Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford
Encyclopedia
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford
, England
, was established in 1903. European languages (other than Latin and Greek, taught as part of classical studies) were first taught at Oxford in the 19th century. The Jesus Professorship of Celtic
is the oldest of the chairs in the faculty, dating from 1877. A range of languages are studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
(1714–1788), was contested by his son so that the University only received the sum (of £65,000) in 1835. The money was invested and it was only in 1844 that the Hebdomadal Board proposed that Modern Languages should be taught within the University. By then the construction of two contiguous, grandly harmonious buildings was almost complete. The first, the Randolph or ‘University’ Galleries, was to house galleries for statues and paintings, and is now called the Ashmolean Museum
. The matching second building was designed to house lecture rooms and libraries for the study of European languages, and is now the Taylor Institution
. The Faculty's administrative offices are situated in Wellington Square
.
Initially there were only two Taylorian Teachers, one in French and one in German. In 1847, Jules Bué was appointed to teach French; he also produced the first French translation of Alice in Wonderland. In 1848, F.H. Trithen was appointed as the first Professor of Modern European Languages. He was followed by the Germanist and Orientalist Friedrich Max Müller
(1854–68), who went on to become Professor of Comparative Philology. A statute for the Founding of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages was approved by Congregation in 1903. The University of Oxford also has the only established Chair of the Romance Languages in Britain, which dates back to 1909, though since 2008 this Chair has been shared with the new Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics
.
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages now offers various languages for study at (post-A-level) undergraduate level, including French
, German
, Spanish
, Russian
, Italian
, Portuguese
, Modern Greek
, Czech
, Polish
and Celtic
. Many of these, especially the less commonly taught languages, can be taken up at beginner's level, otherwise known as ab initio.
is the oldest chair in the Faculty, established in 1877 with John Rhys
as the first professor. It is the only chair in Celtic at an English university.
s (RAEs). In 2001 the department received the top grade of 5*. In the 2008 RAE, it performed better than any other French department in the UK. The French department was said by The Times
in May 2010 to be the best university French department for teaching in the United Kingdom. The Chair of the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature
(held in conjunction with a Fellowship at All Souls College
) was established in 1918 after a donation of £25,000 by Sir Basil Zaharoff
. The same ‘Zaharoff fund’ also provides for the annual Zaharoff Lecture, for which the Sub-Faculty of French invites an eminent figure from French literary studies.
The Sub-Faculty of French has ongoing links with other Oxford
-based institutions, notably the Maison Française d’Oxford (MFO) and the Voltaire Foundation
. The journal French Studies
was founded in 1947 in Oxford and has its editorial office in the Taylorian.
Some notable past members of the Sub-Faculty of French include:
A variety of undergraduate courses are offered in Modern Greek language and literature from the foundation of Constantinople (AD 330) to the present day, as well as additional courses in Modern Greek history, cinema, and culture.
Graduate courses in Medieval and Modern Greek literature include taught Master's courses and research degrees (M.Litt. and D.Phil.).
Some notable past members of the Sub-Faculty of Modern Greek include:
(held in conjunction with a Fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford
) was established in 1918 thanks to a donation of £10,000 by Arthur Serena. In 1990 the Chair was renamed the Fiat-Serena Chair of Italian Studies and in 2009 the name was further modified to become the Agnelli-Serena Chair of Italian Studies, in order to reflect the generous benefaction given by Gianni Agnelli
, Head of Fiat
, at the end of the 1980s.
The Sub-Faculty of Italian has strong links with the main research network at Oxford for scholars working on any aspect of Italy
.
Some notable past members of the Italian Sub-faculty include:
(Reader 1889, Professor 1900), the first professor of Russian and Slavonic languages in Britain. The sub-faculty also teaches Czech (with Slovak) and Polish.
The King Alfonso XIII Chair of Spanish Studies, held in conjunction with a Fellowship at Exeter College
, was endowed in 1927 by a donation from Lord Nuffield and others. The Queen Sofía Research Fellowship in Modern Spanish Literature was founded in 1988 and is also associated with Exeter College, of which H.M. the Queen of Spain is an Honorary Fellow.
The Sub-Faculty regularly hosts lectures by prominent writers and academics in the Spanish-speaking world. A number of Spanish writers have been teachers in the Sub-faculty; these include Jorge Guillén
, Dámaso Alonso
, José Angel Valente, Vicente Molina Foix, Félix de Azúa and Javier Marías
. The novel Todas las almas (1989; trans. All Souls, 1992) by Javier Marías is set in Oxford and alludes to several members of the Sub-faculty at that time.
Some notable past members of the Spanish Sub-faculty include:
or Taylorian, where the modern languages library is situated. The four year B.A. degree includes a compulsory year abroad, spent either enrolled at a university or with paid or volunteer work in a foreign country where the target language is spoken.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was established in 1903. European languages (other than Latin and Greek, taught as part of classical studies) were first taught at Oxford in the 19th century. The Jesus Professorship of Celtic
Jesus Professor of Celtic
The Jesus Professorship of Celtic is a professorship in Celtic studies at the University of Oxford within the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. The holder is also a Professorial Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. The chair was established in 1876, and the first professor was Sir John Rhys...
is the oldest of the chairs in the faculty, dating from 1877. A range of languages are studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Historical overview
Modern languages, as opposed to ancient ones, were not taught in Oxford for much of the University’s history. In 1724, a donation by George I was intended to provide teaching in French and German to train future diplomats, but the scheme soon failed. Another endowment, by Sir Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (architect)
Sir Robert Taylor was a notable English architect of the mid-late 18th century.Born at Woodford, Essex, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and started working as a stonemason and sculptor, spending time as a pupil of Sir Henry Cheere...
(1714–1788), was contested by his son so that the University only received the sum (of £65,000) in 1835. The money was invested and it was only in 1844 that the Hebdomadal Board proposed that Modern Languages should be taught within the University. By then the construction of two contiguous, grandly harmonious buildings was almost complete. The first, the Randolph or ‘University’ Galleries, was to house galleries for statues and paintings, and is now called the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
. The matching second building was designed to house lecture rooms and libraries for the study of European languages, and is now the Taylor Institution
Taylor Institution
The Taylor Institution comprises the buildings in Oxford which harbour the libraries dedicated to the study of the European Languages at Oxford University. It also includes lecture rooms used by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford...
. The Faculty's administrative offices are situated in Wellington Square
Wellington Square, Oxford
Wellington Square is a garden square in central Oxford, England, a continuation northwards of St John Street. In the centre of the square is a small park, Wellington Square Gardens, owned by the University of Oxford...
.
Initially there were only two Taylorian Teachers, one in French and one in German. In 1847, Jules Bué was appointed to teach French; he also produced the first French translation of Alice in Wonderland. In 1848, F.H. Trithen was appointed as the first Professor of Modern European Languages. He was followed by the Germanist and Orientalist Friedrich Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
(1854–68), who went on to become Professor of Comparative Philology. A statute for the Founding of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages was approved by Congregation in 1903. The University of Oxford also has the only established Chair of the Romance Languages in Britain, which dates back to 1909, though since 2008 this Chair has been shared with the new Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics
Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics, University of Oxford
The Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics is a department of the University of Oxford, headed by Aditi Lahiri. It was created in 2008, uniting the discipline which had previously been studied across a variety of other departments...
.
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages now offers various languages for study at (post-A-level) undergraduate level, including French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Modern Greek
Modern Greek
Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
. Many of these, especially the less commonly taught languages, can be taken up at beginner's level, otherwise known as ab initio.
Celtic
The Jesus Professorship of CelticJesus Professor of Celtic
The Jesus Professorship of Celtic is a professorship in Celtic studies at the University of Oxford within the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. The holder is also a Professorial Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. The chair was established in 1876, and the first professor was Sir John Rhys...
is the oldest chair in the Faculty, established in 1877 with John Rhys
John Rhys
Sir John Rhys was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.-Early years and education:...
as the first professor. It is the only chair in Celtic at an English university.
French
Oxford's French sub-faculty is the largest French studies department outside France, with over thirty permanent members of staff covering all areas of French literature and language. The quality and range of the department's research has been recognised in the last two Research Assessment ExerciseResearch Assessment Exercise
The Research Assessment Exercise is an exercise undertaken approximately every 5 years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British higher education institutions...
s (RAEs). In 2001 the department received the top grade of 5*. In the 2008 RAE, it performed better than any other French department in the UK. The French department was said by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in May 2010 to be the best university French department for teaching in the United Kingdom. The Chair of the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature
Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature
The Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918. Basil Zaharoff, a Greek-born French arms trader and financier, gave £25,000 to the university to establish the chair and to support French studies in...
(held in conjunction with a Fellowship at All Souls College
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
) was established in 1918 after a donation of £25,000 by Sir Basil Zaharoff
Basil Zaharoff
Basil Zaharoff, GCB, GBE , born Zacharias Basileios Zacharoff, was an arms dealer and financier...
. The same ‘Zaharoff fund’ also provides for the annual Zaharoff Lecture, for which the Sub-Faculty of French invites an eminent figure from French literary studies.
The Sub-Faculty of French has ongoing links with other Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
-based institutions, notably the Maison Française d’Oxford (MFO) and the Voltaire Foundation
Voltaire Foundation
The Voltaire Foundation is a research department of the University of Oxford, which publishes concerning areas of the 18th century, especially the French Enlightenment. It was founded by the bequest of Theodore Besterman in the 1970s and aimed to publish the definitive, scholarly edition of the...
. The journal French Studies
French Studies
French Studies is a United Kingdom-based journal published by Oxford University Press for the Society for French Studies.It was founded in 1947 and publishes articles on all periods of French and francophone literature and culture as well as book reviews. In addition to the printed copy, the...
was founded in 1947 in Oxford and has its editorial office in the Taylorian.
Some notable past members of the Sub-Faculty of French include:
- Malcolm BowieMalcolm BowieMalcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust....
, Marshal Foch Professor 1992–2002, Proust scholar - Jean SeznecJean SeznecJean Seznec was a historian and mythographer whose most influential book, for English-speaking readers, has been La Survivance des dieux antiques, 1940, translated as The Survival of the Pagan Gods: Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art,, 1953...
, Marshal Foch Professor 1950–1972, author of La Survivance des dieux antiques (1940) - Enid StarkieEnid StarkieEnid Mary Starkie CBE, Litt.D , was an Irish literary critic, known for her biographical works on French poets. She was a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, and Lecturer and then Reader in the University.-Early life:She was the eldest daughter of Rt. Hon...
(Somerville 1934–1965), known for her work on French poets - Jean-Yves TadiéJean-Yves TadiéJean-Yves Tadié is a French writer, specializing in Marcel Proust. His 800-page biography of Proust was well-received, asserted by Edmund White in his own book on Proust to be the best work of its kind...
, Marshal Foch Professor 1988–1991, Proust scholar
German
The Oxford German department is one of the oldest, largest and most active departments in England. There are 19 full-time staff members. The German department admits about 120 students a year from approximately 240 applicants. Students are taught in small groups or one-to-one throughout their course. The course combines a grounding in the four key language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing with an extensive choice of options ranging from medieval studies and linguistics to contemporary German literature and society.Modern Greek
Oxford University is one of four universities in Britain where Medieval and Modern Greek can be studied as a major component of a B.A. degree and at graduate level.A variety of undergraduate courses are offered in Modern Greek language and literature from the foundation of Constantinople (AD 330) to the present day, as well as additional courses in Modern Greek history, cinema, and culture.
Graduate courses in Medieval and Modern Greek literature include taught Master's courses and research degrees (M.Litt. and D.Phil.).
Some notable past members of the Sub-Faculty of Modern Greek include:
- Professor Elizabeth Jeffreys
- Professor Peter Mackridge
Italian
Oxford’s Italian sub-faculty is one of the largest Italian departments in the UK, covering all areas of Italian literature and language. The department's research has been recognized as outstanding in the last two Research Assessment Exercises. In 2001 it was awarded the top grade of 5*, and in the 2008 RAE it maintained its position as one of the top departments of Italian in the UK, with 60% of its research output being classed as internationally excellent or world-leading. The Chair of the Serena Professor of ItalianSerena Professor of Italian
The Serena Professorship of Italian is the senior professorship in the study of the Italian language at the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and University of Manchester...
(held in conjunction with a Fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
) was established in 1918 thanks to a donation of £10,000 by Arthur Serena. In 1990 the Chair was renamed the Fiat-Serena Chair of Italian Studies and in 2009 the name was further modified to become the Agnelli-Serena Chair of Italian Studies, in order to reflect the generous benefaction given by Gianni Agnelli
Gianni Agnelli
Giovanni Agnelli , better known as Gianni Agnelli , was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce, and 16.5% of its industrial investment in research...
