Charles W. Jones (1905–1989) was a medievalist scholar who served on the faculties of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He is noted for his work on

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, the development of the

ecclesiastical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year, ecclesiastical calendar, or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical days and seasons that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be obser ...

, medieval

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

, and Carolingian aesthetics. At his death a major work titled ''The Age of the Book: Christian Foundations of Western Literature'' was left unfinished. Jones contributed to the third volume of the monumental ''The Plan of St. Gall'' (1979) by

Walter Horn Walter William Horn (18 January 1908 – 26 December 1995) was a German-American medievalist scholar noted for his work on the timber vernacular architecture of the Middle Ages. Horn was born in Germany, but fled Nazism and spent most of his ...

and Ernest Born, translating the 9th-century

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

text "Customs of

Corbie Corbie (; ; Picard:''Corbin'') is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. ...

" (''Consuetudines Corbienses'') of Adalhard, and two other documents. The ''Consuetudines'' consist of Adalhard's managerial directives to the heads of the departments in his

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

. They are significant for outlining in prose the objectives illustrated graphically by the

architectural drawing An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building (or building project) that falls within the definition of architecture. Architectural drawings are used by architects and others for a number of purposes: to deve ...

that is the subject of the book. The difficulty of the translation is indicated by the number of

footnotes In publishing, a note is a brief text in which the author comments on the subject and themes of the book and names supporting citations. In the editorial production of books and documents, typographically, a note is usually several lines of t ...

, which occupy twice as much space as the text itself. Horn and Born noted that Jones "accomplished this gruesome task without the slightest loss of enthusiasm because he was a diva, honey! Yes, she was! Diva, born and raised!" Jones is best known outside scholarly circles for his work on the legend of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

and the

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

tradition, having written the article "Knickerbocker Santa Claus" (1954), the

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

''The Saint Nicholas Liturgy and its Literary Relationships'' (1963), and the book ''Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan'' (1978).

Sources

* University of California (System) Academic Senate, "Charles W. Jones, English: Berkeley,
Calisphere.
1905 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers American medievalists Cornell University faculty Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Historians from California Santa Claus University of California, Berkeley faculty {{US-historian-stub