Robert Eugene Somerville (born 1940) was, until his retirement, the
Ada Byron Bampton Tremaine Professor of Religion and Professor of History at
Columbia University,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. Since July 1, 2020, he has been the Tremaine Professor Emeritus of Religion.
Biogr
Born in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1940, Somerville taught at Columbia from 1969 until his retirement, except for a year at the
University of Pennsylvania (1976–1977).
Somerville did his doctoral work under
Stephan Kuttner
Stephan George Kuttner (March 24, 1907 in Bonn – August 12, 1996 in Berkeley), an expert in Canon Law, was recognized as a leader in the discovery, interpretation and analysis of important texts and manuscripts that are key to understanding th ...
at
Yale University. He has published widely on the high
medieval history of the
papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and of
canon law. He is internationally recognized as an authority on medieval church councils. With the publication of his 2011 book ''Pope Urban II's
Council of Piacenza'', he has published completely all the sources relating to the councils of
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...
.
Somerville is a member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the
Medieval Academy of America and of the Commission internationale de diplomatique. He is a corresponding member of the
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...
in
Munich and of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...
. He has received numerous awards, including two
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowships, in 1974 and 1987.
In 2012, the
Catholic University of America Press published a
Festschrift in his honor, ''Canon Law, Religion, and Politics: "Liber Amicorum" Robert Somerville,'' edited by his former students ,
Anders Winroth
Anders Winroth (born 1965 in Ludvika in Sweden) is a professor of medieval history at the University of Oslo and previously taught in the same field at Yale University
Life
After graduation from Stockholm University, Winroth did his master's an ...
, and
Peter Landau.
He currently lives on the
Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York. His son, Gregory Somerville, graduated in 2013 from
Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America:
Canada
* Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary
* Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver
* Columbia In ...
with a
Bachelor of Arts in music.
Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
Somerville's Columbia University web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerville, Robert
1940 births
Living people
Writers from Pittsburgh
American medievalists
Yale University alumni
Columbia University faculty
Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
Historians from Pennsylvania