Patrick "Pat" Collinson, (10 August 1929 – 28 September 2011) was an English historian, known as a writer on the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

, particularly

Elizabethan Puritanism The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

. He was emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, having occupied the chair from 1988 to 1996. He once described himself as "an early modernist with a prime interest in the history of England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."

Life

Collinson was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, the son of William Cecil Collinson and Belle Hay Patrick. His father came from a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

family, and both Patrick's parents were Christian missionaries. He later wrote that his childhood home was "an evangelical hothouse where the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messia ...

was expected daily".Alexandra Walsham
Collinson, Patrick (1929–2011)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, January 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015. Before he was 20, he was baptised at Bethesda Chapel in Ipswich. After a short spell at Bethany School in Goudhurst, Kent, and Huntingdon Grammar School, Collinson was educated at King's School, Ely, and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

from 1949 to 1952. He was also trained as a radar mechanic during his national service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. He became a postgraduate student at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

in 1952 under the supervision of the Tudor historian

J. E. Neale Sir John Ernest Neale (7 December 1890 in Liverpool – 2 September 1975) was an English historian who specialised in Elizabethan and Parliamentary history. From 1927 to 1956, he was the Astor Professor of English History at University Coll ...

, who handed him some notes on East Anglian Puritanism; in 1957 Collinson completed his doctorate on Elizabethan Puritanism, its 1,200-page size causing the administration to impose a word limit on future dissertations; it was published in 1967 as ''The Elizabethan Puritan Movement'', which showed Puritanism to be a significant force within the Elizabethan Anglican Church instead of merely a radical group of individuals, becoming a standard work. Collinson was a lecturer at the

University of Khartoum The University of Khartoum (U of K) ( ar, جامعة الخرطوم) is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 195 ...

, and from 1961 assistant lecturer in ecclesiastical history at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

(where he taught

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbish ...

). In 1960 he married Elizabeth Albinia Susan Selwyn, a nurse. He thought about becoming an Anglican minister but in the end chose not to. In 1969 Collinson emigrated to Australia to become chair of the history department of

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

. Although he appreciated a more open-minded approach favouring interdisciplinary studies, he opposed what he termed the "fungus" of

postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

and so returned to England in 1976 as professor of history at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

. He was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (1985-86). He was chair of modern history at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

from 1984 to 1988 before he succeeded Sir

Geoffrey Elton Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton (born Gottfried Rudolf Otto Ehrenberg; 17 August 1921 – 4 December 1994) was a German-born British political and constitutional historian, specialising in the Tudor period. He taught at Clare College, Cambridge, and w ...

as Cambridge Regius Professor of History, where his attempt to reform the tripos failed due to opposition from within; his inaugural lecture was entitled "De Republica Anglorum: Or, History with the Politics Put Back." By the time of his retirement in 1996, Collinson was one of the doyens of English Reformation history. His short summation of the period, ''The Reformation'', was published in 2003. Collinson's work laid the foundations, in many ways, for what historians of the English Reformation currently term the 'Calvinist Consensus' in the latter decades of the 16th century and during the reign of James I/VI. As such, the belief that Puritanism was anything but religiously radical in relation to English, and indeed British, culture stands as one of his great achievements as an historian. In July 2000 Collinson was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

. In 2011

Boydell Press Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, that specializes in publishing historical and critical works. In addition to British and general history, the company publishes three series devoted to studies, editio ...

published Collinson's memoir ''The History of a History Man Or, the Twentieth Century Viewed from a Safe Distance: The Memoirs of Patrick Collinson'' as part of its ''Church of England Record Society Series''. Collinson was the founding president of the society in 1991. Collinson's political views were

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

; he was a republican and a supporter of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

Works

*''Letters of Thomas Wood, Puritan, 1566–1577'' (ed.) (1960) * 'A Mirror of Elizabethan Puritanism: The Life and Letters of Godly Master Dering'' (London: Dr. Wiliams's Trust, 1964
search online
*''The Elizabethan Puritan Movement'' (Methuen, 1967

*''Archbishop

Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church durin ...

, 1519–1583: The Struggle for a Reformed Church'' (London: J. Cape, 1979
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*''The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society, 1559–1625'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982
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*''English Puritanism'' (London: Historical Association, 1983
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*''Godly People: Essays on English Protestantism and Puritanism'' (London: Hambledon Press, 1983
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*''The Birthpangs of Protestant England: Religious and Cultural Change in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: The Third Anstey Memorial Lectures in the University of Kent at Canterbury, 12–15 May 1986'' (Macmillan, 1988
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*''Andrew Perne: Quartercentenary Studies: Patrick Collinson,

David McKitterick David John McKitterick, (born 9 January 1948) is an English librarian and academic, who was Librarian and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Early life and education McKitterick was born on 9 January 1948 to the Revd Canon J. H. B. McKitter ...

, Elisabeth Leedham-Green'', edited by

(Cambridge University Library, 1991
search online
*''Elizabethan Essays'' (London: Hambledon Press, 1994
search online
* ''A History of Canterbury Cathedral'', edited by Patrick Collinson, Nigel Ramsay, and Margaret Sparks (Oxford University Press, 1995
search online
* ''Belief and Practice in Reformation England: A Tribute to Patrick Collinson from His Students'', edited by Susan Wabuda and Caroline Litzenberger) (Aldershot, Hants, 1998
search online
*''Short Oxford History of the British Isles: The Sixteenth Century'' (editor) (Oxford University Press, 2002
review
*''Lady Margaret Beaufort and Her Professors of Divinity at Cambridge: 1502 to 1649'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003
read online
*''Elizabethans'' (London: Hambledon and London, 2003
search online
*''The Reformation: A History'' (Modern Library, 2003

*''

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

'' (Very Interesting People Series, 2007
read online
*''From Cranmer to Sancroft: Essays on English Religion in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007
read online
*''The Reception of Continental Reformation in Britain'', edited by Polly Ha and Patrick Collinson (Oxford University Press, 2010
search online
*''The History of a History Man; Or, the Twentieth Century Viewed from a Safe Distance: The Memoirs of Patrick Collinson'' (Woodbridge, Suffolk:

, 2011) (Church of England Record Society Series).
reviewreview
*''

Richard Bancroft Richard Bancroft (1544 – 2 November 1610) was an English churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1604 to 1610 and "chief overseer" of the King James Bible. Life Bancroft was born in September 1544 at Farnworth, now part of Widnes, Ch ...

and Elizabethan Anti-Puritanism'' (Cambridge University Press, 2013
review

Notes

External links

Obituary in History Today
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinson, Patrick 1929 births People educated at King's Ely Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Academics of King's College London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activists English historians English republicans Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Historians of Puritanism Reformation historians Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society 2011 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire University of Khartoum faculty Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history English male non-fiction writers People educated at Bethany School, Goudhurst Regius Professors of History (Cambridge) Fellows of the British Academy

Life

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links