Vincent Gillespie, FEA (born February 11, 1954) is Emeritus J. R. R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language 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 ...

. He was editor of the Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies Series from 2002 until 2023, and is the Honorary Director of the

Early English Text Society The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...

, having previously served as its executive secretary. His major research area is late medieval English literature. He has published over sixty articles and book chapters ranging from medieval book history, through

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

William Langland William Langland (; la, Willielmus de Langland; 1332 – c. 1386) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as ''Piers Plowman'', an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem tr ...

, to the medieval mystics such as

Richard Rolle Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in Sou ...

and, most recently,

Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English mystic and anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earlies ...

. He has a special interest in the medieval English Carthusians, and in

Syon Abbey Syon Abbey , also called simply Syon, was a dual monastery of men and women of the Bridgettines, Bridgettine Order, although it only ever had abbesses during its existence. It was founded in 1415 and stood, until its demolition in the 16th cen ...

, the only English house of the Birgittine order (founded 1415). In 2001, he published ''Syon Abbey,'' Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues 9, an edition and analysis of the late-medieval library ''registrum'' of the Birgittine brethren of Syon Abbey. He is the author of ''Looking in Holy Books'', and the forthcoming ''A Short History of Medieval English Mysticism''. He is the co-editor, with Kantik Ghosh, of ''After Arundel: Religious Writing in Fifteenth-Century England'', with Susan Powell of ''A Companion to the Early Printed Book in Britain, 1476-1558'', with Samuel Fanous of ''The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Mysticism'', and with Anne Hudson of ''Probable Truth: Editing Medieval Texts from Britain in the Twenty-First Century''. He was born in Liverpool, and educated at

St Edward's College St Edward's College, England is a co-educational Catholic school with academy status in the UK located in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby. Founded in 1853 as the Catholic Institute, the college was formerly a boys grammar school run by the ...

. After undergraduate and graduate study at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, he lectured at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

from 1977 to 1980. He was a tutorial fellow of

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

, from 1980 to 2004, and moved to a professorial fellowship of Lady Margaret Hall in 2004 on his election as the third Tolkien Professor (in succession to Douglas Gray and Paul Strohm). He retired from the chair in September 2021, becoming emeritus professor. In 2003 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FRHistS). He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a Fellow of the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

. In 2013 he was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

(FBA). He is an honorary fellow of St Anne's College and Keble College Oxford, and a senior research fellow of

Campion Hall, Oxford Campion Hall is one of the five permanent private halls of the University of Oxford in England. It is run by the Society of Jesus and named after Edmund Campion, a martyr and fellow of St John's College, Oxford. The hall is located on Brewer St ...

References

External links

Vincent Gillespie's Faculty Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Vincent 1954 births Living people British medievalists British philologists Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Fellows of Campion Hall, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the English Association