Background

Frederic Madden was born on February 16, 1801, in Portsmouth, England, to William John Madden and Sarah Carter.

Education

Madden attended local schools in and around Portsmouth until 1818, finishing with a well-developed taste for independent study.

Career

In 1826 he was engaged by the British Museum to assist in the preparation of the classified catalogue of printed books then contemplated, and in 1828 he became assistant keeper of manuscripts. In 1833 he was knighted, and in 1837 succeeded Josiah Forshall as keeper of manuscripts. He was not entirely successful in this office, partly owing to want of harmony with his colleagues; he retired in 1866. He edited for the Roxburghe Club Havelok the Dane (1828), discovered by himself among the Laudian MSS. in the Bodleian, William and the Werwolf (1832) and the old English versions of the Gesta Romanorum (1838). In 1839 he edited the ancient metrical romances of Syr Gawayne for the Bannatyne Club, and in 1847 Layamon's Brut, with a prose translation, for the Society of Antiquaries. In 1850 the magnificent edition, in parallel columns, of what are known as the " Wycliffite " versions of the Bible, from the original MSS. , upon which he and his coadjutor, Forshall, had been engaged for twenty years, was published by the university of Oxford. In1866-1869he edited the Historia Minor of Matthew Paris for the Rolls Series. In 1833 he wrote the text of Henry Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments of the Middle Ages; and in 1850 edited the English translation of Silvestre's Paleographie universelle.

Frederic Madden died on March 8, 1873, bequeathing his journals and other private papers to the Bodleian Library, where they were to remain unopened until 1920.

Achievements

• The great figure in Middle English editing, Sir Frederic Madden was the Keeper of Manuscripts in the British Museum through the middle third of the 19th century.
  
  In 1833, Frederic Madden was made a Knight, entitling him to the initials KH after his name.

Works

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  • The Lay of Havelok the Dane: Composed in the Reigh of Edward I, about A.D. 1280. Formerly Edited by Sir F. Madden for the Roxburghe Club, and Now

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Syr Gawayne: A Collection of Ancient Romance-Poems by Scotish Sic and English Authors Relating to That Celebrated Knight of the R

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • Layamons Brut; or, Chroncile of Britain; a poetical semi Saxon paraphrase of the Brut of Wace. Now first published from the Cottonian MSS in the British Museum, accompanied by a literal translation, notes, and a grammatical glossary FACSIMILE

    (High Quality Facsimile Reporduction: Madden, Frederic, 18...)

Membership

In 1832 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Connections

In 1837, Frederic Madden married Emily Sarah Robinson, they had six children.

Father:

William John Madden

Mother:

Sarah Carter

Wife:

Emily Sarah Robinson

Emily Sarah Robinson the daughter of William Robinson, lawyer and historian of Tottenham, and his wife Mary Ridge.

Son:

Frederic William Madden

Frederic William Madden was an employee of the British Museum and an authority on Roman, Jewish and Christian numismatics.