John Robert Morris (8 June 1913 – 1 June 1977) was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

and the history of

Sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement. The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hin ...

. He is best known for his book ''The Age of Arthur'' (1973), which attempted to reconstruct the history of Britain and Ireland during the so-called " Dark Ages" (350–650 AD) following the Roman withdrawal, based on scattered

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and historical records. Much of his other work focused on Britain during this time.

Biography

Morris read modern history at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

, from 1932 to 1935, and served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. After the war, he held a Leon Fellowship at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

and a Junior Fellowship at the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cro ...

. In 1948 he was appointed Lecturer in Ancient History at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. He worked in India in 1968 and 1969 as a lecturer for the Indian University Grants Commission, before returning to UCL to become Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, a post he held until his death. In 1952 Morris founded the historical journal '' Past & Present'', which he edited until 1960, and remained chairman of the editorial board until 1972. He was one of the writers, along with A. H. M. Jones and

J. R. Martindale John Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British academic historian, specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires. Martindale's major publications are his magnum opus, the three volumes of ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', beg ...

, of ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', a biographical dictionary of the years 284–641, the first volume of which was published in 1971. He also instigated the publication of a new edition of the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'', and edited the ''Arthurian Period Sources'' series. His last book was ''

Londinium Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cros ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the Roman Empire'', published posthumously in 1982. Morris was a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to p ...

campaigner. He stood unsuccessfully for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in 1935 as a Labour Party candidate, and was for a time secretary to the Labour MP George Strauss. He was a founder-member of the Committee of 100, an anti-war group founded by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

in 1960, and was later involved in the

Institute for Workers' Control The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by Tony Topham and Ken Coates, the latter then a leader of the International Marxist Group and subsequently professor at the University of Nottingham and a member of the European Parliament fro ...

. In 1975 Morris wrote the script "Domesday Republished" for the '' Look, Stranger'' BBC-TV series. Morris died on 1 June 1977 in London.

''The Age of Arthur''

''The Age of Arthur'' (1973) was the first attempt by a professional historian to build a picture of Britain during the period 350–650, when

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as ...

(whom Morris accepts as an authentic historical personage) was supposed to have lived. The book is not, however, exclusively about Arthur, but rather about the history of

Celtic Britain The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric I ...

during that era. The book also includes detailed chapters on

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

on the grounds that its Celtic population which came from migrations from "Greater Britain" meant that "Little Britain" (Brittany) was as much heir to Roman

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...

as were England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. Although popular with the public, the book was heavily criticised in professional historical circles, severely damaging Morris's academic reputation in the eyes of many of his peers.

David Dumville David Norman Dumville (born 5 May 1949) is a British medievalist and Celtic scholar. He attended at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; and received his PhD a ...

launched a famously scathing attack on Morris's methodology; and while one of the most influential reviews of the book, by D. P. Kirby and

J. E. Caerwyn Williams John Ellis Caerwyn Williams FBA (17 January 1912 – 10 June 1999), was a Welsh scholar. His fields of study included the literatures of the Celtic languages, especially Welsh and Irish literature. He has published books in both English and Wel ...

, described it as "an outwardly impressive piece of scholarship", it went on to argue that this apparent scholarship "crumbles upon inspection into a tangled tissue of fact and fantasy which is both misleading and misguided". Others, such as James Campbell, were more generous, but still considered that the ''Age of Arthur'' was so misleading and full of problems that it was really only of use to professional historians who could sort the interesting ideas from the flights of fantasy.

Selected works

*''

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', ed. with A. H. M. Jones and

: **Volume 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1971) from 260 to 395 **Volume 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1980) from 395 to 527 *''Arthurian Period Sources'' series, ed. John Morris: **''The Age of Arthur: Volume 1: Roman Britain and the Empire of Arthur'' (London: Phillimore) **''The Age of Arthur: Volume 2: The Successor States'' (London: Phillimore) **''The Age of Arthur: Volume 3: Church, Society and Economy'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 1: Introduction, notes and index'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 2: Annals and Charters'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 3: Persons'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 4: Places and Peoples and Saxon Archaeology'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 5: Genealogies and texts'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 6: Studies in Dark-Age History'' (London: Phillimore) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 7: Gilda, The Ruin of Britain and Other Documents'' (London: Phillimore, 1978) **''Arthurian period sources, vol. 8: Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals'' (London & Chichester: Phillimore, 1980) *''Londinium: London in the Roman Empire'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, John 1913 births 1977 deaths Prosopographers of ancient Rome Academics of University College London Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford People educated at Rossall School People associated with the History Department, University College London 20th-century British historians Arthurian scholars