Urban Tigner Holmes Jr. (July 13, 1900 – May 12, 1972) was an American scholar focusing on

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

and romance

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. The son of Commander Urban T. Holmes,

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, Holmes was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 1916, he enrolled at the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

only to withdraw the following year due to health reasons. In 1917, he began schooling at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, where he studied

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, and

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

. After graduating with a Bachelors in 1920, Holmes continued his doctoral studies at

Harvard 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 ...

and

La Sorbonne , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. While at the Sorbonne, Holmes studied under scholars such as

Joseph Bédier Joseph Bédier (28 January 1864 – 29 August 1938) was a French writer and scholar and historian of medieval France. Biography Bédier was born in Paris, France, to Adolphe Bédier, a lawyer of Breton origin, and spent his childhood in Réunion. ...

and

Mario Roques Mario Roques (1 July 1875 – 8 March 1961) was a French scholar, professor of history of medieval literature and renowned Romance philologist. He translated and edited '' Le Roman de Renart''. Biography Mario Roques was born in Peru where hi ...

. Holmes taught at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

before settling down at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

in 1925. By 1945, he was the Kenan Professor of Romance Philology. Urban T. Holmes was recognized both nationally and internationally for his scholarship. In 1950, he became a Chevalier de la

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. This was followed by becoming a Member of the Royal Archeological Institute (1961), a fellow of the

Royal Numismatic Society The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...

(1961), a fellow of the

American Numismatic Society The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation ...

(1962), and a fellow of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries 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 ...

(1967). Among his most renowned works are his ''History of Old French Literature'' (1937) and ''Daily Living in the Twelfth Century'' (1952). The publication of his work ''Chrétien, Troyes, and the Grail'' (1959, co-authored with Sister Amelia Klenke) introduced his very controversial Judeo-Christian

Grail The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

theory. His son

Urban T. Holmes III Urban Tigner Holmes III (June 12, 1930 – August 6, 1981) was an Episcopal priest, theologian, and academic during the twentieth century. He was the son of Urban T. Holmes Jr. and Margaret Allan Gemmell Holmes. Following studies at the University ...

(1930–1981) was a prominent Episcopal priest, theologian, and academic during the twentieth century.

References

*Dean, Ruth J., Grace Frank, William Roach. "Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Mediaeval Academy." ''Speculum'' 48:3 (1973), 624–625. 1900 births 1972 deaths American medievalists University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Paris alumni Harvard University alumni University of Western Ontario faculty University of Missouri faculty 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub