H. E. J. Cowdrey

Herbert Edward John Cowdrey (29 November 1926 – 4 December 2009), published under H. E. J. Cowdrey, known as John Cowdrey, was a British historian of the Middle Ages and a chaplain in the Church of England. He was elected chaplain of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, in 1956. He resigned the chaplaincy in 1976, but continued to teach medieval history there until 1994, when he retired and was elected emeritus fellow. He was also a Fellow of the British Academy. A leading expert on the Gregorian reforms, his most important work is the monograph Pope Gregory VII, 1073–1085, considered a masterpiece "unlikely to be surpassed".^[1]^[2]

Cowdrey married Judith Watson Davis, a musician, in 1959. They had two daughters and a son. Judith died in 2004. Late in life, Cowdrey was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.^[1]^[2]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Jean Dunbabin, "Herbert Edward John Cowdrey, 1926–2009", Proceedings of the British Academy, 172, pp. 71–89.
^ ^a ^b "The Rev John Cowdrey; Distinguished medieval historian, Oxford scholar and chaplain who was an expert on the Gregorian reform." Times [London, England], 7 Jan. 2010, p. 50.

[Dunbabin-1] Jean Dunbabin, "Herbert Edward John Cowdrey, 1926–2009", Proceedings of the British Academy, 172, pp. 71–89.

[Times-2] "The Rev John Cowdrey; Distinguished medieval historian, Oxford scholar and chaplain who was an expert on the Gregorian reform." Times [London, England], 7 Jan. 2010, p. 50.

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