Professor Judith Herrin, Emeritus Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King’s College London (UK) has been awarded the 2016 Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for History by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. After her retirement she became a Research Fellow at the Department of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies. The award is given because of her research into Medieval cultures in Mediterranean civilisations and for establishing the crucial significance of the Byzantine Empire in history.

During her career, she was appointed to many positions and received frequent fellowships and grants in Europe and in the US. Between 1991 and 1995, she was the Stanley J. Seeger Professor of Byzantine History at Princeton University (US). From 1995 to 2001, as Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, she headed the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King’s College London. Herrin has received various honours for her work, including the Médaille d’honneur from the Collège de France and the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour from Greece.

According to the jury Herrin has an ability to convert archive studies and field research into a broad vision that is rich in detail. Through her work a non-theological view of the influence of Christendom on Medieval society could be conceived.