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James Campbell (historian)

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James Campbell
NationalityEnglish
Spouse
Bӓrbel Brodt
(m. 2006; died 2015)
Academic background
EducationLowestoft Grammar School
Alma materMagdalen College, Oxford
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
Sub-discipline
Institutions

James Campbell, FBA, FSA (26 January 1935 – 31 May 2016) was a British historian, specialising in the medieval period and the Anglo-Saxons. He was a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, from 1957 until his retirement in 2002, and Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2002.

Early life and education

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Campbell was born on 26 January 1935 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.[1][2] His birth father, John Henry Mogg was a teacher and his mother Barbara Hilda Brown was also a teacher and member of the Communist Party. After a period in foster care he was adopted by his maternal grandparents in 1938.[3] He studied at Lowestoft Grammar School, where he found an interest in history. He took early entry to Magdalen College, Oxford, at the age of 17 and graduated with a first in 1955.[3]

Academic career

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In 1956, Campbell took up a junior research fellowship at Merton College, Oxford.[4] In 1957, at the age of 22, he was elected a Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford.[5] He held additional college appointments, including Fellow Librarian (1977–2002) and senior tutor (1989–1993),[6] and also served as the University of Oxford's Senior Proctor for the 1973/74 academic year.[2] At university level teaching, he was a lecturer in modern history (as opposed to ancient history) from 1958 to 1990, Reader in Medieval History from 1990 to 1996, and Professor of Medieval History from 1996 to 2002.[6] He delivered the Ford Lectures in the 1995/96 academic year.[6] He remained at Worcester College until his retirement in 2002.[3]

Campbell's particular historical interest was in the medieval period and Anglo-Saxon studies.[7] Along with Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and David Brown, in 1979 he founded the series Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History.[8] He was also interested in agriculture in Britain and Ireland from the 13th to 19th centuries.[9] Two collections of his essays were published as Essays in Anglo-Saxon History in 1986 and The Anglo-Saxon State in 2000.[3] He was the editor of The Anglo-Saxons (1982), a collection of essays on Anglo-Saxon England, for which he wrote the section on the period from AD 350 to 660.[10]

He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1984.[9][11] He had been elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 1971.[6]

Personal life

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In the 1980s, Campbell moved out of college accommodation and settled in Witney, a village near Oxford. At the age of 71, he married Dr Bӓrbel Brodt on 7 October 2006. They did not have any children, and he was devastated by her death in October 2015.[3]

He died at his home on 31 May 2016.[3]

Selected works

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  • Campbell, James, ed. (1982). The Anglo-Saxons. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801414824.
  • Campbell, James (1986). Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 9780826425737.
  • Campbell, James (2000). The Anglo-Saxon State. London: Hambledon. ISBN 978-1852851767.

References

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  1. ^ CAMPBELL, James. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc; online edn. November 2015, Oxford University Press. 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Professor James Campbell passed away yesterday". Worcester College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Maddicott, J. R. (9 January 2020). Campbell, James (1935–2016). doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112085. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 2 May 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900-1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 474.
  5. ^ "James Campbell". Oxford, England: University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d "Campbell, James, (26 Jan. 1935–31 May 2016), Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford, 1996–2002; Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, since 1957". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Interview with James Campbell". Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  8. ^ Welsh, Martin (23 June 1999). "Obituary: Sonia Chadwick Hawkes". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Professor James Campbell FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  10. ^ Gillingham, John (17 November 1983). "John Gillingham reviews 'The Anglo-Saxons' edited by James Campbell, 'Anglo-Saxon Art' by C.R. Dodwell, 'Anglo-Saxon Poetry' edited by S.A.J. Bradley, 'The Anglo-Saxon World' edited by Kevin Crossley-Holland and 'The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles' by Anne Savage". London Review of Books. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Directory of Fellows - C". The British Academy. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
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