Anne Mary Hudson, (28 August 1938 – 8 December 2021) was a British literary historian and academic. She was a

Fellow 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 ...

of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1963 to 2003, and

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Medieval English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

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 ...

from 1989 to 2003.

Early life and education

Hudson was born on 28 August 1938. She was educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls, an all-girls

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

grammar school in Dartford, Kent. From 1957 to 1960, she studied English at St Hugh's College, Oxford, graduating with a first class

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 year ...

(BA) degree; as per tradition, her BA was promoted to 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. Th ...

(MA Oxon) degree. She also undertook postgraduate research at Oxford in relation to Robert of Gloucester's English chronicle, and completed her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(DPhil) degree in 1964.'HUDSON, Prof. Anne Mary', ''

Who's Who 2017 ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201
accessed 22 Nov 2017
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Academic career

From 1961 to 1963 Hudson was a college lecturer in

at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. In 1963, she was elected a

of LMH and appointed a

Tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

in English. She also held positions in the Faculty of English Language and Literature of

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

: she was a CUF lecturer from 1963 to 1981, a special lecturer from 1981 to 1983, held a

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

Readership Readership may refer to: * The group of readers of a particular publication or writer: their target audience * The total number of readers of a particular publication (newspaper, magazine, book), as proxy-measured by web/app views or print circulat ...

in the Humanities from 1983 to 1986, was a lecturer in Medieval English from 1986 to 1989, before being appointed

of Medieval English in 1989. She retired from full-time academia in 2003, and was made an

honorary fellow Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

of Lady Margaret Hall. In addition to her university posts she held a number of senior appointments at 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 ...

: she served as its executive secretary from 1969 to 1982 and as its director from 2006 to 2013, and she was a member of its council since 1982. Hudson's research interests included

John Wycliffe John Wycliffe (; also spelled Wyclif, Wickliffe, and other variants; 1328 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of ...

, Wycliffite writing and the

Lollards Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic ...

Honours

In 1976 Hudson 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). She has twice been awarded the Sir Israel Gollancz Prize by the

; in 1985 and in 1991. In 1988 she was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. A Festschrift was published in her honour in 2005: ''Text and Controversy from Wyclif to Bale: Essays in Honour of Anne Hudson'', edited by Helen Barr and Ann M. Hutchison.

Later life

Hudson died on 8 December 2021, aged 83.

Selected works

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Anne 1938 births 2021 deaths British literary historians British medievalists Women medievalists Fellows of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford Historians of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the British Academy People educated at Dartford Grammar School for Girls Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Women literary historians British women historians 20th-century British historians 21st-century British historians