Barbara Ann Hanawalt (born 4 March 1941) is an American historian and bestselling author. She specializes in English medieval social history.
Hanawalt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her father was a university professor and her mother was a schoolteacher.
Hanawalt received her bachelor's degree from Douglass College in 1963, a master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1964, and a Ph.D., also from the University of Michigan, in 1970.
Hanawalt taught for a number of years at Indiana University and the University of Minnesota. She then moved to Ohio State University as the King George III Chair of British History in 1999.
Hanawalt was named fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and the Center for Advanced Studies at Princeton University.
Some of Hanawalt's notable books are: