Martyn Rady

Martyn Rady (born 1955) is Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London (UCL).

While a teacher at Mill Hill School in the 1980s Rady wrote several books for sixth-formers, including Emperor Charles V (Longman, 1987).

He moved to SSEES in 1990, where he had previously completed his PhD, publishing books and articles primarily on the history of Romania and Hungary.

His principal academic interest is Hungarian legal history and the translation of medieval Latin texts.

He was from 1995 to 2009 Warden of Hughes Parry Hall, an intercollegiate hall of the University of London.

From 1998 to 2020 he was General Editor of The Slavonic and East European Review.

In 2004 he was made an Honorary Life Member of the Modern Humanities Research Association.

He was appointed Professor of Central European History in 2004 and awarded the established Masaryk Chair in 2015.

He holds honorary doctorates from the Károli Gaspar University in Budapest and the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu in Romania.

Rady's publications include:

He retired from UCL in December 2020.

He lives in Stroud in Gloucestershire.

Martyn Rady was educated at Caterham School and Westfield College, University of London, where he read for a BA in History.

He went on to do postgraduate work at the University of London and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which he attended as a British Council exchange student.

In retirement, he has published books aimed at the popular market, The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power (2020) and The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe (2023).