Sir Richard William Southern
(8 February 1912 – 6 February 2001), who published under the name R. W. Southern, was a noted English
medieval historian
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 ...
based at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Biography
Southern was born in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...
on 8 February 1912, and educated at the
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
(By Learning, You Will Lead)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Grammar SchoolIndependent day school
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, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
, head = Geoffrey Stanford
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, and 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 ...
, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in history. At Oxford, Southern's mentors were Sir
Maurice Powicke
Sir Frederick Maurice Powicke (1879–1963) was an English medieval historian. He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford and was a professor at Queen's University, Belfast and the Victoria University of Manchester, and from 1928 until his re ...
and
Vivian Hunter Galbraith
Vivian Hunter Galbraith (15 December 1889 – 25 November 1976) was an English historian, fellow of the British Academy and Oxford Regius Professor of Modern History.
Early career
Galbraith was born in Sheffield, son of David Galbraith, ...
. He was a fellow of Balliol from 1937 to 1961 (where he lectured alongside
Christopher Hill),
Chichele Professor of Modern History
The Chichele Professorships are statutory professorships at the University of Oxford named in honour of Henry Chichele (also spelt Chicheley or Checheley, although the spelling of the academic position is consistently "Chichele"), an Archbishop of ...
at Oxford from 1961 to 1969, and president of
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...
, from 1969 to 1981. He was president of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
from 1969 to 1973.
Southern was awarded the
Balzan Prize
The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the br ...
for Medieval History in 1987. He was knighted in 1974. He died in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
on 6 February 2001.
Southern is one of 20 medieval scholars profiled in
Norman Cantor
Norman Frank Cantor (November 19, 1929 – September 18, 2004) was a Canadian-American historian who specialized in the Middle Ages, medieval period. Known for his accessible writing and engaging narrative style, Cantor's books were among the mo ...
's ''Inventing the Middle Ages: The Lives, Works and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century''. Cantor considers Southern's ''The Making of the Middle Ages'' one of two best single-volume books on the Middle Ages written in the 20th century for inspiring a revolution in the study of the period. However, Southern declined to lead the revolution by forming a programmatic research institute. Cantor describes him in
Arthurian terms, with a group of devotees (including Cantor) who surrounded their master following the publication of ''The Making of the Middle Ages''. Like Arthurian legend, Southern's story does not have an entirely happy ending, and Cantor describes his sense of disappointment when Southern failed to live up to Cantor's expectations.
In addition to the influence exerted by his works, Southern had several prominent students who carried his influence into the next generation.
Robert Bartlett and
R. I. Moore
Robert Ian "Bob" Moore (born 1941), most commonly known as R. I. Moore, is a British historian who is Professor Emeritus of History at Newcastle University. He specialises in medieval history and has written several influential works on t ...
, for example, share Southern's interest in the development of Europe in the
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...
, and
Valerie Flint
Valerie Irene Jane Flint (5 July 1936 – 7 January 2009) was a British scholar and historian, specialising in medieval intellectual and cultural history.
Biography
Early life
Flint was born in Derby. She was a pupil at the Rutland Ho ...
had some of Southern's tendencies towards iconoclasm.
Publications
Southern's ''The Making of the Middle Ages'' (1953) was a seminal work, and established Southern's reputation as a
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 voc ...
. This pioneering work, sketching the main personalities and cultural influences that shaped the character of Western Europe from the late tenth to the early thirteenth century and describing the development of social, political, and religious institutions, opened up new vistas in medieval history, and has been translated into many languages. The final chapter of the book (a chapter dedicated to spirituality) has often been credited with helping to popularize the thesis that in the 11th century Anselm of Canterbury "was the founder of the new type of ardent and effusive self-disclosure", epitomizing a broader tendency to "a greater measure of solitude, of introspection, and self-knowledge" that "ran like fire through Europe in the generation after his death and produced an outburst of meditations and spiritual soliloquies". Southern's ideas were seminal for generations of scholars of medieval spirituality, helping them to build a picture of what they called
affective piety Affective piety is most commonly described as a style of highly emotional devotion to the humanity of Jesus, particularly in his infancy and his death, and to the joys and sorrows of the Virgin Mary. It was a major influence on many varieties of dev ...
– emotionally charged prayer and meditation mostly focused on the Passion of Christ.
Southern made major contributions to the areas he studied, and was not afraid to attack long-held views. Southern's monographic studies of
St Anselm
Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also called ( it, Anselmo d'Aosta, link=no) after his birthplace and (french: Anselme du Bec, link=no) after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and theologian of the ...
and
Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste, ', ', or ') or the gallicised Robert Grosstête ( ; la, Robertus Grossetesta or '). Also known as Robert of Lincoln ( la, Robertus Lincolniensis, ', &c.) or Rupert of Lincoln ( la, Rubertus Lincolniensis, &c.). ( ; la, Rob ...
