Sir John Huxtable Elliott (23 June 1930 – 10 March 2022) was a British historian and Hispanist who was

Regius Professor A Regius Professor is a university Professor (highest academic rank), professor who has, or originally had, Monarchy of the United Kingdom, royal patronage or appointment. They are a unique feature of academia in the United Kingdom and Republic ...

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 ...

and honorary fellow of

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, 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 for ...

, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He published under the name J. H. Elliott.

Biography

Born in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, on 23 June 1930, Elliott was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

. He was an assistant lecturer at

Cambridge University 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 ...

from 1957 to 1962 and Lecturer in History from 1962 until 1967, and was subsequently Professor of 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 ...

, between 1968 and 1973. In 1972 he was elected to the

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 ...

ship of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

. He was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1977 and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1982. Elliott was Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

, from 1973 to 1990, and was Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford, between 1990 and 1997. He held honorary doctorates from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1983), the universities of Genoa (1992), Portsmouth (1993), Barcelona (1994), Warwick (1995), Brown University (1996), Valencia (1998), Lleida (1999), Complutense University of Madrid (2003), College of William & Mary (2005), London (2007), Charles III University of Madrid (2008), Seville (2011), Alcalá (2012), and Cambridge (2013). Elliott was a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, of whose Founding Council he was also a member. Elliott was knighted in the

1994 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1994 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other ...

for services to history and was decorated with Commander of Isabella the Catholic in 1987, the Grand Cross of Alfonso the Wise in 1988, the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic in 1996, and the

Creu de Sant Jordi The Creu de Sant Jordi (, in English language, English 'St George's Cross') is one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain), surpassed only in protocol by the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Gold Medal of the G ...

in 1999. An eminent Hispanist, he was given the Prince of Asturias Prize in 1996 for his contributions to the

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. For his outstanding contributions to the history of Spain and the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

in the early modern period, Elliott was awarded the

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the b ...

for History, 1500–1800, in 1999. He was a corresponding member of the

Real Academia de la Historia The Royal Academy of History (, RAH) is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the different branches of life, of c ...

since 1965. His studies of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

and the Spanish Empire helped the understanding of the problems confronting 16th- and 17th-century Spain, and the attempts of its leaders to avert its decline. He is considered, together with Raymond Carr and Angus Mackay, a major figure in developing Spanish historiography.Delanty, Gerard ''Handbook of Contemporary European Social Theory''. Routledge, 2006
at Google Books Elliott's principal publications are ''The Revolt of the Catalans'' (1963); ''The Old World and the New, 1492–1650'' (1970); and ''The Count-Duke of Olivares'' (1986). His ''Richelieu and Olivares'' (1987) won the

Leo Gershoy Award The Leo Gershoy Award is a book prize awarded by the American Historical Association for the best publication in English dealing with the history of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Endowed in 1975 by the Gershoy family and first ...

of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

and, in 1992, the Prize XVIIe. In 2006, his book ''Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, 1492–1830'' was published by Yale University Press, winning the

Francis Parkman Prize The Francis Parkman Prize, named after Francis Parkman, is awarded by the Society of American Historians for the best book in American history each year. Its purpose is to promote literary distinction in historical writing. The Society of Ameri ...

the following year. In 2012, he published his reflections on the progress of historical scholarship in ''History in the Making''. In 1995, ''Spain, Europe, and the Atlantic World: Essays in Honour of John H. Elliott'', edited by Richard L. Kagan and Geoffrey Parker, was published by Cambridge University Press. Elliott was hospitalised due to pneumonia and kidney complications, at the

John Radcliffe Hospital John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR or the John Radcliffe) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe (physician) ...

in Oxford, on 5 March 2022. He died on 10 March, at the age of 91.

Works

* ''The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598–1640'' (Cambridge University Press, 1963; pbk reprint, 1984). * ''Imperial Spain: 1469–1716'' (London 1963, revised repr. Penguin Books, 2002). * ''Europe Divided, 1559–1598'' (London 1963; 2nd ed. 2000). * ''The Old World and The New 1492–1650'' (Cambridge University Press, 1970; pbk reprint, 2008). * ''Memoriales y cartas del Conde-Duque de Olivares'', 2 vols. (with José F. de la Peña) (Madrid 1978–80). * '' Richelieu and Olivares'' (Cambridge University Press, 1984; pbk reprint, 2003). * ''The Count-Duke Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline'' (Yale University Press 1986, revised repr. 1989). * ''Spain and Its World, 1500–1700: Selected Essays'' (Yale University Press, 1989; pbk reprint, 1990). * ''The World of the Favourite'' (edited, with L. W. B. Brockliss) (Yale University Press, 1999). * ''The Sale of the Century: Artistic Relations between Spain and Great Britain, 1604–1655'' (with Jonathan Brown) (Yale University Press 2002). * ''A Palace for a King: The Buen Retiro and the Court of Philip IV'', with Jonathan Brown (Yale University Press, 2003 986. * ''Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain, 1492–1830'' (Yale University Press, 2006). * ''Spain, Europe and the Wider World, 1500–1800'' (Yale University Press, 2009). * ''History in the Making'' (Yale University Press, 2012). * ''Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion'' (Yale University Press, 2018; pbk reprint, 2020).

References

External links

National Portrait Gallery painting "Historians of 'Past and Present'" by Stephen Frederick Godfrey Farthing

"The Passionate Historian – A Conversation with John H. Elliott"
, ''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, J. H. 1930 births 2022 deaths People from Reading, Berkshire People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College London English historians Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Historians of Spain Institute for Advanced Study faculty British Hispanists Historians of Latin America Latin Americanists Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Regius Professors of History (University of Oxford) Corresponding members of the Real Academia de la Historia Deaths from pneumonia in England Members of the American Philosophical Society Wolfson History Prize winners