John Matthews Manly (September 2, 1865 – April 2, 1940) was an American professor of English literature and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Manly specialized in the study of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

. His eight-volume work, ''The Text of the Canterbury Tales'' (1940), written in collaboration with his former student

Edith Rickert Edith Rickert (1871–1938) was a medieval scholar at the University of Chicago. Her work includes the ''Chaucer Life-Records'' and the eight-volume ''Text of the Canterbury Tales'' (1940). Life and career Rickert was born in Dover, Ohio, to Fra ...

, has been cited as a definitive study of Chaucer's works.

Early life and education

Manley was born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, the son of Charles Manly, a Baptist minister and university president. He attended

Staunton Military Academy Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male Military academy, military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable ...

and Greenville Military Institute. At the age of 18, Manly earned a master's degree in Mathematics from

Furman University Furman University is a private university in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1826 and named after Baptist pastor Richard Furman, the Liberal arts college, liberal arts university is the oldest private institution of higher l ...

. In 1890, he received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in Philology, a non-departmental field for which he created his own curriculum.

Career

In 1884, at the age of 19, Manly accepted a position at

William Jewell College William Jewell College is a private liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1849 by members of the Missouri Baptist Convention and endowed with $10,000 by William Jewell. It was associated with the Missouri ...

teaching Mathematics, which he held for five years. After taking his doctorate in 1890 and teaching Anglo-Saxon at Radcliffe for a year, Manly accepted a call to

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and became one of the chief members of the English staff there, until 1898. He then accepted the department chair in English at the University of Chicago, which he maintained until retirement. Manly was elected to 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 1912. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as

cryptanalyst Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic se ...

in the Military Intelligence Division. He gave the 1926 Warton Lecture on English Poetry. (Manly was the first American to give a Warton Lecture.) In 1931, he published a paper in the journal '' Speculum'' disproving William Romaine Newbold's deciphering of the Voynich Manuscript.

Selected publications

* as editor: * with Edith Rickert: ;

References

External links

List of John Matthews Manly publications

Full Text of "Contemporary British Literature: Bibliographies and Study Outlines," by John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert.
* *
Guide to the John Matthews Manly Papers 1885-1940
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
1865 births 1940 deaths American philologists Brown University faculty Chaucer scholars Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Furman University alumni Harvard University alumni Linguists from the United States Presidents of the Modern Language Association Shakespearean scholars University of Chicago faculty {{US-linguist-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society