Marjorie McCallum Chibnall (27 September 1915 – 23 June 2012) was an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often v ...

and Latin translator. She edited the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' by

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...

, with whom she shared the same birthplace of Atcham in Shropshire.

Biography

Born into a farming family at Atcham in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

in 1915, Chibnall was educated at Shrewsbury Priory County Girls' School and

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...

, where she was taught by

Evelyn Jamison Evelyn Mary Jamison (24 February 1877 – 9 May 1972) was a British medievalist who devoted herself mainly to the study of the history of the Normans in Sicily. She was vice-principal and tutor of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1921 to 1937.'Mis ...

, V. H. Galbraith and

F. M. Powicke Sir Frederick Maurice Powicke (1879–1963) was an English medieval historian. He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford and was a professor at Queen's University, Belfast and the Victoria University of Manchester, and from 1928 until his re ...

. In 1947, she married the biochemist and amateur medieval historian Albert Chibnall, who died in 1988. They had a son and a daughter. Chibnall died in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

on 23 June 2012, at the age of 96.

Scholarly life

Marjorie Chibnall took her

BLitt 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 ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

on the subject of ecclesiastical law, before moving on for her doctorate to a study of the relations between the mighty

Bec Abbey Bec Abbey, formally the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec), is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure ''département'', in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay. It is located in Le Bec Hel ...

in Normandy and its dependent English priories. She completed her doctorate in 1939 under the supervision of the economic historian Eileen Power. Her early career was spent teaching at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

(1941–1943) and the

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

(1943–1947). Chibnall was from 1947 a lecturer in history at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, and from 1953 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 the college, but she relinquished her positions there in 1965 in order to complete her editorial work on the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' of

. Four years later she was made a research fellow and subsequently a fellow of

Clare Hall, Cambridge Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It ...

, and 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 ...

of Girton College. In a career spanning more than six decades, Marjorie Chibnall worked extensively on Anglo-Norman and Norman history. She encouraged much scholarship on these topics, as an active participant at the Battle Conferences on Anglo-Norman history and an editor of their proceedings. Chibnall's editions of the writings of Orderic Vitalis and of Atcham were acclaimed works, as was her biography of the

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

. She continued to publish when she was well into her nineties. Her last book, a short account of the Normans, was published in 2000. She also edited five volumes of ''Anglo-Norman Studies'', the proceedings of the annual Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies.

Honours

Chibnall was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1978. In 1979, the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

granted her an honorary doctorate. In 2004, she was awarded an OBE for services to history. The Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies established the Marjorie Chibnall Essay Prize. It is awarded to doctoral students or those within two years of completing their PhD for an unpublished paper to be presented at the conference and published in its proceedings.

Select bibliography

*''Select Documents of the English lands of the Abbey of Bec'', (Royal Historical Society, Camden Third Series vol. 73, 1951) *''John of Salisbury’s Memoirs of the Papal Court'', (London, 1956) *(ed. & tr) ''The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis'', 6 vols., (Oxford, 1969–1980) *''Charters and Custumals of the Abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen'' (Oxford, 1982) *''The World of Orderic Vitalis'', (Oxford, 1984) *''Anglo-Norman England 1066–1166'', (Oxford, 1986) *Editor and translator: ''The Historia Pontificalis of John of Salisbury'', (Oxford, 1986) *''Empress Matilda'', (Oxford, 1991) *(ed. with Leslie Watkiss) ''The Waltham Chronicle : An Account of the Discovery of Our Holy Cross at Montacute and its Conveyance to Waltham'' (Oxford, 1994) *Editor and translator with R. H. C. Davis): ''The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers'', (Oxford, 1998) *''The Debate on the Norman Conquest'', (Manchester, 1999) *''Piety, Power and History in Medieval England and Normandy'', (Aldershot, 2000) *''The Normans'' (Oxford, 2000)

References

External links

A Memoir of Marjorie Chibnall by Diana E Greenway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chibnall, Marjorie 1915 births British medievalists Women medievalists Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century English historians 2012 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Writers from Shropshire Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Academics of the University of Southampton Academics of the University of Aberdeen British women historians