Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on
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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
and
Arthurian literature
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of
Arthurian legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
, in particular the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracu ...
, in native
Celtic mythology.
Biography
Roger Sherman Loomis was the son of Rev. Henry Loomis and Jane Herring Greene, the grandnephew of
William Maxwell Evarts
William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman from New York who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York. He was renowned for his skills as a lit ...
, and the great-great-grandson of American founding father
Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Con ...
. Born on October 31, 1887, in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
, Japan, he was educated at the
Hotchkiss School in
Lakeville,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
.
He earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
in 1909, a
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1910, and, as a
Rhodes Scholar, a
Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...
(BLitt) degree at
New College, Oxford, in 1913. His BLitt dissertation, written under the supervision of
Arthur Napier and C. F. Bell, was titled ''Illustrations of the Romances in Mediæval English Art''. He held honorary degrees from Columbia, Williams, the
University of Wales
The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff ...
, and the
University of Rennes
The University of Rennes is a public research university which will be officially reconstituted on 1 January 2023 and located in the city of Rennes, in Upper Brittany, France. The University of Rennes has been divided for almost 50 years, before ...
in France.
He was an instructor at the
University of Illinois at Urbana from 1913 to 1918. During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he edited an Army publication ''Atenshun 21''. He left Illinois for
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he taught from 1919 until 1958: he was a member of Columbia's English faculty and held an emeritus position there from 1958 until his death in 1966. In 1919, also, Loomis married his first wife,
Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis, (1882–1921), a medieval scholar who shared his interest in
Arthurian literature
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
(''Folklore'' 38.4 1927 405–407).
From his early years he studied the influence of
Celtic mythology on
Arthurian legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
, especially the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracu ...
romance. In 1930 Loomis attended the first International Arthurian Congress in Truro, Cornwall, where he,
Henry Jenner
Henry Jenner (8 August 1848 – 8 May 1934) was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival.
Jenner was born at St Columb Major on 8 August 1848. He was th ...
,
Dominica Legge
Professor Mary Dominica Legge, FBA (26 March 1905 – 10 March 1986), known as Dominica Legge, was a British scholar of the Anglo-Norman language.
Life
Legge was born in Bayswater in 1905. Her grandfather was Professor James Legge, and her f ...
,
Eugène Vinaver
Eugène Vinaver (russian: Евгений Максимович Винавер ''Yevgeniĭ Maksimovich Vinaver'', 18 June 1899 – 21 July 1979) was a Russian-born British literary scholar who is best known today for his edition of the works of Sir ...
, and other scholars investigated Arthurian legends.
He was a member of the
International Arthurian Society
''Arthuriana'' is a quarterly journal published by the North American branch of the International Arthurian Society. Its focus is on the Arthurian legend. The four annual issues are published in February, May, October, and December.
History
The ...
(president of American Branch, 1948–1963), the
Modern Language Association, the
Mediaeval Academy of America
The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...
(fellow; second vice-president, 1961–1964), the
Modern Humanities Research Association
The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) is a United Kingdom–based international organisation that aims to encourage and promote advanced study and research of humanities. It is most notable for producing the ''MHRA Style Guide''.
His ...
, and the
American Humanist Association. In 1955–1956 he was an Eastman Professor 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 ...
.
Loomis wrote ten scholarly books and numerous journal articles. His book ''A Mirror of Chaucer's World'', published in 1965 by Princeton, is a pictorial presentation of drawings, sculpture, paintings and other materials related to
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...
and his age. His most notable book ''Arthurian Tradition and Chrétien de Troyes'', published by Columbia University in 1949, won the
Haskins Medal
The Haskins Medal is an annual medal awarded by the Medieval Academy of America. It is awarded for the production of a distinguished book in the field of medieval studies.
Award
The Haskins Medal is awarded by a committee of three; a chairman, and ...
of the Mediaeval Academy of America.
After the death of his first wife in 1921, Loomis married Laura Alandis Hibbard (1883–1960), with whom he collaborated in many of his research and writing efforts. He dedicated one of his final volumes to Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis and Laura Hibbard Loomis "in grateful and loving remembrance" (''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol'' published by the University of Wales 1963; and later by Princeton University, in 1991).
Loomis died on October 11, 1966, in
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, Connecticut.
Works
*''Illustrations of Medieval Romance on Tiles from Chertsey Abbey'' (1916)
*''Freshman Readings'' (1925)
*''Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance'' (1927)
*''The Art of Writing Prose'' (1930) with
Mabel Louise Robinson, Helen Hull and Paul Cavanaugh
*''Models for Writing Prose'' (1931)
*''The Romance of Tristram and Ysolt'' (1931) translator
*''Tristan and Isolt: A study of the Sources of the Romance'' by Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis, 2d ed., expanded by a bibliography and critical essay on Tristan scholarship since 1912, by Roger Sherman Loomis (New York, B. Franklin, 1960)
*''Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art'' (1938) with Laura Hibbard Loomis
*''Introduction to Medieval Literature, Chiefly in England. Reading List and Bibliography'' (1939)
*''Representative Medieval And Tudor Plays'' (1942) editor with Henry W. Wells
*''The Fight for Freedom: College Reading in Wartime'' (1943) with Gabriel M. Liegey
*''Modern English Readings'' (1945) editor with Donald Lemen Clark
*''Medieval English Verse and Prose'' (1948) with Rudolph Willard
*''Arthurian Tradition and Chrétien De Troyes'' (1949)
*''Wales and the Arthurian Legend'' (1956)
*''Medieval Romances'' (1957) editor with Laura Hibbard Loomis
*''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, A Collaborative History'' (1959) editor
*''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol'' (1963)
*''The Development of Arthurian Romance'' (1963)
*''A Mirror of Chaucer's World'' (1965)
*''The Arthurian Material in the Chronicles: Especially Those in Great Britain and France'' (1973) expansion of
Robert Huntington Fletcher's 1906 book
*''Lanzelet'' (2005) translator Thomas Kerth, notes by Loomis and
Kenneth G. T. Webster
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
The origins of the Holy Grail according to Roger Sherman LoomisNew York Times ObituaryLibraryThingSherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England By Thomas Townsend Sherman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loomis, Roger Sherman
1887 births
1966 deaths
American expatriates in Japan
American Rhodes Scholars
Arthurian scholars
Columbia University faculty
Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America
Harvard University alumni
Holy Grail
Hotchkiss School alumni
People from Yokohama
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
Williams College alumni