James Campbell, (26 January 1935 – 31 May 2016) was a British historian, specialising in the medieval period and the Anglo-Saxons. He was a Fellow of

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, from 1957 until his retirement in 2002, and Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2002.

Early life and education

Campbell was born on 26 January 1935 in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Gloucestershire, England. His birth father, John Henry Mogg was a teacher and his mother Barbara Hilda Brown was also a teacher and member of the Communist Party. After a period in foster care he was adopted by his maternal grandparents in 1938. He studied at

Lowestoft Grammar School Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

, where he found an interest in history. He took early entry to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, at the age of 17 and graduated with a first in 1955.

Academic career

In 1956, Campbell took up a

junior research fellowship The JRF or JRF Junior Research Fellow is a letter awarded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to the candidates who qualify in the National Eligibility Test UGC NET or NTA-UGC-NET, is the examination for determining the eligibility ...

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

. In 1957, at the age of 22, he was elected a Fellow at

. He held additional college appointments, including Fellow Librarian (1977–2002) and senior tutor (1989–1993), and also served as the University of Oxford's

Senior Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

for the 1973/74 academic year. At university level teaching, he was a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in modern history (as opposed to ancient history) from 1958 to 1990, Reader in Medieval History from 1990 to 1996, and Professor of Medieval History from 1996 to 2002. He delivered the Ford Lectures in the 1995/96 academic year. He remained at Worcester College until his retirement in 2002. Campbell's particular historical interest was in the medieval period and

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

studies. Along with Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and David Brown, in 1979 he founded the series ''Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History''. He was also interested in agriculture in Britain and Ireland from the 13th to 19th centuries. Two collections of his essays were published as ''Essays in Anglo-Saxon History'' in 1986 and ''The Anglo-Saxon State'' in 2000. He was the editor of ''The Anglo-Saxons'' (1982), a collection of essays on

Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...

, for which he wrote the section on the period from AD 350 to 660. He was elected as 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) in 1984. He had been elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1971.

Personal life

In the 1980s, Campbell moved out of college accommodation and settled in Witney, a village near Oxford. At the age of 71, he married Dr Bӓrbel Brodt on 7 October 2006. They did not have any children, and he was devastated by her death in October 2015. He died at his home on 31 May 2016.

Selected works

* * *

References

External links

Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 4 September 2009 (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, James 1935 births 2016 deaths Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford Anglo-Saxon studies scholars English male non-fiction writers Fellows of the British Academy Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Historians of England