Background

Michael Lapidge was born on February 8, 1942. He is the son of Rae and Catherine Mary Lapidge.

Education

Michael Lapidge attended the University of Calgary, where he got a Bachelor of Arts in 1962. He also received a Master of Arts at the University of Alberta in 1965. His Doctor of Philosophy Lapidge earned from the University of Toronto in 1971.

Career

Michael Lapidge started his career at Cambridge University. He served as a lecturer in 1974-1988, then a reader in insular Latin literature in 1988-1991, and since 1990, as an Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon. He is also a fellow of Clare College since 2004 and the British Academy. Besides, Lapidge was a correspondent fellow at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Germany in 1997 and the Accademia dei Lincei. He resigned from the Professorship in 1999 to become Notre Dame Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, a position he held until taking early retirement in 2004. Additionally, Lapidge is Vice-President of the International Society for the Study of the Latin Middle Ages.

Lapidge has spent much of his career as a literary gatekeeper for medieval studies. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon literature, his primary focus is on the religious figures of medieval times and their influences gained from other civilizations. Lapidge meticulously collects and produces inventories of works from medieval times and tries to dissect not only their meanings but also their impact on present-day authors.

During the years from 1974 to 1988, Michael Lapidge lectured at Cambridge University and later served as a reader of insular Latin literature from 1988 to 1991. He has been an Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a fellow of Clare College, Cambridge since 1990.

As a writer, in his 1985 Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England, Michael Lapidge, along with Helmut Gneuss, presents documents from Anglo-Saxon libraries, including wills and inventories. In his essay "Surviving Booklists from Anglo-Saxon England," he provides a commentary on each piece mentioned and the significance of its place in Anglo-Saxon literary history. Critics praised this essay, calling it concise and easy to read. The book was also reviewed as a significant volume.

Lapidge's work as coeditor with Richard Sharpe produced A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin Literature, 400-1200. Authors of Roman Britain, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, Brittany, and Scotland divide into sections, and each of their works subdivides into important writings, manuscripts, and other forms of writing. Lapidge and Sharpe also provide commentary on each of the writers of the era.

Lapidge has focused much of his writing career on studying the works of religious figures in medieval times. Gildas: New Approaches, edited by Lapidge and David Dumville, explores the writings of the British author known as Gildas the Wise, who wrote during the late fifth and sixth centuries. The collection of essays by contributing writers delves into the background of Gildas and his influences, and one of them looks into the impact of Roman politics during Gildas's era. Lapidge contributed an essay to the book surveying the complexities of Gildas's education and the cultural influences that permeate his works. The problems with the chronology and geography concerning Gildas are also addressed within the book. Historians had trouble identifying when Gildas wrote his works and have had little success in pinpointing the reigns of the kings Gildas attacks in his writings. It is also addressed within the book Gildas's use of such vernacular as "dragon" and "lion" as an attempt to date the chronology and explore the Celtic and Latin influences on his works.

Another Michael Lapidge's book is Wuflstan of Winchester: The Life of St. Aethelwold, about a monk at Old Minister. Wulfstan was appointed the biographer of St. Aethelwold, a move that Lapidge argues proves that Aethelwold foresaw his canonization. Lapidge delves into the way Aethelwold taught and mastered Latin. He notes that the saint's Latin study was progressive and that his writing style made him one of the larger contributors to English prose.

Michael Lapidge studies another religious figure in his 1995 work Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on His Life and Influence. The consecrated archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus, is viewed as the second founder of Augustine's mission to the English. Archbishop Theodore reorganized the English dioceses and established a Cathedral School in Canterbury. The collection of essays within the book is an attempt to discover what influence Archbishop Theodore had on the Anglo-Saxon church.

Lapidge offers an examination of another religious figure's work in Columbanus: Studies on the Latin Writings. For this volume, Lapidge collected various essays on the studies of the writings of the Irish monk Columbanus. He lived in voluntary exile and corresponded regularly with popes as well as preaching sermons. Besides, Columbanus founded the Luxeuil and Bobbio monasteries. The collection of essays includes studies on the Irish monk's sermons as well as the authenticity of his work. In addition to essays on the Irish monk's work, the collection includes a study on the monastic rules and poetry produced by Columbanus.

Through his literary accomplishments, Michael Lapidge has gained recognition for his translations of works of literature by Anglo-Saxon writers and saints as well as writings on medieval authors. His books and essays have repeatedly been praised by critics as significant contributions to the world of medieval history and literature.

Achievements

• Michael Lapidge is widely known as an educator and writer. He taught at Cambridge University for twenty-five years. Besides, he is the winner of the Sir Israel Gollancz Prize from the British Academy for his work as "a world authority on Anglo-Saxon literature" in 2009. He also was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Cambridge in 1987. In 2011 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Toronto.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Archbishop Theodore

    (In this book, which builds on the 1994 publication of pre...)

    1995
  • Interpreters of Early Medieval Britain

    (This volume gathers together obituaries of 28 members of ...)

    2003
  • Gildas: New Approaches

    (Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae is the prime source of our...)

    1984
  • Anglo-Latin Literature

    (The essays collected in the second volume are concerned p...)

    1993
  • Life of St. AEthelwold

    (This book is a translation with full critical notes and a...)

    1991
  • The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England

    (The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England is a ma...)

    1999
  • Latin Learning in Medieval Ireland

    (The field of Hiberno-Latin literature, a term coined to d...)

    1988
  • Studies in Early Medieval Latin Glossaries

    (Glossaries are one of the most important sources for our ...)

    1996
  • Anglo-Saxon Litanies of the Saints

    (The volume is accompanied by comprehensive indices of all...)

    1991
  • A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin Literature 400-1200

    (This pioneering work provides as complete a list as possi...)

    1985
  • Columbanus

    (Columbanus, the Irish monk and founder of such important ...)

    1997
  • The Cult of St Swithun

    (Saint Swithun was an obscure 9th-century bishop of Winche...)

    2003
  • Alfred the Great

    (This comprehensive collection includes Asser's Life of Al...)

    1983
  • Biblical Commentaries from the Canterbury School of Theodore and Hadrian

    (This volume includes the first edition of a previously un...)

    1994
  • A New Critical History of Old English Literature

    (Anglo-Saxon prose and poetry are, without question, the m...)

    1986
  • Anglo-Latin Literature, 600-899

    (The Latin literature of Anglo-Saxon England remains poorl...)

    1996
  • Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England

    (The book is divided into two complementary parts. The fir...)

    1985
  • Aldhelm

    (Aldhelm was the first English man of letters. Up to 1100,...)

    1979
  • Abbreviations for Sources and Specification of Standard Editions for Sources 1988
  • Irish Books and Learning in Mediaeval Europe 1990
  • Byrhtferth's Enchiridion 1995

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Eric John: "Lapidge is a superb tracer of sources and influences."

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Mountaineering

Connections

Father:

Rae H. Lapidge

Mother:

Catherine Mary Lapidge

Catherine Mary Lapidge's maiden name was Carruthers.

colleague:

Helmut Gneuss

Helmut Gneuss is a German scholar of Anglo-Saxon and Latin manuscripts and literature.