John Antony Bossy FBA (30 April 1933 – 23 October 2015) was a British historian who was a professor of history at the University of York.[1][2]
John Bossy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 April 1933 Edmonton, North London |
| Died | 23 October 2015 (aged 82) |
| Nationality | British |
| Awards | CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, Wolfson History Prize |
| Academic background | |
| Education | St Ignatius college, Stamford Hill, North London |
| Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge |
| Thesis | Elizabethan Catholicism: The Link with France (1961) |
| Influences | Walter Ullmann |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Historian |
| Sub-discipline | Early-modernist |
| Notable works | Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985) |
| Notable ideas | "social miracle", "migration of the holy" |
Career
editBossy was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was inspired by Walter Ullmann.[3] He lived and lectured in London (1962–66) and Belfast (1966–78) and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.[4]
Bossy specialised in the history of religion, particularly in that of Christianity during the Reformation period and beyond. According to some commentators, his approach fused together elements of disciplines such as sociology and theology.[5]
His Ph.D. thesis was written on the relations between French and English Catholics during the period of the Renaissance[6] which contained within it the seeds of later work regarding Michel de Castelnau.[7]
He frequently wrote for the London Review of Books[8] and published series of articles in the journals Recusant History and Past & Present.[9] In 1991 The Embassy Affair won the British Crime Writers' Association CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction and (jointly) the Wolfson History Prize.[3]
He moved to the University of York in 1979, where he was professor of History until his retirement in 2000. In 1993 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.[3]
Works
edit- The English Catholic Community, 1570-1850 (1979)
- 'The Mass as a Social Institution, 1200-1700' Past & Present, Vol. 100, Issue 1, 1 August (1983)
- Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 (1985)
- Peace in the Post-Reformation (1998)
- Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair (1991; second edition 2002)[10]
- Under the Molehill: An Elizabethan Spy Story (2001)
- Disputes and Settlements: Law and Human Relations in the West (2003) – edited by Bossy[11]
- Bossy, John (1982). "Catholicity and nationality in the northern European counter-reformation". Studies in Church History. 18: 285–296. doi:10.1017/S042420840001617X. ISBN 9780631180609. S2CID 159944415.
References
edit- ^ "Research Staff and Honorary Fellows". University of York. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ Obituary: Professor John Bossy FBA Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of York, Department of History. Accessed 1 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Ditchfield, Simon (15 November 2015). "John Bossy obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ "John Bossy". LibraryThing. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ Wooding, Lucy (7 January 2010). "The canon: Christianity in the West 1400-1700. By John Bossy". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
- ^ Abraham, Ralph. "John Bossy". Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ Bossy, John (September 1991). "Surprise, Surprise - An Elizabethan Mystery". History Today. Vol. 41, no. 9. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ "John Bossy". London Review of Books. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ See external links below.
- ^ "Books by John Bossy". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ^ Bossy, John (30 January 2003). Disputes and Settlements: Law andHuman Relations in the West. ISBN 9780521534451. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
External links
edit- Open-access articles and book reviews by John Bossy from Past & Present. Accessed 12 Nov. 2015.
- jid=BCH&bespokeId=13660&isSpecialArticle=Y Open-access articles by John Bossy from British Catholic History. Accessed 12 Nov. 2015.