James Francis Lydon (1928 – 25 June 2013) was an Irish educator and historian. He served as the

Lecky Professor of History The Lecky Professorship of History, previously the Lecky Professorship of Modern History is a chair at Trinity College Dublin. The professorship was founded in 1913 in memory of William Edward Hartpole Lecky, with an endowment from his widow. Le ...

at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1980 to 1993, and authored numerous works, particularly on the

medieval 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 ...

history of Ireland The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quaterna ...

Early life and education

Lydon was born to a large

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family in

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

in 1928, the son of a local baker. His mother raised him to be fluent in the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

. Lydon studied both English and History at

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, graduating in 1950. One of his external examiners was

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

, who was so impressed with his work that he invited Lydon to tea after the university refused Tolkien permission to invite him for lunch. After completing his B.A., Lydon stayed on at UCG to undertake research for a master's degree. His adviser, history department professor

Mary Donovan O'Sullivan Mary Josephine Donovan O'Sullivan was Professor of History at Queens College, Galway (now NUI Galway) from 1914 to 1957. Biography One of ten children, four of whom survived infancy, Donovan was born at Fair Hill Road in Galway on 24 November ...

, suggested to him that "Ireland's contribution to the military activities of the English crown in the thirteenth century might be a subject that would repay investigation." Lydon moved to England to attend the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and studied under the influential

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

Sir Maurice Powicke.

Career

In 1955 he completed his thesis, "Ireland's participation in the military activities of English kings in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries." Revised for publication, it became the first of many scholarly contributions to the history of the era. Having a full year left on his Travelling Fellowship after his studies were concluded, he was advised by his mentor Powicke to "use the residue of the funding to travel on the continent...stay clear of archives...read, visit galleries, listen to music, meet people and generally lift his eyes beyond the confines of the ublicRecord Office in Chancery Lane." This experience "gave him an appreciation of European 'culture' in its broadest sense" and enabled Lydon to "bring the historiography of late medieval Ireland to maturity." Returning to Galway in 1956 he taught history through the media of Irish and English and, in 1959, moved to Dublin to lecture at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He became a full lecturer in 1962, a Fellow in 1965, and an associate professor in 1969. He served as an educator for thirty-three years, and was

at Trinity from 1980 until his retirement in 1993. He was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1967, and president of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

from 1981 to 1984.

Works

Primarily an Irish mediaevalist, Lydon published his first major work,
The lordship of Ireland in the Middle Ages
', in 1972. In the 1980s, he served as a contributor to the ''Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland''. Lydon's other works include: *
The Gill History of Ireland
' (1972) *
Ireland in the Later Middle Ages
' (1973) * ‘Ireland and the English Crown, 1171-1541’ in IHS (Irish Historical Studies) xxix:115 (1995) p.281-94. *
Law and disorder in thirteenth-century Ireland: the Dublin Parliament of 1297
' (1997) *
The Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to the Present
' (1998) * 'Richard II’s Expeditions to Ireland', in ''Government, War and Society in Medieval Ireland: Essays by

Edmund Curtis Edmund CurtisIrish: ''Éamon Cuirtéis'' (1881–1943), was born in Lancashire to Irish parents. He worked in a rubber factory until he was 15 when he continued with his education. His education was paid for through donations when it was heard ...

, A.J. Otway-Ruthven and James Lydon'', ed. Peter Crooks (Dublin, 2008).

Personal life

Lydon was unmarried. He battled depression in later life. He was fond of music, particularly opera.

References

External links