James Westfall Thompson (1869–1941) was an American historian specializing in the history of medieval and early modern Europe, particularly of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He also made noteworthy contributions to the

history of literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and the book trade in 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 ...

Biography

Born to a

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family an ...

minister's family in Pella, Iowa, Thompson received an undergraduate degree from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 1892 and a PhD in history from the newly founded

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1895. Thompson remained at Chicago as a professor of history until 1933, when he left for the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He remained at Berkeley until his death in 1941. Thompson was one of the most prolific academics of his generation and wrote on a wide range of subjects, from the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

to the economic structures of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

to the history of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

in early modern Europe. Some of his most important scholarly contributions came from his research on

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

and

book collecting Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

. His 1939 book ''The Literacy of the Laity in the Middle Ages'' remains a classic study of the subject. Thompson's two-volume study of the social and economic history of

medieval Germany The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman ge ...

, ''Feudal Germany'', appropriated elements of Frederick Jackson Turner's famous Frontier Thesis and applied them to the colonization of Slavic central Europe by German settlers in the Middle Ages. Thompson served as president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

in 1941, but died before completing his term. His planned presidential address to the Association's annual meeting on the origins of critical historical scholarship in eighteenth-century France was edited by his students and published posthumously in the 1942 edition of the ''

American Historical Review ''The American Historical Review'' is a quarterly academic history journal and the official publication of the American Historical Association. It targets readers interested in all periods and facets of history and has often been described as the ...

''. He is the namesake of the

's Thompson Residence Hall, located in Pierce Tower. Thompson was married to Anna Hawes Wilmarth (1873–1935) in 1897. They had a son, Wilmarth, and an adopted daughter, Frances. They divorced in 1909. Anna later married

Harold L. Ickes Harold LeClair Ickes ( ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold th ...

Bibliography

* ''The editando of the French monarchy under Louis VI''., le Gros, 1108–1137. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1895. * ''The wars of religion in France, 1559–1576; the Huguenots, Catherine de' Medici and Philip II'', by James Westfall Thompson. Chicago, The University of Chicago press, 1909. * ''The Frankfort book fair; the Francofordiense emporium of Henri Estienne'', ed. with historical introduction, original Latin text with English translation on opposite pages and notes, by James Westfall Thompson. Chicago, Caxton Club, 1911; Reprint, Amsterdam, G. Th. van Heusden, 1969. * ''Russian diplomacy and the war'', by James Westfall Thompson. Pub. under the auspices of the Germanistic society of Chicago: Chicago? 1915. * ''The French revolution from 1789 to 1815'', by François Auguste Marie Mignet. Edited, with additional chapter on the hundred days, by James Westfall Thompson. New York: Collier, c1916. * ''The lost oracles; a masque'', by James Westfall Thompson. Chicago, W. M. Mill, c1921. * ''Feudal Germany'', by James Westfall Thompson. 2 vols. Chicago, The University of Chicago press, 1928; Reprint, New York: F. Ungar Pub., 1962. * ''Economic and social history of the Middle Ages (300–1300''), by James Westfall Thompson. New York, London, The Century Co., c1928. * ''The Middle Ages, 300–1500'', by James Westfall Thompson. 2 vols. New York, A. A. Knopf, 1931; 2d ed. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1972. * ''The living past; politics-society-trade-art''. Chicago: Thomas S. Rockwell Company, 1931. * ''Byways in bookland'', by James Westfall Thompson. Berkeley: The Book arts clubof the University of California, 1935. * ''The dissolution of the Carolingian fisc in the ninth century'', by James Westfall Thompson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1935. * ''Secret diplomacy; a record of espionage and double-dealing: 1500–1815'', by J. W. Thompson & S.K. Padover; with 18 illustrations. London, Jarrolds, limited, 1937. * ''The importance of libraries in the preservation of culture'', by James Westfall Thompson. Baltimore: Enoch Pratt free library of Baltimore, 1937. * ''An introduction to medieval Europe, 300–1500'', by James Westfall Thompson ... & Edgar Nathaniel Johnson. New York: W. W. Norton & company, inc., c1937. * ''European civilization; a political, social and cultural history'', by James Westfall Thompson, Franklin Charles Palm, and John J. Van Nostrand. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, inc., 1939. * ''The literacy of the laity in the Middle Ages'', by James Westfall Thompson. New York: Burt Franklin, 1960. * ''A history of historical writing'', by James Westfall Thompson with the collaboration of Bernard J. Holm. 2 vols. Gloucester, Mass.: P. Smith, 1967. * ''The letters and documents of Armand de Gontaut, baron de Biron, marshal of France (1524–1592)'', collected by Sidney Hellman Ehrman, edited, with an introduction by James Westfall Thompson. 2 vols. New York: AMS Press, 1979. * ''Medieval and historiographical essays in honor of James Westfall Thompson'', edited by James Lea Cate and Eugene N. Anderson. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1966, c1938.

References

External links

Guide to the James Westfall Thompson Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

A History of Historical Writing,Vol. II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, James Westfall American medievalists 1869 births 1941 deaths University of California, Berkeley faculty Presidents of the American Historical Association Historians of Europe People from Pella, Iowa Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Historians from Iowa Historians from California