Elizabeth Helen Cooper, (born 6 February 1947), known as Helen Cooper, is a British literary scholar. From 2004 to 2014, she was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and a

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 ...

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

Early life and education

Cooper was born on 6 February 1947 in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England. Her parents were

Percy Edward Kent Sir Percy Edward Kent (18 March 1913 – 9 July 1986) was a British geologist who won the Royal Medal in 1971. Awarded the Bigsby Medal in 1955 and the Murchison Medal in 1969, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1973 Birthday Honours. Early l ...

, an exploration geologist, and Betty Kent. She was educated at

Nottingham Girls' High School Nottingham Girls' High School is an independent selective day school for girls aged 4–18, situated just north of Nottingham city centre. The school was founded in 1875 and forms part of the Girls' Day School Trust. History Nottingham Girls' ...

, an all-girls

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

. She studied at

New Hall, Cambridge New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz Albums and EPs * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1968: as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(MA Cantab) degree. She remained at New Hall to undertake postgraduate study, one of her supervisors was

Jack A. W. Bennett Jack Arthur Walter Bennett (28 February 1911 – 29 January 1981) was a New Zealand–born literary scholar. Early life and education Jack Arthur Walter Bennett was born at Mount Eden, Auckland, New Zealand, the eldest son of Ernest Bennett, a f ...

, and she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1971. Her

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

was titled "The mediaeval background of English Renaissance pastoral literature".

Academic career

From 1971 to 1974, Cooper was a

junior research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a ...

. In 1978, she was elected a

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

: she was the first woman to become a fellow at the formerly all-male college. During this time, she was also a lecturer in English 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 ...

, rising to become chair of its Faculty of English. In 1996, she was awarded a

Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...

by the University of Oxford as

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of English Language and Literature. From 2000 to 2002, she was also the president of the

New Chaucer Society The New Chaucer Society is a professional academic organization dedicated to the study of Geoffrey Chaucer and the Middle Ages, founded in 1979. Its predecessor, the original Chaucer Society, had been founded by Frederick James Furnivall in 1868 a ...

. In 2004, Cooper moved to the

, having been appointed to its Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English. She was also elected a

professorial fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

. She retired from full-time academics in 2014, and was appointed

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

by Oxford and made a Life Fellow at Magdalene College. Her research is in the continuity of literature across the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. Her latest book is ''Shakespeare and the Medieval World'', published in 2010 as part of the

Arden Shakespeare The Arden Shakespeare is a long-running series of scholarly editions of the works of William Shakespeare. It presents fully edited modern-spelling editions of the plays and poems, with lengthy introductions and full commentaries. There have been t ...

series.

Personal life

In 1970, she married Michael Cooper, a fellow academic: he died in 2007. Together they had two daughters.

Honours

In 2001, Cooper was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

(DLitt) degree by

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. In 2006, she was elected 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 ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

for the humanities and social sciences. In 2016 she delivered the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.textaudio
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Selected works

* Cooper, H. (1978). ''Pastoral: Mediaeval into Renaissance''. D. S. Brewer * Cooper, H. (1983). ''The Structure of the Canterbury Tales.'' Duckworth and University of Georgia Press * Cooper, H (1996) ''Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales'', Oxford University Press. * Cooper, H. & Mapstone, S. (1997). ''The Long Fifteenth Century: Essays for Douglas Gray Counter-Romance: Civil Strife and Father-killing in the Prose Romances.'' Oxford University Press * Cooper, H. (1998). ''Sir Thomas Malory: Le Morte Darthur –

Winchester Manuscript ' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the R ...

.'' Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics) * Cooper, H. (1999). The Four Last Things in Chaucer and Dante: Ugolino in the House of Rumour. ''New Medieval Literatures'' 3 * Cooper, H. (2003). Chaucerian Representation; Chaucerian Poetics. In: ''New Readings of Chaucer's Poetry'', ed. Robert G. Benson and Susan J. Ridyard, Chaucer Studies. D. S. Brewer * Cooper, H. (2004). Speaking for the Victim. In: ''Writing War: Medieval Literary Responses to Warfare'', eds. Corinne Saunders, Francois Le Saux and Neil Wright. D. S. Brewer * Cooper, H. (2004). ''The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare.'' Oxford University Press * Cooper, H. (2010). ''Shakespeare and the Medieval World'', Arden Companions to Shakespeare. A & C Black.

References

External links

The New Chaucer Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Helen Living people British literary historians Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of University College, Oxford Chaucer scholars Fellows of the British Academy Writers from Nottingham People educated at Nottingham Girls' High School Fellows of New Hall, Cambridge 1947 births Professors of Medieval and Renaissance English (Cambridge)