The Faculty of History at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

organises that institution's teaching and research in medieval and modern history. Medieval and modern history has been taught at Oxford for longer than at virtually any other university, and the first Regius Professor of Modern History was appointed in 1724. The Faculty is part of the Humanities Division, and has been based at the former City of Oxford High School for Boys on

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since the summer of 2007, while the department's library relocated from the former Indian Institute on Catte Street to the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

Radcliffe Camera The Radcliffe Camera (colloquially known as the "Rad Cam" or "The Camera"; from Latin , meaning 'room') is a building of the University of Oxford, England, designed by James Gibbs in a Baroque style and built in 1737–49 to house the Radclif ...

in August 2012.

History

In 1850 the school of law and modern history was created by university statute as one of three new degree-granting courses, which could only be taken after completing '' Literae humaniores'' or 'Greats'. In 1866 students were allowed to specialise solely in law and modern history. Between 1853, when the first examinations were sat, and 1872, 797 men graduated with such a degree. In the latter year the "uneasy alliance" of law and modern history was dissolved and the two subjects became separated.

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of History (Oxford), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Ches ...

, Regius Professor of Modern History, founded the independent school of modern history in 1872, allowing post- classical history to be taught as a distinct subject at the university for the first time. By the time of Stubbs' retirement in 1884, the undergraduate degree in modern history had begun to rival ''Literae humaniores'' as the "training ground of the nation's elite". Stubbs' own ''Select Charters'' (1870) and three-volume ''Constitutional History of England'' (1873-8) spearheaded the curriculum, educating young Englishmen about their "countrymen's long-standing commitment to freedom" and "what was peculiar, precious, and engrained" about being English. Such an education was intended to prepare undergraduates for work as civil servants and imperial administrators. Students were taught via 'authorities', selected extracts of primary sources and works of secondary synthesis which left little room for alternative interpretation. The school's first tutors, having taken their own degrees in Greats and suddenly required to teach a vast corpus of history extending from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the eighteenth century, welcomed their use. Stubbs' concentration on medieval English history defined the research and teaching favoured by the faculty for decades to come. In 1883 the board of modern history, which still exists today, was established to oversee the curriculum of the degree, with Stubbs as its inaugural chairman. In 1886 the faculty cemented its scholarly status with the establishment of its own publishing organ, '' The English Historical Review'', the country's first academic history journal. A decade later in 1896 the faculty began hosting the annual Ford lecture series in English history, Samuel Rawson Gardiner being the first lecturer. By 1901 the faculty was producing more graduates than any other degree course. Until 1913 it was required that all students take classical moderations before advancing to the modern history degree, leaving many undergraduates only two years to complete the entire syllabus. Tutors thus concentrated only on material which could appear in final examinations. The degree was examined solely in this way until 1908 with the introduction of an optional research thesis, though few students took up the offer to produce one initially.

Organisation

As with other departments at the University of Oxford, the Faculty of History is self-governing, being led by a rotating group of its academics. The Chair of the Faculty Board is the head of the History Faculty, who typically serves a three-year term.

Chairs of the Faculty Board

*2000–2002: Felicity Heal, Jesus College *2002–2004: Christopher Haigh, Christ Church *2004–2006: John Robertson, St Hugh's College *2006–2009: Christopher Haigh, Christ Church *2009–2012: Chris Wickham,

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

*2012–2015: Jane Humphries, All Souls College *2015–2018: Martin Conway, Balliol College *2018–2021: John Watts, Corpus Christi College *2021–2024: Robert Iliffe, Linacre College *2024–present: Martin Conway, Balliol College

Endowed chairs

The Faculty of History is home to numerous professorships (or chairs), which are typically linked to a particular college. Each endowed chair is listed below alongside their associated college and current postholder. * Regius Professor of History ( Oriel College): Lyndal Roper * Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History ( The Queen's College): Lisa McGirr *Rhodes Professor of American History ( St Catherine's College): Pekka Hämäläinen *Professor of the History of Art ( Trinity College): Geoffrey Batchen * Chichele Professor of Economic History (

): Sheilagh Ogilvie *Professor of Economic and Social History ( St Hilda's College): Catherine Schenk * Beit Professor of Global and Imperial History ( Balliol College): Faisal Devji *Professor of Global and Imperial History (

Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. N ...

): Andrew Thompson *Foster Professor of Irish History ( Hertford College): Ian McBride *Professor of the History of Medicine ( Green Templeton College): Mark Harrison * Chichele Professor of Medieval History (All Souls College): Julia M. H. Smith *Professor of Modern History (

Worcester College Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

): Patricia Clavin *Professor of the History of Science ( Linacre College): Robert Iliffe *Jonathan Cooper Professor of the History of Sexuality ( Mansfield College): Matt Cook * Chichele Professor of the History of War (All Souls College): Peter H. Wilson *Hillary Rodham Clinton Professor of Women's History ( St John's College): Sarah Knott

Research groups

*Britain and Europe Group *Centre for Early Modern British and Irish History * Centre for the History of Childhood *Late Antique & Byzantine Studies *Modern European History Research Centre *OxCRUSH: Oxford Centre for Research in United States History *Oxford Centre for Medieval History *Research Cluster in History of Science, Medicine and Technology *Wellcome Unit for History of Medicine, Oxford

Notable academics

* Martin Biddle * John Blair * Judith M. Brown *

Averil Cameron Dame Averil Millicent Cameron ( Sutton; born 8 February 1940), often cited as A. M. Cameron, is a British historian. She writes on Late Antiquity, Classics, and Byzantine Studies. She was Professor of Late Antiquity, Late Antique and Byzantine ...

* Richard Carwardine * Thomas Charles-Edwards *

Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe (born 10 December 1939), usually known as Sir Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been ...

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a British and Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Profes ...

* Robert John Weston Evans * R. F. Foster * Timothy Garton Ash * Robert Gildea * Pekka Hämäläinen * Brian Harrison * Peter Harrison * Felicity Heal * Clive Holmes * Daniel Walker Howe * Martin Kemp * Yasmin Khan * Alan Knight * Paul Langford *Sir Colin Lucas *

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...

Margaret MacMillan Margaret Olwen MacMillan (born 23 December 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryers ...

* Henry Mayr-Harting * Avner Offer * Francis Robinson * Lyndal Roper * George Rousseau * Robert Service * Richard Sharpe * Paul Slack *Sir Hew Strachan *Sir Keith Thomas * Christopher Wickham * Blair Worden

Notable alumni

(See also the 'Historians' section of the page List of University of Oxford people in academic disciplines.) *

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

, Prime Minister of the

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* Matthew d'Ancona, former Editor of the '' Spectator'' *

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Niall Ferguson

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, Prime Minister of

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* Dominic Grieve, Attorney General of the United Kingdom *

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, King of

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* T. E. Lawrence * George Osborne,

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Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

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, Prime Minister of

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* John Redwood, former Secretary of State for Wales *

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

Eric Williams Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician. He has been dubbed as the " Father of the Nation", having led the then-British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, ...

, Prime Minister of

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faculty Of History, University Of Oxford

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...