John Smith Roskell (1913–1998) was an English historian of 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 ...

. Roskell was born on 2 July 1913 in

Norden Norden is a Scandinavian and German word, directly translated as "the North". It may refer to: Places England * Norden, Basingstoke, a ward of Basingstoke and Deane * Norden, Dorset, a hamlet near Corfe Castle * Norden, Greater Manchester, a vil ...

, near

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. He won a scholarship to Rochdale Municipal Secondary School before attending

Accrington Grammar School Accrington Academy is a mixed 11-18 Academy in Accrington, Lancashire. It has designated specialisms in Sports and Mathematics. It is situated in the centre of Accrington. Accrington St Christopher's C of E High is nearby to the west. History T ...

. In 1930 he won a history scholarship for

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. Here he was influenced by

William Abel Pantin William Abel Pantin (1 May 1902 – 10 November 1973) was an historian of medieval England who spent most of his academic life at the University of Oxford. Life Pantin was born in Blackheath, south London, on 1 May 1902. He was educated at Wes ...

and E. F. Jacob, who helped Roskell gravitate towards medieval history. Roskell was taught a neo- Stubbsian method that sought to use administrative and biographical research in studying constitutional history. He gained a first in 1933 and was awarded an MA a year later. His masters thesis was published by the

Chetham Society The Chetham Society "for the publication of remains historic and literary connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester" is a text publication society and registered charity (No. 700047) established on 23 March 1843. History Th ...

in 1937 as ''The Knights of the Shire for the County Palatine of Lancaster, 1377–1460''. After being awarded a Langton Fellowship in 1935, Roskell studied the Parliament of 1422 at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, for his doctoral thesis. Under the supervision of V. H. Galbraith, he completed this in 1940 (''The Commons in the Parliament of 1422'') but his studies were interrupted by 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 ...

. Roskell served in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic. Roskell returned to Manchester in 1945 and his thesis was eventually published in 1954. For ten years after 1952 he was Professor of Medieval History 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 ...

before returning to the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

to take the chair of medieval history. He retired in 1978. In 1968 he was awarded a Fellowship 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 ...

. Against the views of

Albert Pollard Albert Frederick Pollard, FBA (16 December 1869 – 3 August 1948) was a British historian who specialized in the Tudor period. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906. Life and career Pollard was born in Ryde o ...

and J. E. Neale, Roskell argued in 1964 that it was in the seventeenth century that Parliament became indispensable to the Crown, not the during the sixteenth. With Linda Clark and Carole Rawcliffe, he edited ''

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

'' that covered the House of Commons from 1386 to 1421. These were published in four volumes in 1992. He married Evelyn Liddle in 1942, with whom he had two children. He died on 1 May 1998.

Works

*''The Knights of the Shire for the County Palatine of Lancaster, 1377–1460'' (Chetham Society, new ser., XCVI (1937). *‘Medieval Speakers for the Commons in Parliament’ ''Bulletin of the Institute for Historical Research'', XXIII (1950). *‘The Office and Dignity of Protector of England, with Special Reference to its Origins’, ''English Historical Review'', LXVIII (1953). *''The Commons in the Parliament of 1422: English Society and Parliamentary Representation under the Lancastrians'' (1954). *‘The Problem of the Attendance of the Lords in Medieval Parliaments’, ''Bulletin of the Institute for Historical Research'', XXIX (1956). *‘Perspectives in English Parliamentary History’, ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'', XLVI (1964), pp. 448–75. *''The Commons and their Speakers in English Parliaments, 1376–1523'' (1965). *‘A Consideration of Certain Aspects of the English ''Modus Tenendi Parliamentum''’, ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' (1967). *'The Authorship and Purpose of the ''Gesta Henrici Quinti, ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'', LIII (1970-l) and LIV (1971–72). *(co-edited and translated with Frank Taylor), ''Gesta Henrici Quinti: The Deeds of Henry the Fifth'' (Oxford, 1975). *''Parliaments and Politics in late Medieval England'' (3 vols., 1981–83). *''The Impeachment of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in 1386 in the Context of the Reign of Richard II'' (1984).

References

External links

John Roskell Papers

University of Manchester Library The University of Manchester Library is the library system and information service of the University of Manchester. The main library is on the Oxford Road campus of the university, with its entrance on Burlington Street. There are also ten other ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roskell, John Smith 1913 births 1998 deaths English historians British medievalists 20th-century British historians Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford People from Rochdale People educated at Accrington Grammar School Chetham Society Lancashire Parish Register Society