, for example, have had significant influences on their historiography. Never afraid of controversy, Southern's interpretation of Grosseteste made a dramatic attempt to revise the chronology of Grosseteste's life. Further, Southern saw him as a particularly English figure (in contrast to earlier scholarship, which had seen Grosseteste's connections to French schools as being of particular importance).
[Southern's interpretation of Grosseteste has not found universal support. Several reviews of the work when it first came out noted problems with his argument, and James McEvoy did not find all of Southern's revisions to Grosseteste's biography compelling. Cf. McEvoy, ''Robert Grosseteste'' (2000), c. 2.] Southern also took a revisionist line in his re-interpretation of the
School of Chartres
During the High Middle Ages, the Chartres Cathedral established the cathedral School of Chartres, an important center of French scholarship located in Chartres. It developed and reached its apex during the transitional period of the 11th and 12th ...
, an argument stated first in his ''Medieval Humanism'' and then refined in his ''Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe.'' Southern argued that scholars in the 19th and early 20th centuries had built the "School of Chartres" into a romanticised edifice out of all proportion with the documentary record. The figures in the School of Chartres were actually much more active in Paris than in Chartres itself, according to Southern; Chartres did indeed have a school, but it did not surpass the usual level of
cathedral school
Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these e ...
s of the time. Southern's revisionist or iconoclastic approach was continued by some of his students.
Valerie Flint
Valerie Irene Jane Flint (5 July 1936 – 7 January 2009) was a British scholar and historian, specialising in medieval intellectual and cultural history.
Biography
Early life
Flint was born in Derby. She was a pupil at the Rutland Ho ...
, for example, attempted to make significant revisions to the interpretation of
Anselm of Laon
Anselm of Laon ( la, Anselmus; 1117), properly Ansel ('), was a French theologian and founder of a school of scholars who helped to pioneer biblical hermeneutics.
Biography
Born of very humble parents at Laon before the middle of the 11th cent ...
.
Southern's final major work, ''Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe,'' was unfortunately destined to remain unfinished at his death. Southern never managed to finish the third volume of the work. The first two volumes do, however, represent a major contribution to medieval scholarship. In the work, Southern argues that, from the 12th century on, medieval scholars aspired to systematise all human knowledge in a comprehensive system. Furthermore, this scholarly vision (the "scholastic humanism" of the title) was to have a major influence on Western culture beyond the schools, as scholars and school-educated men moved out of the schools and took important roles in the government and the church.
In addition to these major works, Southern also wrote several works that have not had quite as much influence on medieval scholarship. His brief ''Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages'' represents a relatively early effort to describe medieval attitudes towards Islam, identifying three stages in their development. His ''Medieval Humanism and Other Studies'' states first several themes that would be later developed in ''Scholastic Humanism.'' His ''Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages'' is a textbook survey like ''The Making of the Middle Ages'' but has not received quite as much attention as his earlier work.
Works
''Ranulf Flambard and Early Anglo-Norman Administration'' Alexander Prize Essay (Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, December 1933)
(Yale University Press, 1953)
''Western Views of Islam in the Middle Ages''(Harvard University Press, 1962)
''The Life of St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury'' by
Eadmer
Eadmer or Edmer ( – ) was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his ''Vita Anselmi'', and for his ''Historia novorum in ...
(as editor and translator) (Nelson, 1962; 2nd ed. 1972)
''St Anselm and His Biographer: A Study of Monastic Life and Thought 1059–c.1130''(Cambridge University Press, 1963)
(Penguin, 1970)
(1970)
*''Robert Grosseteste: The Growth of an English Mind in Medieval Europe'' (Oxford University Press, 1986, 2nd ed. 1992
review(Cambridge University Press, 1992)
*''Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe''
Vol. Iand
Vol. II(Wiley, 1997, 2001)
and Historians: Selected Papers of R. W. Southern'' edited by
Robert Bartlett (Blackwell Publishing, 2004)
References
External links
Gifford Lecture biography– By Dr Michael W DeLashmutt
*Palmer, William
"Sir Richard Southern Looks Back: A Portrait of the Medievalist as a Young Man" ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', Winter 1998.
''The Guardian'' obituary*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern, Richard
1912 births
2001 deaths
People from Newcastle upon Tyne
People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne
British medievalists
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Presidents of St John's College, Oxford
Presidents of the Royal Historical Society
Chichele Professors of Modern History
20th-century English historians
Fellows of the British Academy
Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America