Edward Arthur Thompson (22 May 1914 – 1 January 1994) was an Irish-born British
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
of
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and
medieval studies
Medieval studies is the academic interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages.
Institutional development
The term 'medieval studies' began to be adopted by academics in the opening decades of the twentieth century, initially in the titles of books ...
. He was professor and director of the classics department at the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
from 1948 to 1979, and a
fellow of the British Academy
Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are:
# Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom
# C ...
. Thompson was a pioneer in the study of
late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, and was for decades the most prominent British scholar in this field. He was particularly interested in the relations between
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
and "
barbarian
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...
" peoples such as the
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
and
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
, and has been credited with revitalizing English-language scholarship on the history of early
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
. Thompson's works on these subjects have been highly influential.
Early life
Edward Arthur Thompson was born on 22 May 1914 in the town of
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, Ireland, to a strictly
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
family. His father, Robert James Thompson, who was of Irish descent, was the son of a weaver and worked for the
National Health Insurance
National health insurance (NHI), sometimes called statutory health insurance (SHI), is a system of health insurance that insures a national population against the costs of health care. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector ...
. His mother, Margaret Murison, was of Scottish descent. Her parents had settled in Ireland when her father became the manager of the estate of the
Earl of Ormond in
County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...
. Thompson's family moved to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in 1922. Having graduated from
The High School, Dublin
The High School is a 12–18 mixed, Church of Ireland, independent secondary school in Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland.
It was established in 1870 at Harcourt Street before moving to Rathgar in 1971 and amalgamated with The Diocesan School for Girl ...
, Thompson entered
Trinity College, Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
, with a
sizar
At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined jo ...
ship, a distinction he shared with
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
. He was the first of his family to enter university. His father had probably intended for him to become a Presbyterian minister, but Thompson would come to reject the religious puritanism of his family. Thompson graduated with
first-class honours
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
in
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
from Trinity College in 1936, later attributing his selection of the classics as a discipline to the choice of his headmaster at The High School.
His
BLitt Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...
on the
Arcadian League
The Arcadian League ( grc, ) was a league of city-states in ancient Greece. It combined the various cities of Arcadia, in the Peloponnese, into a single state. The league was founded in 370 BC, taking advantage of the decreased power of Sparta, w ...
was supervised by H. W. Parker.
From 1937 to 1938, Thompson was an
exchange student
A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions.
A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. While in Germany, being a communist himself, Thompson developed an intense dislike for
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. He claimed to have witnessed having witnessed the smashing of a jeweler's shop and the beating of its proprietor by a Nazi mob. He said that these experiences had a major influence on his future cautious approach to the study of
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, which was to characterize his approach to this subject.
Early career
![Hispania 700 AD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Hispania_700_AD.PNG)
Thompson was appointed a lecturer in classics at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1939.
Although initially appointed for one year, Thompson's contract was renewed, and he stayed on (though at a reduced salary) until 1941.
Already prepared to enter the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
with an enlistment in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, Thompson secured an appointment at the
University of Swansea
, former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea
, motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn
, mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture"
, established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...
in 1941 through the help of his friend
Benjamin Farrington
Benjamin Farrington (10 July 1891 –1974) was an Irish scholar and professor of Classics, teaching in Ireland (1916–1920), South Africa (1920–1935), and Great Britain (1935–1956). Although his academic career spanned several disciplines, ...
. From Swansea, Thompson transferred to
King's College, London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
, teaching as a classics lecturer from 1945 to 1948. At Swansea, Thompson became a close friend of fellow historian
Norman H. Baynes
Norman Hepburn Baynes (1877–1961) was a 20th-century British historian of the Byzantine Empire.
Career
Baynes was Professor of Byzantine History at University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve t ...
.
His first book, ''
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...
'' (1947), played a major role in reviving the study of
late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
in the United Kingdom. His next book, ''A History of Attila and the Huns'' (1948), was inspired by his work on Ammianus Marcellinus. Both of these works were later reprinted and remained standard works on the subject for several decades.
From the late 1940s, Thompson dedicated all his scholarly interest towards to late antiquity.
Career at the University of Nottingham
Thompson moved again in 1948this time to direct the classics department at the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
, where he worked from 1948 to 1979.
During this time, Thompson was along with
A. H. M. Jones a major figure in reviving the study of late antiquity in the United Kingdom. He was considered the leading scholar in the United Kingdom in the field, with the University of Nottinhgham emerging as one of its principal centers of study.
At Nottingham, Thompson focused mainly on research and teaching rather than administrative work. Distinguished members of the his department at this time included
Harold Mattingly
Harold Mattingly (24 December 1884 – 26 January 1964) was a British classical scholar, specialising in art history and numismatics. His interests included the history of Ancient Rome, Etruscan coins, Etruscan and Roman currency, and the Roman ...
, W. Charlmers, G. R. Watson, Mollie Whittaker, A. H. Sommerstein and
J. W. Rich.
In 1951, perhaps inspired by Farrington, Thompson published the book ''A Roman Reformer and Inventor'', which examined the anonymous author of the ''
De rebus bellicis
''De rebus bellicis'' ("On the Things of Wars") is an anonymous work of the 4th or 5th century which suggests remedies for the military and financial problems in the Roman Empire, including a number of fanciful war machines. It was written af ...
