Anthony Applemore Mornington Bryer OBE, FSA, FRHistS (31 October 1937 – 22 October 2016) was a British historian of the Byzantine Empire who founded the journal Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies and the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham.[2][3]
Anthony Bryer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 31 October 1937 |
| Died | 22 October 2016 (aged 78) |
| Children | Theodora Bryer, Anna Bryer and Katie Bryer |
| Awards | OBE |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Thesis | The society and institutions of the Empire of Trebizond (1967) |
| Doctoral advisor | Dimitri Obolensky |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Byzantine studies |
| Institutions | University of Birmingham (1964–1999) |
| Doctoral students | John Haldon, Judith Herrin, Margaret Mullett[1] |
| Notable works | The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos |
Biographical details
editAnthony Bryer was born on 31 October 1937 in Southsea, Portsmouth.[4] He was the son of Group Captain Gerald Bryer OBE and Joan Bryer (née Grigsby), a Special Operations Executive employee.[5][6] Part of his childhood was spent in Jerusalem where he was first acquainted with Sir Steven Runciman, historian and Byzantine scholar.[6]
In 1961 he married Elizabeth Lipscomb, a fellow Oxford student; they had three daughters. She died in 1995 and Bryer married Jennifer Ann Banks, a fellow Birmingham academic, in 1998.[5][6][4][7]
Bryer died on 22 October 2016.[8]
Education and career
editBryer was educated at Copthorne Preparatory School (1945–51) and Canford School (1951–55), and after completing his National Service he studied history at Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1958–61). He remained at Balliol as a Newman Scholar until 1964 while preparing his doctorate on the Empire of Trebizond, which he completed in 1967. From 1964 he was Research Fellow and from 1965 Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Birmingham, where he created a programme in Byzantine studies. He founded the journal Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies in 1975, and the Centre for Byzantine Studies in 1976 (serving as its first director until 1994). He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1973, Reader in Byzantine Studies in 1977, and finally in 1980 appointed Professor of Byzantine Studies, a post which he held until his retirement in 1999.[4][5][2] In a distinguished career he has held fellowships at Athens University, Dumbarton Oaks and Merton College, Oxford.[9] He was Public Orator of the University of Birmingham from 1991 to 1999.[4][6]
Photography
editA number of photographs attributed to Bryer appear in the Conway Library[10] at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. This collection includes architectural images, religious and secular, across many countries and is in the process of being digitised as part of the Courtauld Connects[11] project.
Awards and honours
edit
Bryer was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to scholarship.[12]
He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1973.[7][13]
Publications
editBryer's contribution to the study of the Byzantine world includes the following:
- The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos, London: Variorum, 1988
- (with David Winfield) The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, 2 vols., Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, 1985
- (with Heath W. Lowry) Continuity and Change in Late Byzantine and Early Ottoman Society, Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 1986
- Peoples and Settlement in Anatolia and the Caucasus, 800–1900, London: Variorum, 1988
- (editor, with Mary Cunningham), Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism: Papers from the 25th Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, 1994
- (with Jane Isaac, David Winfield and Selina Ballance) The Post-Byzantine Monuments of the Pontos: A Source Book, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002
Notes
edit- ^ Herrin, Judith (2016), Anthony Bryer OBE, British Georgian Society, retrieved 1 October 2023
- ^ a b Herrin, Judith (23 November 2016). "Anthony Bryer obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
- ^ "Professor Anthony Bryer, Byzantinologist – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
- ^ a b c d XUS147 - University of Birmingham Staff Papers: Papers of Anthony Bryer - 1950s-2000s, University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library, retrieved 1 October 2023
- ^ a b c "Bryer, Prof. Anthony Applemore Mornington", Who's Who 2023, A & C Black, 1 December 2017, retrieved 1 October 2023
- ^ a b c d "Anthony Bryer", The Times, 21 February 2017, retrieved 1 October 2023
- ^ a b Milner-Gulland, Robin (2016), "Anthony Bryer FSA", Salon: Society of Antiquaries of London Online Newsletter, 374, retrieved 1 October 2023
- ^ "Anthony Bryer obituary". The Guardian. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ PontosWorld. "Anthony Bryer OBE". PontosWorld. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Courtauld Connects". Courtauld Connects. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "New Year Honours". The London Gazette. 31 December 2008. p. 9. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
- ^ "Salon 204". Society of Antiquaries of London. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2021.