Charles Arthur John Armstrong (25 June 1909 – 9 August 1994) was a leading

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, known for his studies of the

First Battle of St Albans The First Battle of St Albans took place on 22 May, 1455, at St Albans, 22 miles (35 km) north of London, and traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses in England. Richard, Duke of York, and his allies, the Neville Earls ...

and the medieval

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...

Early life and discovery of the Mancini MS

Educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

, he became one of a district group of English historians from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, along with K. B. McFarlane and

E.F. Jacob Ernest Fraser Jacob (12 September 1894 – 7 October 1971) was a British medievalist and scholar who was President of the Chetham Society, Lancashire Parish Register Society and Ecclesiastical History Society. Education He was educated at Tw ...

.Allmand, C., 'C. A. J. Armstrong (1909–1994),' ''Renaissance Studies'' 9. (1995), 123–126 On leaving Oxford, he worked briefly for the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

and it was whilst working in this capacity in

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

Municipal Library in 1934 that he discovered the until-then lost manuscript of

Dominic Mancini Dominic Mancini () was an Italian monk who visited England in 1482–3. He witnessed the events leading up to Richard III seizing the English crown. He left in 1483 and wrote a report of what he had witnessed, titling his text ''De Occupatione Re ...

's account of the reign of

Edward V of England Edward V (2 November 1470 – ) was King of England from 9 April to 25 June 1483. He succeeded his father, Edward IV, upon the latter's death. Edward V was never crowned, and his brief reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle and Lord ...

and the accession of his uncle, Richard III in the summer of 1483. He presented a description of this in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' the same year, and then proceeded to translate and transcribe the manuscript. Since described as 'a model of precise scholarship,' it was published by the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

as ''The Usurpation of Richard III'' in July 1936.

Career

He joined Hertford College as a Tutor in Modern History the following year, and taught there for the next thirty years, eventually being elected a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the college. Many of his postgraduate students went on to have notable careers as historians themselves. His career was not without incident: 'intolerant of cant or hypocrisy,' wrote Saul, he would prefer to leave the college's

High Table The origin of "High Table" goes back to the physical layout of the dining halls of English colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The high table is a table for the use of fellows (members of the Senior Common Room) and their guests in ...

and dine with the

undergraduates Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

if he disapproved of the dinner company forced upon him. He published articles widely; the article being the vehicle of choice in the period, he was, in

Nigel Saul Nigel Saul (born 1952) is a British academic who was formerly the Head of the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL). He retired in 2015 and is now Emeritus Professor. He is recognised as one of the leading experts in ...

's words, 'by nature a miniaturist.' His interests ranged from the piety of

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York Cecily Neville (3 May 1415 – 31 May 1495) was an English noblewoman, the wife of Richard, Duke of York (1411–1460), and the mother of two Kings of England—Edward IV and Richard III. Cecily Neville was known as "the Rose of Raby", because ...

, to the coronation ceremonies of

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, th ...

kings, to the

; his detailed analysis of the latter, according to Michael Hicks, can be considered 'the last word' on the subject.

Personal life

Armstrong married to another

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

, Elizabeth Tyler, in 1953. She was Emerita Fellow of

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

, Oxford, who herself wrote upon sixteenth-century France. He died on 9 August 1994 at the age of eighty-five.

Selected bibliography

*''The Usurpation of Richard the Third: Dominicus Mancinus ad Angelum Catonem de Occupatione Regni Anglie per Riccardum Tercium Libellus'',

, 1936. *'Some examples of the distribution and the speed of news in England at the time of Wars of the Roses,' in Hunt, R.W., Pantin, W.A., Southern, R.W. (eds.), ''Studies in medieval history presented to Frederick Maurice Powicke'', Oxford, 1948. *‘Politics and the Battle of St. Albans, 1455’, ''

Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate House ...

,'' 1960. *''England, France and Burgundy in the fifteenth century,'' London, 1983. *'Some examples of the distribution and speed of news in England at the time of the Wars of the Roses,' ''Medieval History'', 1991. *'Les ducs de Bourgogne, interprètes de la pensée politique du XVe siècle,' ''Annales de Bourgogne'', 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, C. A. J. 1909 births 1994 deaths People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford 20th-century English historians 20th-century English male writers English medievalists Historians of the University of Oxford