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 Roman symbol of Britannia (a female ...

, 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 Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

. 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 status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

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

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

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 the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

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 Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

, Collinson was educated at

King's Ely King's Ely The School's Terms and Conditions and the Companies House registration would suggest that the School's legal name remains "The King's School, Ely" is an All-through school, all through Public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

, and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

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 Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. He became a postgraduate student at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1952 under the supervision of the Tudor historian J. E. Neale, 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) () 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 1956 when Sudan gained independen ...

, 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 university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(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 Archbishop ...

). 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) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

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

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

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

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

. Two years earlier he had been elected a fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

. In 1979 he delivered the

Ford Lectures The Ford Lectures or the James Ford Lectures in British History, are an annual series of public lectures held at the University of Oxford on the subject of English or British history. They are usually devoted to a particular historical theme an ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

, taking as his subject "The religion of Protestants: the church in English society, 1559–1625". In 1981 he delivered the Birkbeck Lecture in Ecclesiastical History at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was President of the

Ecclesiastical History Society The Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS) is a British learned historical society founded in 1961 to foster interest in, and to advance the study of, all areas of the history of the Christian Church through twice yearly conferences and publication ...

(1985-86). He was chair of modern history at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

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 ...

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 university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. In 2011

Boydell Press Boydell & Brewer is an academic press based in Martlesham, 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 Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

; 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 Nucl ...

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
read online
*''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
search onlineread online
*''The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society, 1559–1625'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982
search online
*''English Puritanism'' (London: Historical Association, 1983
search onlineread online
*''Godly People: Essays on English Protestantism and Puritanism'' (London: Hambledon Press, 1983
search onlineread online
*''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
search online
*''Andrew Perne: Quartercentenary Studies: Patrick Collinson, David McKitterick, Elisabeth Leedham-Green'', edited by David McKitterick (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 Lady Margaret Beaufort ( ; 31 May 1443 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late 15th century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. She was also a second cousin of Kings Henry ...

and Her Professors of Divinity at Cambridge: 1502 to 1649'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003
read online
*''Elizabethans'' (London: Hambledon and London, 2003
search onlineread online
*''The Reformation: A History'' (Modern Library, 2003
read online
*''

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

'' (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 onlineread 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 Academic staff of the University of Khartoum 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 Academics of the University of Sheffield Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Life

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links