The Chichele Professorships are statutory professorships at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

named in honour of

Henry Chichele Henry Chichele ( , also Checheley; – 12 April 1443) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Chichele was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364; Chicheley told Pope Euge ...

(also spelt Chicheley or Checheley, although the spelling of the academic position is consistently "Chichele"), an

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

and founder of

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

ship of that college has accompanied the award of a Chichele

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

since 1870. Following the work of the 1850 Commission to examine the organization of the university, All Souls College suppressed ten of its fellowships to create the funds to establish the first two Chichele professorships: The Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, established in 1859 and first held by Mountague Bernard, and the Chichele Professor of Modern History, first held by

Montagu Burrows Montagu Burrows (27 October 1819 – 10 July 1905) was a British historian. Following a career as an officer in the Royal Navy, he was the first Chichele Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, holding the Chair from 1862 until his dea ...

. The military history chair was originally established in 1909 as the Chichele Professorship of Military History. In 1923, the History Faculty Board first recommended that the name of the chair be changed to the history of war, but this recommendation was not implemented until 1946. Probably the best known former Chichele Professor is

Sir Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

. Perhaps the best known former professor of the history of war was

Cyril Falls Cyril Bentham Falls CBE (2 March 1888 – 23 April 1971) was a 20th Century British military historian, journalist, and academic, noted for his works on the First World War. Early life Falls was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 2 March 1888, the elde ...

Professorships

There are currently Chichele Professorships in five different subjects: * Chichele Professor of Economic History, established 1931 * Chichele Professor of the History of War, established 1909 * Chichele Professor of Public International Law, established 1859 * Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, established 1944 * Chichele Professor of Medieval History, established 1862 as Modern History renamed in 1984

Holders

Economic history

* George Norman Clark, 1931 * W. K. Hancock, 1944 *

John Habakkuk Sir Hrothgar John Habakkuk (13 May 1915 – 3 November 2002) was a British economic historian. Biography Habakkuk was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, the son of Evan and Anne Habakkuk. He was named "Hrothgar" after Hroðgar in ''Beow ...

, 1950–1967 * Peter Mathias, 1969–1987 * Charles Feinstein, 1989– * Avner Offer, 2000–2011 * Kevin O'Rourke, 2011–2019 * Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2020–

History of war

# Spenser Wilkinson, 1909–1923 # Sir Ernest Swinton, 1925–1939 The Chair was vacant from 1939 to 1943 and suspended between 1943 and 1946, when it was renamed from ''of Military History'' #

, 1946–1953 # N. H. Gibbs, 1953–1977 #

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

, 1977–1980 # Robert O'Neill, 1987–2000 # Sir Hew Strachan, 2001–2015 #

Peter H. Wilson Peter Hamish Wilson (born 1963) is a British historian. Since 2015, he has held the Chichele Professor of the History of War chair at All Souls College, University of Oxford. Biography Wilson studied at the University of Liverpool (BA (Hons)) an ...

, 2015–present

Public international law

* Mountague Bernard, 1859–1870 * Thomas Erskine Holland, 1874– * Sir Henry Erle Richards, 1911– * James Leslie Brierly, 1922– * Sir Humphrey Waldock, 1947– * D. P. O'Connell, 1972–1979 * Ian Brownlie, 1980–1999 *

Vaughan Lowe Alan Vaughan Lowe KC (born 1952) is a barrister and academic specialising in the field of international law. Chichele Professor of Public International Law in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1999–2012; Eme ...

, 1999–2012 *

Catherine Redgwell Catherine Redgwell is Chichele Professor of Public International Law and fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Co-Director of the Oxford Geoengineering Programme of the Oxford Martin School. Professor Redgwell previously held positions as Profe ...

, 2012–

Social and political theory

* G. D. H. Cole, 1944–1957 *

, 1957–1967 *

John Plamenatz John Petrov Plamenatz (born as Jovan Petrov Plamenac; sr-cyrl, Јован Петров Пламенац; 16 May 1912 – 19 February 1975) was a Montenegrin political philosopher, who spent most of his academic life at the University of Ox ...

, 1967–1975 * Charles Taylor, 1976–1981 * G. A. Cohen, 1985–2008 * Jeremy Waldron, 2010–2014 *

Amia Srinivasan Amia Srinivasan (born 20 December 1984) is a philosopher. Since January 2020, she has been Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Oxford. Early life and education Srinivasan was born on 20 December 1984 in Bahra ...

, 2020–

Modern history

, 1862–1905 *

Sir Charles Oman Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. Occasionally his ...

, 1905–1946 *

Keith Feiling Sir Keith Grahame Feiling (7 September 1884 – 16 September 1977) was a British historian, biographer and academic. He was Chichele Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, 1946–1950. He was noted for his conservative interpre ...

, 1946–1950 *

E. F. Jacob Ernest Fraser Jacob (12 September 1894 – 7 October 1971) was a British medievalist and scholar who was President of the Chetham Society, Lancashire Parish Register Society and Ecclesiastical History Society. Education He was educated at Tw ...

, 1950–1961 *

R. W. Southern Sir Richard William Southern (8 February 1912 – 6 February 2001), who published under the name R. W. Southern, was a noted English medieval historian based at the University of Oxford. Biography Southern was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne o ...

, 1961–1969 *

Geoffrey Barraclough Geoffrey Barraclough (10 May 1908, Bradford – 26 December 1984, Burford) was an English historian, known as a medievalist and historian of Germany. He was educated at Bootham School (1921–1924) in York and at Bradford Grammar School (192 ...

, 1970–1973 *

J. M. Wallace-Hadrill John Michael Wallace-Hadrill, (29 September 1916 – 3 November 1985) was a senior academic and one of the foremost historians of the early Merovingian period. Wallace-Hadrill was born on 29 September 1916 in Bromsgrove, where his father ...

, 1974–1983

Medieval history

Karl Joseph Leyser Karl Joseph Leyser (24 October 1920 – 27 May 1992) was a German-born British historian who was Fellow and Tutor in History, Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1948 to 1984, and Chichele Professor of Medieval History at Oxford University, from 1984 t ...

, 1984–1988 * George Arthur Holmes, 1989–1995 * Sir Rees Davies, 1995–2005 * Christopher Wickham, 2005–2016 * Julia Smith, 2016–

References

{{Reflist * Owen, Dorothy M. "The Chichele Professorship of Modern History, 1862," ''Historical Research'' (1961) 34#90 pp 217–220, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.1961.tb02098.x * Soffer, Reba. "Nation, Duty, Character and Confidence: History at Oxford, 1850–1914," ''Historical Journal'' (1987) 30#1 pp. 77–10
in JSTOR
Professorships at the University of Oxford