Aubrey Gwynn

Aubrey Osborn Gwynn (born February 17, 1892 in England , † May 18, 1983 in Dublin ) was an Irish historian and Jesuit . As Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin and President of the Royal Irish Academy , he was one of Ireland's leading historians, who in particular deepened the understanding of the Irish Church in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Life

Aubrey Gwynn was born into a Protestant Dublin family living in London at the time of his birth . His grandfather John Gwynn (1827-1917) was a professor of theology at the University of Dublin , who was particularly known for his 1913 text-critical edition of the Book of Armagh . Aubrey Gwynn's father Stephen Gwynn (1864-1950) was the leading non-Catholic member of the old Irish Nationalist Party and a member of the House of Commons . Both parents were active as authors. While his father published numerous novels and edited classical texts, his mother published Stories from Irish History told for Children . The family also included three brothers and two sisters.

In December 1902, Aubrey Gwynn's mother, Marie Louise, converted to Catholicism. Her husband did not follow suit, but allowed all six children to also switch to the Roman Catholic Church. After that it was the mother's wish that the children all go to a Catholic school, while the father wanted an Irish school. At Easter 1903 all children moved to the Jesuit-run Clongowes Wood College at Clane in County Kildare . In 1908 Aubrey Gwynn graduated from school with honors.

In 1909 Aubrey Gwynn enrolled as the very first student at the newly established University College Dublin , to which he would later remain loyal from 1927 until his retirement. Three years later, while still a student, he applied for admission to the Society of Jesus and was accepted into the novitiate in Tullabeg on September 30, 1912 by the then Irish Provincial William Delany . In 1914 he took part in a competition for a scholarship to study abroad at Oxford and won this against Michal Tierney , later President of University College Dublin. Aubrey Gwynn also found support from the provincial TV Nolan, who was appointed in 1912, who appointed him as a teacher in Clongowes after his Oxford studies and finally sent him to Leuven and Milltown Park in Dublin for further studies . In 1924, Aubrey Gwynn was ordained a priest in Milltown Park. He then became the Tertiate one more time in the Netherlands sent. During this time, Aubrey Gwynn's work Roman Education from Cicero to Quintilian was created , which was to become a standard work.

John Fahy, who took office as Provincial in Ireland in 1922, assigned Aubrey Gwynn to the religious house on Lower Leeson Street near St. Stephen's Green in Dublin in 1927 . It was here that Aubrey Gwynn began his career at University College Dublin, first as a lecturer in Classical Philology and Ancient History and, from 1930, when JM O'Sullivan's position became vacant, as Professor of Medieval History . Aubrey Gwynn's work on Richard FitzRalph (1295-1360), who as Archbishop of Armagh became a dominant figure in the Irish Church in the later Middle Ages, had a major influence on the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Other church history topics followed, such as the history of the Augustinian hermits in England or that of the Diocese of Armagh in the Middle Ages. In general, his subjects were varied and he tended to jump into new fields spontaneously when the opportunity arose.

After David Knowles, in collaboration with R. Neville Hadcock, published the reference work The Religious Houses of Medieval England on all medieval monasteries in England in 1940 , it became clear how much a new version of the Monasticon Hibernicum was also due for Ireland . After Aubrey Gwynn published his plea for a corresponding follow-up project with Towards a new Monasticon Hibernicum in 1959 and a year later worked out the Map of Monastic Ireland together with R. Neville Hadcock , the corresponding Irish project was born. Health problems, however, meant that the project was delayed until 1970 and most of the burden remained with co-author R. Neville Hadcock.

In 1961, Aubrey Gwynn retired. At the same time he was elected President of the Royal Irish Academy. In addition to his work on the Irish monasteries, he began to process and integrate his many church history magazine articles into a book. However, this project also proved to be difficult. Enthusiastic, hyperactive periods alternated with times when Aubrey Gwynn found himself unable to continue this work. Various attempts to do this with outside help also failed. In 1978 his eyesight was so impaired that further work was no longer an option. It was not until 1992, almost ten years after his death, that the publication succeeded with Gerard O'Brien as editor.

Works (selection)

• Roman Education from Cicero to Quintilian . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1926.
• Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh . From: Studies , xxii (1933) 389-405 and xxiii (1934) 395-411.
• The English Austin Friars in the Time of Wyclif . Oxford University Press, London 1940.
• The Medieval Province of Armagh 1470-1545 . Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1946.
• The Writings of Bishop Patrick, 1074-1084 . Institute of Advanced Studies (Scriptores Latini Hiberniae, I), Dublin 1955.
• Together with R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
• The Irish Church in the 11th and 12th centuries . Published by Gerard O'Brien, Four Courts Press, Dublin 1992, ISBN 1-85182-095-7 .

literature

• Francis X. Martin: The Historical Writings of Reverend Professor Aubrey Gwynn, SJ In: JA Watt et al. (Ed.): Medieval Studies . Presented to Aubrey Gwynn, SJ The Three Candles, Dublin 1961, pp. 502-509.
• Geoffrey Hand: Aubrey Gwynn - The Person . In: Studies. An Irish quarterly review of letters, philosophy & science . 81, 1992, ISSN  0039-3495 , pp. 375-384.
• Katherine Walsh: Aubrey Gwynn - The Scholar . In: Studies. An Irish quarterly review of letters, philosophy & science . 81, 1992, pp. 385-392.
• Fergus O'Donoghue: Aubrey Gwynn - The Jesuit . In: Studies. An Irish quarterly review of letters, philosophy & science . 81, 1992, pp. 393-398.

Remarks

1. ↑ See Walsh, p. 385; O'Donoghue, p. 398.
2. ↑ See Michael Tierney in the foreword to Medieval Studies Presented to Aubrey Gwynn, SJ , Dublin 1961. Quotation: […] who has been a leader in historical work and in general scholarship in Ireland for more than thirty years.
3. ↑ See R. Sharpe in his review of The Irish Church in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries . From: The Journal of Theological Studies , No. 45, 1994, pp. 766-768. Quote: Father Aubrey Gwynn (1891–1983) was responsible for a great leap forward in our understanding of the Irish Church in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
4. ↑ See Hand, p. 378.
5. ↑ See O'Donoghue, p. 393; Hand, p. 378.
6. ↑ See Irish Times , September 21, 1908, p. 9.
7. ^ ^{A b} Cf. Michael Tierney in the foreword to Medieval Studies Presented to Aubrey Gwynn, SJ , Dublin 1961.
8. ↑ See O'Donoghue, pp. 394-395.
9. ↑ See Walsh, p. 386.
10. ↑ See Hand, p. 379.
11. ↑ See Walsh, pp. 391-392.
12. ↑ Cf. Gerard O'Brien in his foreword; Hand, pp. 381-382.