2006, and was president from 2006–2014.
In addition, Ferrer i Mallol wrote for the ', and collaborated with the University of Leeds on sections of the International Medieval Bibliography. She provided historical knowledge to for his book '. In 1993, she became a member of the Spanish Society of Medieval Studies. In 2002, she became Professor of Research at the IMF.
After her retirement in 2011, the IMF honoured Ferrer i Mallol by producing the work La Corona catalanoaragonesa, l'Islam i el món mediterrani. Estudis d'història medieval en homenatge a la doctora Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol.

Death and legacy

Ferrer i Mallol died in 2017. Speaking after her death, Josep Massot i Muntaner, current president of the historical and archaeological department of the IEC, said that Ferrer i Mallol was "a great historian, very valuable and hardworking, which has left an important intellectual legacy in the institution, to which we will give continuity". In 2017, she was posthumously awarded the Ferren Soldevilla Prize for her work in medieval history.

Works