John Bennett Black (1883–1964) was a Scottish

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 st ...

whose primary topic of study was of

Elizabethan England The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

. From 1930 to 1953 he was Burnett-Fletcher Professor of History at the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

where a prize is awarded each year in his name. Born in Glasgow, he earned his MA in English Language and Literature at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1907, and his BA in Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1910. From Oxford he won the Arnold Prize in 1913 for his study of Anglo-French relations during the reign of Elizabeth I. Black was appointed Lecturer in British History at Glasgow 1910, and in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

served as a Lieutenant in the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fus ...

1916–1918, and was a prisoner of war in 1918. Following the war in 1919 he moved to Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, where he was a Professor of Modern History. In 1920 he relocated to the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

as Professor of Modern History, serving as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1923 to 1930. In 1930 Black moved to Aberdeen to take up the Burnett-Fletcher Chair. His 1926 work ''The Art of History'', though now superseded, was the first important scholarly consideration of Enlightenment

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

in the twentieth century. It was an examination of Voltaire, David Hume, William Robertson and Edward Gibbon. He is best known for ''The Reign of Elizabeth'' (1936) the second volume of the

Oxford History of England The Oxford History of England (1934–1965) was a notable book series on the history of the United Kingdom. Published by Oxford University Press, it was originally intended to span from Roman Britain to the outbreak of the First World War in fourte ...

series to appear (although it was Volume 8 in the 15-volume series). Among other works, he also offered a short paper on

Hector Boece Hector Boece (; also spelled Boyce or Boise; 1465–1536), known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Abe ...

's ''Historia Gentis Scotorum'' in a volume which he co-authored with W. Douglas Simpson, on the occasion of the ''Quatercentenary of the Death of Hector Boece, first Principal of the University''. Black received an Hon. LLD from Glasgow in 1949, and from Aberdeen in 1954, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1939 to 1942 and as a member of the

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

from 1939 to 1947. He died on 25 November 1964.

References

Academics of the University of Aberdeen 20th-century Scottish historians 1883 births 1964 deaths {{Scotland-academic-bio-stub