''. Thompson's book helped build the foundations for modern studies on this work.
By the early 1950s, Thompson's research was increasingly focused on the early Germanic peoples. At this time, very little research had been carried out in this field in the English-speaking world. Thompson sought to approach the subject without ideological ballast. Nevertheless, his revulsion towards Nazism probably influenced his research of this field. His works were pioneering in the field of Germanic studies, in which he was the leading scholar of his generation. He helped detach the field from the ideological bias which had characterized it in the past.
Thompson published his work ''The Early Germans'' in 1965, which was largely concerned with the changing structure of Germanic society through its encounter with
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. He attributed increasing social stratification among the Germanic peoples of the early centuries AD to the influence of the Roman Empire. He was particularly interested in the
Christianisation of the Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples underwent gradual Christianization in the course of late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By AD 700, England and Francia were officially Christian, and by 1100 Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence ...
, and the differences between Germanic peoples who converted to
Arianism
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
and
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. His next major studies, ''The Visigoths in the Time of Ulfila'' (1965) and ''The Goths in Spain'' (1969), centered on the
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
. His works on early Germanic peoples, particularly those on the Visigoths, quickly became standard reference works on the subject, and were still considered unsurpassed at the time of his death. Thompson's studies on the Visigoths particularly examined the relations between various classes of Visigothic society with the Roman population among whom they lived. He maintained that while the Visigothic elite sought to adapt to and further develop Roman society, the Visigothic rank-and-file sought to overthrow it altogether. Thompson's reliance on literary evidence and aim to present a coherent account of history, distinguished him from many more recent historians, who are heavily influenced by
critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
and consider primary sources unreliable. Thompson was not afraid of controversy, and his criticism of others' views could be hard-hitting.
Until his retirement in 1979, Thompson served as the first Chairman of the Editorial Board of the scholarly journal ''Nottingham Medieval Studies'', founded by
Lewis Thorpe
Lewis Guy Melville Thorpe FRSA FRHistS (5 November 1913 – 10 October 1977)''UK and Ireland, Obituary Index, 2004-2018'' was a British philologist and translator. He was married to the Italian scholar and lexicographer Barbara Reynolds.
After ...
in 1957. Under Thompson's leadership, it rapidly emerged a major journal in its field. Thompson was elected a Fellow of 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 1964the first University of Nottingham academic to be so honoured. On the death of A. H. M. Jones in 1970, Thompson was made Chairman of the academy's committee supervising the ''
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...
'' project.
Later life
Thompson retired from the University of Nottingham in 1979. After his retirement Thompson spent a year at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, during which he produced four major papers which were later printed in the collection ''Romans and Barbarians: The Decline of the Western Empire'' (1982). Thompson subsequently shifted his focus to the end of
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
, on which he published the monographs ''Saint Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain'' (1984) and ''Who Was Saint Patrick?'' (1985). In his studies of
post-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hint ...
, Thompson argued that literary evidence implied that the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain
The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is the process which changed the language and culture of most of what became England from Romano-British to Germanic peoples, Germanic. The Germanic-speakers in Britain, themselves of diverse origins, ev ...
was characterized by discontinuity and widespread upheaval. By the 1980s, this interpretation had fallen somewhat out of fashion, particularly among archaeologists. Thompson died in Nottingham on 1 January 1994.
Politics
Thompson's revulsion towards Nazism, and his rejection of the strict Presbyterianism of his family, made him receptive towards
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
ideology, which was popular among intellectuals in the 1930s. He was particularly impressed by the works of
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
.
Influenced by Benjamin Farrington and the poet Roger Roughton, Thompson joined the
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...
by 1941.
The influence of Marxism is present in Thompson's works on a wide variety of subjects. This influence is particularly detectable in his studies on the rebellions of the
Bagaudae
Bagaudae (also spelled bacaudae) were groups of peasant insurgents in the later Roman Empire who arose during the Crisis of the Third Century, and persisted until the very end of the Western Empire, particularly in the less-Romanised areas of Ga ...
.
Thompson left the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1956, the year of the
Soviet Union's intervention in Hungary. In later life he referred to himself as a Thompsonist rather than a Marxist. His academic work continued to demonstrate a Marxist-oriented outlook on history. The class structure of societies continued to play a central role in his studies.
No longer playing an active part in politics, he maintained an enthusiastic interest. He was strongly opposed to the Soviet handling of the
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
, and criticised British policy in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, particularly
sectarian violence
Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, discrimination, hatred or prejudice between different sects of a particular mode of an ideology or different sects of a religio ...
.
Personal life
While lecturing at King's College Thompson met his first wife Thelma Marjorie Phelps, a physician, whom he married in 1945. They had a son and a daughter, but separated in 1958. In 1964 he married Hazel Joyce Casken, with whom he had a daughter and lived until his death.
Works
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See also
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Herwig Wolfram
Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Scho ...
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, E. A.
1914 births
1994 deaths
20th-century Irish historians
Academics of King's College London
Academics of Swansea University
Academics of the University of Nottingham
Academics of Trinity College Dublin
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
British Marxist historians
British medievalists
Irish people of Scottish descent
British people of Irish descent
Classics educators
Communist Party of Great Britain members
Fellows of the British Academy
Germanic studies scholars
Historians of antiquity
Historians of Spain
Irish Marxist historians
Irish communists
People from County Waterford