, Head of Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
, at the end of the 1980s.
The Sub-Faculty of Italian has strong links with the main research network at Oxford for scholars working on any aspect of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Some notable past members of the Italian Sub-faculty include:
- Cecil Grayson, Serena Professor (1957–87), Alberti scholar
- John Woodhouse, Fiat Serena Professor (1990–2001), expert on Castiglione and D’Annunzio
Russian (and other Slavonic languages)
The Sub-Faculty of Russian was awarded a top-ranking 5* grade in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. The Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction was awarded for the authoritative biography of Pushkin by Dr T.J. Binyon (June 2003). The teaching of Russian in Oxford was established by William MorfillWilliam Morfill
William Richard Morfill FBA was Professor of Russian and the other Slavonic languages at the University of Oxford from 1900 until his death...
(Reader 1889, Professor 1900), the first professor of Russian and Slavonic languages in Britain. The sub-faculty also teaches Czech (with Slovak) and Polish.
Spanish
The Sub-faculty of Spanish at Oxford, which celebrated its centenary in 2005, is one of the largest departments of Spanish and Spanish-American studies in the UK, with 14 full-time permanent staff as well as part-time and temporary lecturers and native speakers. It offers courses in all areas of Spanish and Spanish American literatures and language, as well as options in the Catalan and Galician languages and literatures. It has maintained its position as one of the top departments of Spanish in the UK, with 60% of its research output being classed as internationally excellent or world-leading in the 2008 RAE.The King Alfonso XIII Chair of Spanish Studies, held in conjunction with a Fellowship at Exeter College
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
, was endowed in 1927 by a donation from Lord Nuffield and others. The Queen Sofía Research Fellowship in Modern Spanish Literature was founded in 1988 and is also associated with Exeter College, of which H.M. the Queen of Spain is an Honorary Fellow.
The Sub-Faculty regularly hosts lectures by prominent writers and academics in the Spanish-speaking world. A number of Spanish writers have been teachers in the Sub-faculty; these include Jorge Guillén
Jorge Guillén
Jorge Guillén y Álvarez was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.-Biography:Jorge Guillén was born in Valladolid. His life paralleled that of his friend Pedro Salinas, whom he succeeded as a Spanish teaching assistant at the Collège de Sorbonne in the University of Paris from 1917 to...
, Dámaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso
Dámaso Alonso y Fernández de las Redondas was a Spanish poet, philologist and literary critic. Though a member of the Generation of '27, his best-known work dates from the 1940s onwards. -Early life and education:...
, José Angel Valente, Vicente Molina Foix, Félix de Azúa and Javier Marías
Javier Marías
Javier Marías is a Spanish novelist. He is also a translator and columnist.-Life:Javier Marías was born in Madrid. His father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco...
. The novel Todas las almas (1989; trans. All Souls, 1992) by Javier Marías is set in Oxford and alludes to several members of the Sub-faculty at that time.
Some notable past members of the Spanish Sub-faculty include:
- Salvador de MadariagaSalvador de MadariagaSalvador de Madariaga y Rojo was a Spanish diplomat, writer, historian and pacifist. He had two daughters....
, King Alfonso XIII Professor (1928–31), scholar, novelist historian and statesman. Variously ambassador to Washington and Paris, delegate to the League of Nations, and Minister of Education during the Spanish Republic. Early advocate of European integration and founder of the College of Europe at Bruges. - Sir Peter Russell, King Alfonso XIII Professor (1953–82), expert in medieval and early-modern literature. Distinguished record in the intelligence services during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The model for ‘Sir Peter Wheeler’, a major character in four novels by Javier Marías.
Studying languages at Oxford
Most students at Oxford study two languages, though some languages can also be studied as a sole degree course, or as a part of a joint degree alongside a Middle-Eastern language, History, English, Classics, Philosophy or Linguistics. While most teaching takes place in the different Colleges of the University, lectures are generally held in the Taylor InstitutionTaylor Institution
The Taylor Institution comprises the buildings in Oxford which harbour the libraries dedicated to the study of the European Languages at Oxford University. It also includes lecture rooms used by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford...
or Taylorian, where the modern languages library is situated. The four year B.A. degree includes a compulsory year abroad, spent either enrolled at a university or with paid or volunteer work in a foreign country where the target language is spoken.