Charles Homer Haskins

Charles Homer Haskins ( born December 21, 1870 in Meadville (Pennsylvania), † May 14 1937 in Cambridge ( Massachusetts)) was an American medievalist and presidential adviser.

Life and work

After visiting the Allegheny College in his home town, he studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and obtained in 1887 a Bachelor. After further studies in Baltimore and at the universities of Paris and Berlin in 1890 he became Ph. D. and Lecturer at Johns Hopkins. From 1892 to 1902 he was professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1902, he worked at Harvard University, most recently as Henry Charles Lea Professor of Medieval History. From 1908 to 1924 he was Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 1931 he resigned for health reasons from active service.

The main topics of his research included the Norman -state creation in England and Sicily, the Latin translations from Greek and Arabic at the Norman royal court in Palermo and the history of universities. From a lasting impact was his idea of ​​the Renaissance of the 12th century, which he developed from his studies of the translations of ancient authors.

Haskins, who is regarded as one of the first American medievalists, worked in scientific organizations. From 1920 to 1926 he was the first chairman of the American Council of Learned Societies, 1922 president of the American Historical Association. He was one of the founders of the Medieval Academy of America, the second of which he was President in 1926/1927.

President Woodrow Wilson, the Haskins had known since his student days, he was appointed in 1917 to his advisory board " The Inquiry ", which should develop concepts for the peace order after the end of World War II. At the Paris Peace Conference Haskins was head of the relevant Western Europe section of the U.S. delegation. Together with Robert H. Lord, who headed the department responsible for Eastern Europe, he published in 1920 a series of lectures which described their impressions of the negotiations, under the title Some Problems of the Peace Conference.

His written heritage, the Charles Homer Haskins Papers, available in the Princeton University Library available for research. They also contain a record of his work at the Paris Peace Conference.

Honors

Many European and American universities awarded an honorary doctorate by the Haskins. In May 1982, the Charles Homer Haskins Society for Viking, Anglo - Saxon, Anglo - Norman and Angevin History was founded, with the significant contribution of C. Warren Hollister. The company holds every year in November at Georgetown University held a conference and participates in the organization of the sections in the Mediävistenkongressen in Kalamazoo and Leeds. As they cared for publications, The Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History and appearing three times a year newsletter under the title The Anglo - Norman Anonymous.

Since 1983, the American Council of Learned Societies organized under the theme " A Life of Learning" Charles Homer Haskins Prize Lectures that.

1986 established the Johns Hopkins University in honor of its graduates the Charles Homer Haskins Chair in History.

Writings (selection )

• The Normans in European History, 1915
• Norman Institutions, 1918 as PDF ( 16.4 MB)
• The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927.