Nicholas Watson is an English-Canadian

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

religious historian The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves th ...

, and author. He is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

and chair of the Harvard English Department.

Education and early career

Nicholas Watson was raised in Winchester, England. After an undergraduate education at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and graduate work with Vincent Gillespie at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, he began his scholarly career with a 1987 dissertation at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

on the Yorkshire hermit

Richard Rolle Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in Sout ...

. Watson is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English at Harvard; before joining the faculty at Harvard he taught at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...

from 1990 to 2001.

Career

Watson has written on

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

ity, gender, religious censorship,

ritual magic Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an e ...

, and mystical literature; he has also edited and translated important works from medieval Latin and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

. He is credited with introducing the concept of "vernacular theology" to literary and religious studies. His scholarship has explored figures such as

Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English mystic and anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earlies ...

William Langland William Langland (; la, Willielmus de Langland; 1332 – c. 1386) is the presumed author of a work of Middle English alliterative verse generally known as ''Piers Plowman'', an allegory with a complex variety of religious themes. The poem t ...

Marguerite Porete Marguerite Porete (; 13th century1 June 1310) was a French-speaking mystic and the author of ''The Mirror of Simple Souls'', a work of Christian mysticism dealing with the workings of agape (divine love). She was burnt at the stake for heresy in ...

, Geoffrey Chaucer,

John of Morigny John of Morigny (end 13th century - 14th century) was a French Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monk renowned for his work on the form of medieval ritual magic known as the ''Ars Notoria''. Biography Born in the last quarter of the 13th centu ...

, the

Pearl Poet The "Gawain Poet" (), or less commonly the "Pearl Poet",Andrew, M. "Theories of Authorship" (1997) in Brewer (ed). ''A Companion to the Gawain-poet'', Boydell & Brewer, p.23 (''fl.'' late 14th century) is the name given to the author of ''Sir ...

, and Archbishop

Thomas Arundel Thomas Arundel (1353 – 19 February 1414) was an English clergyman who served as Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York during the reign of Richard II, as well as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken o ...

Awards

In 1990 he was awarded the

John Charles Polanyi John Charles Polanyi ( hu, Polányi János Károly; born 23 January 1929) is a German-born Canadian chemist. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in chemical kinetics. Polanyi was born into the prominent Hungari ...

Prize. His research has been supported by the Canadian

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, CRSH) is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and traini ...

, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...

. In 2016 he was named a Fellow of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

Works

''Richard Rolle and the Invention of Authority''
(1991) * (with Anne Savage
''Anchoritic Spirituality: Ancrene Wisse and Associated Works''
(1991)
"Censorship and Cultural Change in Late-Medieval England: Vernacular Theology, the Oxford Translation Debate, and Arundel's Constitutions of 1409"
(1995)
Richard Rolle: ''Emendatio vitae'' and ''Orationes ad honorem nominis Ihesu''
(1995) * (with Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Andrew Taylor, and Ruth Evans
''The Idea of the Vernacular: an Anthology of Middle English Literary Theory, 1280–1520''
(1999)
"The Middle English Mystics"
in ''The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature'', ed. David Wallace (1999) * (with Fiona Somerset
''The Vulgar Tongue: Medieval and Postmedieval Vernacularity''
(2003) * (with Jacqueline Jenkins
''The Writings of Julian of Norwich: A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and A Revelation of Love''
(2006) * (with Fiona Somerset

(2015)

References

External links

Nicholas Watson's Academia.edu page

Nicholas Watson's faculty profile

List of recent publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Nicholas American literary critics American medievalists Canadian medievalists British medievalists Harvard University faculty Living people Chaucer scholars 20th-century American writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers University of Toronto alumni English historians Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America