James Campbell (historian)
James Campbell | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse |
Bӓrbel Brodt
(m. 2006; died 2015) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Lowestoft Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Historian |
| Sub-discipline | |
| Institutions | |
James Campbell, FBA, FSA (26 January 1935 – 31 May 2016) was a British historian, specialising in the medieval period and the Anglo-Saxons. He was a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, from 1957 until his retirement in 2002, and Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2002.
Early life and education
[edit]Campbell was born on 26 January 1935 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.[1][2] His birth father, John Henry Mogg was a teacher and his mother Barbara Hilda Brown was also a teacher and member of the Communist Party. After a period in foster care he was adopted by his maternal grandparents in 1938.[3] He studied at Lowestoft Grammar School, where he found an interest in history. He took early entry to Magdalen College, Oxford, at the age of 17 and graduated with a first in 1955.[3]
Academic career
[edit]In 1956, Campbell took up a junior research fellowship at Merton College, Oxford.[4] In 1957, at the age of 22, he was elected a Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford.[5] He held additional college appointments, including Fellow Librarian (1977–2002) and senior tutor (1989–1993),[6] and also served as the University of Oxford's Senior Proctor for the 1973/74 academic year.[2] At university level teaching, he was a lecturer in modern history (as opposed to ancient history) from 1958 to 1990, Reader in Medieval History from 1990 to 1996, and Professor of Medieval History from 1996 to 2002.[6] He delivered the Ford Lectures in the 1995/96 academic year.[6] He remained at Worcester College until his retirement in 2002.[3]
Campbell's particular historical interest was in the medieval period and Anglo-Saxon studies.[7] Along with Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and David Brown, in 1979 he founded the series Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History.[8] He was also interested in agriculture in Britain and Ireland from the 13th to 19th centuries.[9] Two collections of his essays were published as Essays in Anglo-Saxon History in 1986 and The Anglo-Saxon State in 2000.[3] He was the editor of The Anglo-Saxons (1982), a collection of essays on Anglo-Saxon England, for which he wrote the section on the period from AD 350 to 660.[10]
He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1984.[9][11] He had been elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1971.[6]
Personal life
[edit]In the 1980s, Campbell moved out of college accommodation and settled in Witney, a village near Oxford. At the age of 71, he married Dr Bӓrbel Brodt on 7 October 2006. They did not have any children, and he was devastated by her death in October 2015.[3]
He died at his home on 31 May 2016.[3]
Selected works
[edit]- Campbell, James, ed. (1982). The Anglo-Saxons. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801414824.
- Campbell, James (1986). Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 9780826425737.
- Campbell, James (2000). The Anglo-Saxon State. London: Hambledon. ISBN 978-1852851767.
References
[edit]- ^ CAMPBELL, James. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc; online edn. November 2015, Oxford University Press. 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Professor James Campbell passed away yesterday". Worcester College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f Maddicott, J. R. (9 January 2020). Campbell, James (1935–2016). doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112085. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 474.
- ^ "James Campbell". Oxford, England: University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Campbell, James, (26 Jan. 1935–31 May 2016), Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford, 1996–2002; Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, since 1957". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "Interview with James Campbell". Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
- ^ Welsh, Martin (23 June 1999). "Obituary: Sonia Chadwick Hawkes". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Professor James Campbell FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ Gillingham, John (17 November 1983). "John Gillingham reviews 'The Anglo-Saxons' edited by James Campbell, 'Anglo-Saxon Art' by C.R. Dodwell, 'Anglo-Saxon Poetry' edited by S.A.J. Bradley, 'The Anglo-Saxon World' edited by Kevin Crossley-Holland and 'The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles' by Anne Savage". London Review of Books. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ "Directory of Fellows - C". The British Academy. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
