Christopher Wickham

Christopher John "Chris" Wickham, FBA, FLSW (born 18 May 1950) is a British historian and academic. He is Chichele Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College. He was Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Birmingham from 1997 to 2005.

Early life

Wickham was born on 18 May 1950. He was educated at Millfield, a public school in Street, Somerset, England.[1] From 1968 to 1975, he studied at Keble College, Oxford.[2] He graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[1] He then remained to undertake postgraduate research and completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1975 with a thesis entitled Economy and society in 8th century northern Tuscany.[3]

Academic career

Wickham spent nearly thirty years of his career at the University of Birmingham. He was a Lecturer from 1977 to and 1987 and a Senior Lecturer from 1987 to 1989. He was promoted to Reader in 1989, and made Professor of Medieval History in 1993.[1]

In 2005, he was appointed Chichele Professor of Medieval History in the University of Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College. Since September 2015, he has been Head of the Humanities Division of the University of Oxford.[4] He will be retiring at the end of the 2015/2016 academic year.[5]

Scholarship

His main area of research is Medieval Italy - and more specifically Tuscany and central Italy - from the end of the Roman empire through to about 1300. His emphasis has largely been social and economic, though he has undertaken study into the legal and political history of the area as well. More generally Wickham has worked under a modified Marxist framework on how European society changed from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, and has pioneered comparative socio-economic analysis in this period.

In 2005 his work Framing the Early Middle Ages was published, which claims to be the first synthesis of early medieval European history since the 1920s. It is exceptional for its use of hitherto unincorporated evidence from both documentary and archaeological sources as well as its bold use of comparative methods and rejection of national narratives. It has been recognised by various prizes, including the Wolfson History Prize in 2005, the Deutscher Memorial Prize in 2006 and the American Historical Association awarded its James Henry Breasted Prize in January 2007. He has recently just edited Marxist History Writing for the Twenty-First Century, a volume that sees various academics discuss the status and profile of Marxist historiography, and has now produced a general history of early medieval Europe, published by Penguin, which examines cultural, religious and intellectual developments of the period not covered in his previous socio-economic study.

Personal life

Wickham is married to Byzantine art historian, Professor Leslie Brubaker.

He is a member of the Labour Party,[1] and was previously a member of the Democratici di Sinistra (Democrats of the Left).

Honours

In 1998, Wickham was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).[6] In 2006, he was awarded the Wolfson History Prize for his book Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800.[7] In 2014, he was awarded the Serena Medal by the British Academy "in recognition of his reputation as a medieval historian of exceptional distinction who has transformed our understanding of the early medieval Italian world.".[8]

References

Published works

Books

Recent major articles

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Christopher John WICKHAM". People of Today. Debrett's. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. "Professor Chris Wickham". Faculty of History. University of Oxford. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  3. Wickham, C J (1975). "Economy and society in 8th century northern Tuscany". Bodleian Libraries. University of Oxford. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  4. "... and welcome to Professor Chris Wickham as Head of the Humanities Division for 2015/16". Humanities Division. University of Oxford. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  5. "Chichele Professor of Medieval History". Jobs. University of Oxford. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  6. "WICKHAM, Professor Chris". British Academy Fellows. British Academy. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  7. "Previous winners". Wolfson History Prize. The Wolfson Foundation. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  8. "Serena Medal 2014". British Academy. Retrieved 25 October 2015.

External links

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