Edmund Colledge (14 August 1910 – 16 November 1999) was an English

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

, military officer, and

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

. He is chiefly known for his scholarly publications on European

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

, in particular spiritual writers from that era. His 1962 anthology, ''The Medieval Mystics of England'', is still widely used in university courses to this day. Chief among his works is his edition of ''A book of showings to the anchoress Julian of Norwich'' (published by the

Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) is a research institute in the University of Toronto that is dedicated to advanced studies in the culture of the Middle Ages. Governance The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, currently Th ...

, Toronto, 1978) which he co-edited with James Walsh.

Life and career

Born John Eric Colledge in Tynemouth,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, Colledge graduated with first class honours in English from

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

(LU) in 1932. He later earned an MA from LU in 1935, and also served as an Assistant Lecturer in LU's Department of English Language and Philology from 1937-1939. One of his influential professors at LU was John Henry Grafton Grattan (15 September 1878 – 22 October 1951). In 1932-1933 he pursued further studies in Munich. As a student in Munich, he personally witnessed the rants of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Colledge was an excellent linguist with mastery of the French, German and Dutch languages. He was recruited by

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...

shortly after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and spent the war working on military intelligence for Great Britain. Between 1945 and 1946, he served on the Allied Control Council's committee, which oversaw the restoration of German universities in Berlin. He returned to LU in 1946 as a full Lecturer, and was subsequently appointed Senior Lecturer (1952-1961) and Reader (1961-1963). He lectured on medieval literature and the

history of the English language English is a West Germanic language that originated from Ingvaeonic languages brought to Britain in the mid-5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants from what is now northwest Germany, southern Denmark and the Netherlands. The Anglo-Sa ...

. Many of his students have gone on to chair English departments at universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition to teaching, he also directed and acted in productions with the university's Dramatic Society. Through this interest, he became friends with the actress

Patricia Routledge Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, (; born 17 February 1929) is an English actress, singer and broadcaster. For her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom '' Keeping Up Appearances'' (1990–1995), she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Awar ...

while she was a Liverpool student. She credits Colledge for persuading her to pursue a professional acting career. In 1963, Colledge resigned from his post at LU in order to join the

Order of Saint Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

at Clare Priory in Suffolk. At this time he assumed the religious name of Brother Edmund. He pursued further religious studies in Rome, after which he was ordained a priest in 1967. In 1968, he became an Assistant Professor at the

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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. He was soon after promoted to full Professor at that institution, remaining there through 1977. He then returned to England to join the teaching staff at Austin Friars St Monica's School in Carlisle. He lived his latter years in Kent and died in

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

in 1999 at the age of 89.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colledge, Edmund 1910 births 1999 deaths Academics of the University of Liverpool Alumni of the University of Liverpool 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests