X. Roman Law from the Desert: A.S. Hunt, F. de Zulueta, E. Levy, V. Arangio-Ruiz and the Editing of Legal Papyri

The Papyrology Rooms of the Sackler Library, Oxford, preserve the correspondence of the two famous papyrologists, B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, conducted with numerous scholars from Britain and continental Europe. The main subject of this correspondence is the editing of the texts found in the Oxyrhynchus papyri. On some of the most important legal papyri, namely P.Oxy. 1814, 2089 and especially 2103 (the ‘Oxyrhynchus Gaius’), Hunt sought out the collaboration of Roman law scholars such as F. de Zulueta, W.W. Buckland and E. Levy, who all participated to a varying degree in the editorial process of these legal documents. These letters, some of them hitherto unknown, are here published for the first time. They reveal the extent of the collaboration especially between Hunt and de Zulueta, the Regius Professor of Civil Law in Oxford. In addition to this correspondence, another letter on the same theme was discovered in the University Library of Aberdeen, where de Zulueta’s personal library is now located. It was sent to de Zulueta by the Italian Roman law scholar V. Arangio-Ruiz, who was then editing the PSI 1182 (the ‘Florentine Gaius’), and shows the ongoing dialogue between the two scholars on this important legal papyrus. Taken together, these letters allow a reconstruction of the editorial process applied to some of the most significant witnesses of Roman law sources unearthed in the 20th century. This in turn provokes reflection on the desirability of submitting the standard editions of these sources to a new critical analysis.

G.N. Clark and the Oxford School of Modern History, 1919–1922: Hidden Origins of 1066 And All That*

W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman’s 1066 and All That is a satirical history of England, published in 1930. It has long been thought to be a parody of popular history textbooks, characteristic of a generation of post-war writers disillusioned with the tone of patriotic English exceptionalism of many books. This paper explores contemporary critiques of history textbooks in the first third of the twentieth century and finds, however, that 1066 And All That is unusual in its implied criticism. It suggests that the standpoint of its authors reflects more than simply the recoil of their generation of ex-servicemen. It proposes that the book reflects their own particular experience of reading history at Oxford in 1919–22, at a time when teaching in the Modern History School still included much that was literary and whiggish. G.N. Clark had been their tutor, a historian close to C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern History, and sympathetic to Firth’s long and controversial campaign for reform. While Clark’s later reputation was as a cautious scholar, as a young man he was a witty iconoclast, active in left-wing politics. We trace his influence on Sellar and Yeatman through the lectures they attended, and discover that 1066 And All That bears clear references to Clark’s reformist views on history at Oxford.

Samuel Hallifax (1733–1790)

Trinity Hall, Cambridge was founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, for the study of canon law and civil law, as provided in its statutes. It later developed a direct connection with Doctors’ Commons in London, the College of Advocates practising in the church and admiralty courts. In the period 1512–1856, of the 462 admitted as advocates, 85 were from the Hall, including 15 masters and 45 fellows. From 1558 to 1857, the Hall had 9 out of about 25 Deans of Arches: two under Elizabeth, three at the end of the seventeenth century, three in the eighteenth century and one in the nineteenth. It has also provided more than 24 diocesan chancellors. As a result, within Cambridge University, Trinity Hall became the ‘nursery for civilians’, and the usual home for the Regius Professor of Civil Law. Among the first 12 of these (1540–1666), the Hall had 5. From 1666 to 1873, all of the next 12 holders were Trinity Hall by origin or adoption. Uniquely, all four of those holding this chair from 1757 to 1847 were clergy. These included Samuel Hallifax, Regius Professor of Civil Law 1770–1782. What follows deals with the life and career of Hallifax; his legal treatise An Analysis of the Roman Civil Law Compared with the Laws of England (with particular reference to its treatment of ecclesiastical law), its use and later editions; and the part played by it in a development which saw Trinity Hall become the centre for the new Civil Law classes (1816–1857), the forerunner of the modern Cambridge Law Tripos.

Becoming Heterodox in 17th-Century Cambridge

This chapter charts Isaac Newton’s path to heterodoxy by contextualising a crucial, but previously unknown, piece of evidence: the ‘Determination’ upon Newton’s 1677 Cambridge theology disputation conducted by the Regius Professor of Divinity, Joseph Beaumont. This Determination provides the earliest secure evidence of Newton’s engagement with theology. The Determination (printed and translated as an Appendix) is important in itself, but its witness allows us to go further and to propose that the university context proved crucial for shaping the way in which Newton conducted his theological reading. The essay begins by charting the transformations in Cambridge theological pedagogy in the half century before Beaumont and during the period of his dominance after the Restoration. It emphasises in particular the rise of an obsession with ante-Nicene Christian antiquity at the University, partly in response to inter- and intra-confessional dispute. The second half of the essay shows that much of Newton’s early theological writing can be read as a response to these developments, and to the world of orthodox theology that existed around him.

Rediscovering E. R. Dodds

This book offers an assessment of a remarkable classical scholar, who was also a poet with extensive links to twentieth-century English and Irish literary culture, the friend of Auden and MacNeice. Dodds was born in Northern Ireland, but made his name as Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford University from 1936 to 1960, succeeding Gilbert Murray. Before this he taught at Reading and Birmingham, was active in the Association of University Teachers, or AUT (of which he became president), and brought an outsider's perspective to the comfortable and introspective world of Oxford. His famous book The Greeks and the Irrational (1951) remains one of the most distinguished and visionary works of scholarship of its time, though much less well-known is his long and influential involvement with psychic research and his work for the reconstruction of German education after the Second World War. The chapters in this volume seek to shed light on these less explored areas of Dodds' life and his significance as perhaps the last classicist to play a significant role in British literary culture, as well as examining his work across different areas of scholarship, notably Greek tragedy. The book includes a group of memoirs — one by his pupil and literary executor, Donald Russell, and three by younger friends who knew, visited, and looked after Dodds in his last years.