H. Munro Chadwick

Who was H. Munro Chadwick?

Hector Munro Chadwick was an English philologist and historian, fellow of Clare College and professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge, described by Peter Searby as 'one of the notable polymaths of Cambridge history'. He took a leading role in integrating the philological study of Old English with archaeology and history and, by bringing the study of Old English from the Faculty of English to Archaeology and Anthropology in 1928, founded what was to become the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. With his wife, Nora Kershaw Chadwick, he compiled a multi-volume survey of oral traditions and oral poetry, published 1932-1940. In this he further developed the theory of a Heroic Age which he had previously stated in a publication of 1912.

He was born in Thornhill, West Yorkshire, and was educated at Wakefield Grammar School and Clare College, Cambridge. He was Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge from 1912 to 1941 and has, since 1990, been commemorated by the annual H. M. Chadwick Lecture in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic