Mark Whittow (24 August 1957''England and Wales, Death Index, 1989–2018'' – 23 December 2017) was a British historian, archaeologist, and academic, specialising in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. He was a university lecturer at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in Byzantine Studies at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

Early life and education

Whittow was born in Cambridge.''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' He read Modern History at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, and earned a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Byzantine history and archaeology.

Academic career

Whittow was a research fellow and lecturer at

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, w ...

and held faculty positions at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and at King's College London, before returning to Oxford in 1998 as a fellow of St Peter's College and University Lecturer in History. He became a fellow of Corpus Christi and University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies in 2009. He was

Senior Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

of the university for the 2016/2017 academic year. In November 2017, he was announced as the next

Provost of Oriel College, Oxford This is a list of the Provosts of Oriel College, Oxford. The Provost is the college's principal, responsible for its academic leadership, chairing its governing body, and representing it in the outside world. *1326 to 1332: Adam de Brome – ...

; he was to take up the post in September 2018.

Personal life

Whittow was married to Helen, a QC and Deputy High Court Judge. He died in a car accident in Oxfordshire late in the evening of 23 December 2017 aged 60.

Selected works

* *"Recent Research on the Late Antique City in Asia Minor: the second half of the 6th c. revisited" in L. Lavan (ed.) ''Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism'', JRA Supplementary Series 42, Portsmouth, RI, 2001. *"Early Medieval Byzantium and the End of the Ancient World", ''

Journal of Agrarian Change The ''Journal of Agrarian Change'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 2001 covering agrarian political economy. The journal publishes historical and contemporary studies of the social relations and dynamics of production, power re ...

'', Vol. 9 (2009). *"The Middle Byzantine Economy", in J. Shepard (ed.) '' The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire'', Cambridge, 2009. *"The Late Roman/Early Byzantine Near East", in '' The New Cambridge History of Islam I'', ed. C. Robinson, Cambridge, 2010.

References

External links

Academia.edu profileFull text of doctoral thesis
via Oxford Research Archive 1957 births 2017 deaths Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford British archaeologists British Byzantinists Road incident deaths in England Scholars of Byzantine history Byzantine archaeologists People from Cambridge {{archaeologist-stub