Brian Woledge, FBA (born August 16, 1904 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

- died June 3, 2002, in

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

), a scholar of

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

language and literature, was Fielden Professor of French at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

from 1939 to 1971.

Biography

Brian Woledge spent his childhood in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, studying at the Leeds Boys' Modern School and

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. He earned a doctorate from the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in 1930, writing a dissertation on the medieval French romance ''

L'âtre périlleux ''L'âtre périlleux'' (Old French ''L'atre perillous'',Ms. 2168 fr. of the BnFf. 1r at the top of the page. English The Perilous CemeteryN. Black, 1994.M.-L., Charue, 1998.) is an anonymous 13th century poem written in Old French in which Gawain i ...

''. Woledge held lectureships at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

and the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

before being appointed at the age of 35 to the Fielden Chair of French in

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he headed up the French department until his retirement in 1971. He was elected to the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in 1989. Woledge introduced

Reading Week Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...

and the "conferences" at

Missenden Abbey Missenden Abbey (also referred to as Great Missenden Abbey) is a former Arrouasian (Augustinian) monastery, founded in 1133 in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. The abbey was dissolved in 1538, and the abbey church demolished. I ...

Cumberland Lodge Cumberland Lodge is a 17th-century Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. Since 1947 it has been occupied by the charitable foundation known as Cumberland Lodge, which holds residential conferences ...

Windsor Great Park Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many ...

to integrate new students into the department, and established UCL's own B.A. in French.

Personal life and views

Brian Woledge married Christine Craven in 1933 (died 1993), who contributed to the English translations in Woledge's 1961 edition of ''The Penguin Book of French Verse to the Fifteenth Century.'' They had one son and one daughter. Woledge was a committed socialist and secularist.

Published work

Brian Woledge advanced knowledge of medieval French language and literature, and his ''Bibliographie des romans et nouvelles en prose française antérieurs à 1500'' and ''Répertoire des plus anciens textes en prose française'' remain standard works. His last book was his ''Commentaire sur Yvain'', published when he was in his eighties despite problems with his eyesight. In 1979, he wrote: "The truth is that, if you want to edit an Old French text, you must first learn Old French; of course, you will never know it as well as you can know Modern French, and it is partly for this reason that you must have a humble recognition of your own ignorance, while at the same time trying to reduce your ignorance by discussing difficulties with fellow specialists and making full use of reference books."

References

External links

Obituary in the London ''Independent'', June 17, 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woledge, Brian 1904 births 2002 deaths Academics of University College London Fellows of the British Academy People educated at Leeds Modern School University of Paris alumni Alumni of the University of Leeds