Carl Stephenson (historian)
Encyclopedia
Carl Stephenson at the time of his death was regarded as one of America's foremost medieval scholars. He was a student of Charles Gross
and Charles Homer Haskins at Harvard University (graduated 1914), later studied with Henri Pirenne
at the University of Ghent (1924-5) and had close scholarly ties with other well known medievalists of the first half of the 20th century. He taught mainly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
and Cornell University
Department of History
(1931–1941).
Primarily focused on documentary evidence, he was opposed to easy theorizing and glib generalizations. Carl Stephenson did his best work on those institutions found in medieval Europe between the Loire and the Rhine. Since he was writing far removed from western Europe and its acrimonious academic feuding, he dispassionately demolished much of the prejudiced nationalistic writing devoted to praising or damning Germanic or Latin institutions. His greatest joy came from demonstrating that a tax, a commune
, or seignorialism and feudalism
were not peculiar to one area but were common to all western Europe; they developed not as products of racial genius
but in response to basic social, economic, and political requirements of the Middle Ages.
For fifteen years Carl Stephenson regularly published articles in the leading historical journals of America, England, Belgium, and France and established himself as an authority on taxation, representative assemblies, and the origin of urban institutions
. His most mature work, Borough and Town, appeared in 1933; here he combined his research with scholarly methods developed on the Continent to show that the English borough was not an insular peculiarity but that it was like its continental counterpart in origin and constitution. He then turned his attention to seignorial and feudal institutions, work resulting in further articles including his 1942 classic essay Mediaeval Feudalism which has remained in print into the 21st century. His book, Medieval History: Europe from the Fourth to the Sixteenth Century, was for decades one of the most widely used textbooks in the field.
Charles Gross
Charles "Charlie" Gross is an American Film and TV composer, living in New York City.Gross was educated at Harvard University , the New England Conservatory and Mills College and a student of Darius Milhaud. He arranged for the West Point Band for three years, and served in the US Army...
and Charles Homer Haskins at Harvard University (graduated 1914), later studied with Henri Pirenne
Henri Pirenne
Henri Pirenne was a Belgian historian. A medievalist of Walloon descent, he wrote a multivolume history of Belgium in French and became a national hero....
at the University of Ghent (1924-5) and had close scholarly ties with other well known medievalists of the first half of the 20th century. He taught mainly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
Department of History
Cornell University Department of History
|- valign="top" ! style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | College | style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Arts and Sciences |- valign="top" ! style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Department Chair | style="border-top: solid 1px #aaaaaa;" | Barry Strauss...
(1931–1941).
Primarily focused on documentary evidence, he was opposed to easy theorizing and glib generalizations. Carl Stephenson did his best work on those institutions found in medieval Europe between the Loire and the Rhine. Since he was writing far removed from western Europe and its acrimonious academic feuding, he dispassionately demolished much of the prejudiced nationalistic writing devoted to praising or damning Germanic or Latin institutions. His greatest joy came from demonstrating that a tax, a commune
Medieval commune
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...
, or seignorialism and feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
were not peculiar to one area but were common to all western Europe; they developed not as products of racial genius
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
but in response to basic social, economic, and political requirements of the Middle Ages.
For fifteen years Carl Stephenson regularly published articles in the leading historical journals of America, England, Belgium, and France and established himself as an authority on taxation, representative assemblies, and the origin of urban institutions
Medieval commune
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...
. His most mature work, Borough and Town, appeared in 1933; here he combined his research with scholarly methods developed on the Continent to show that the English borough was not an insular peculiarity but that it was like its continental counterpart in origin and constitution. He then turned his attention to seignorial and feudal institutions, work resulting in further articles including his 1942 classic essay Mediaeval Feudalism which has remained in print into the 21st century. His book, Medieval History: Europe from the Fourth to the Sixteenth Century, was for decades one of the most widely used textbooks in the field.
External links
- Carl Stephenson, Mediavel Feudalism, Cornell University Press, 1942.
- Works by Carl Stephenson at Google Books.