Nora Kershaw Chadwick
CBE FSA FBA (28 January 1891 – 24 April 1972) was an English
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
who specialized in
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...
,
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
and
Old Norse studies
Scandinavian studies is an interdisciplinary academic field of area studies, mainly in the United States and Germany, that primarily focuses on the Scandinavian languages (also known as North Germanic languages) and cultural studies pertaining t ...
.
Early life and education
Nora Kershaw was born in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
in 1891, the first daughter of James Kershaw and Emma Clara Booth, married in 1888. Her sister Mabel was born in 1895.
She received her undergraduate degree from
Newnham College
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...
at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
(where she was later an Honorary Life Fellow) and lectured at
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. She returned to Cambridge in 1919 to study
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...
and
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
under Professor
Hector Munro Chadwick. They were married in 1922.
The Chadwicks turned their home into a
literary salon
A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "ei ...
, a tradition which Mrs. Chadwick maintained after the death of her husband in 1947.
[
]
Career
Most of her life was spent on research, in her later years primarily on the Celts.[ She was University Lecturer in the Early History and Culture of the British Isles at the University of Cambridge from 1950 to 1958. She received honorary degrees from the ]University of Wales
, latin_name =
, image =
, caption = Coat of Arms
, motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd
, mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth
, established =
,
, type = Confederal, non-member ...
, the National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland (NUI) ( ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann) is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universit ...
and the University of St Andrews, and was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
in 1961.[ In 1965 she delivered 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 s ...
's Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture.
Chadwick took an interdisciplinary approach and wrote on many topics; she demonstrated influentially the study of multiple "early cultures of north-west Europe" and brought comparative evidence to bear on heroic literature. Nora Chadwick is best known for her work on the Celts, particularly on the earliest period.
Bequest
Nora Chadwick died in Cambridge; she left a sum to the University of Cambridge to endow a readership in Celtic Studies.
Publications
She published the first full English translation of ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks
''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks'' (The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek) is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas in Germanic heroic legend. It tells of wars between the Goths and the Huns during the 4th centu ...
'' together with other sagas and ballads in ''Stories and Ballads of the Far Past'' (1921), as well as a translation of the poem ''Hlöðskviða
Hlöðskviða (also Hlǫðskviða and Hlǫðsqviða), known in English as The Battle of the Goths and Huns and occasionally known by its German name Hunnenschlachtlied, is an Old Norse epic poem found in ''Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks''. Many attem ...
'' found within Heidrik's saga.
*
e-text
*
With her husband, she published the three volume work ''The Growth of Literature'' between 1932–40.
*
*
* [
She also wrote ]
The Beginnings of Russian History, an enquiry into sources
' (1946).
Chadwick collaborated with V. M. Zhirmunsky on a revision of the part of volume III that deals with epic poetry in Central Asian languages. The revised text was published separately in 1969 as
Oral Epics of Central Asia
'.
In 1955 she published ''Poetry and Letters in early Christian Gaul''.
Chadwick wrote about Celtic Britain and Breton history, and collaborated with Myles Dillon
Myles Patrick Dillon (11 April 1900 – 18 June 1972) was an Irish scholar whose primary interests were comparative philology, Celtic studies, and Sanskrit.
Life
Myles Dillon was born in Dublin; he was one of six children of John Dillon and h ...
and Kenneth H. Jackson.
* ''Early Scotland'' (1949)
''Introduction'', pages xi–xxvi, by Nora Kershaw Chadwick
* ''Studies in Early British History'' (editor and co-author, 1954)
* ''Celtic Britain (ancient people and places)'' (1963)
* ''The Age of Saints in the Celtic Church'' (1964)
* ''The Colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain'' (1965)
* ''The Druids'' (1966)
* ''The Celtic Realms'' (1967, with Myles Dillon
Myles Patrick Dillon (11 April 1900 – 18 June 1972) was an Irish scholar whose primary interests were comparative philology, Celtic studies, and Sanskrit.
Life
Myles Dillon was born in Dublin; he was one of six children of John Dillon and h ...
)
*
The Celts
' (1970, with an introductory chapter by Dr. J.X.W.P. Corcoran: 'The Origins of the Celts: The Archaeological Evidence'
1997 pbk edition
On Anglo-Saxon language and literature:
* ''The Study of Anglo-Saxon'' (1955, with her husband)
* "The Monsters and Beowulf" (1960), in which she suggests that the monsters in ''Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
'' are drawn entirely from Scandinavian tradition.
A list of the publications of Hector and Nora Chadwick was printed for her 80th birthday in 1971.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Nora Kershaw
British medievalists
Women medievalists
Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
Academics of the University of St Andrews
Academics of the University of Cambridge
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Fellows of the British Academy
1891 births
1972 deaths
English philologists
Anglo-Saxon studies scholars
Germanic studies scholars
Old Norse studies scholars
Celtic studies scholars
British women historians
British salon-holders