Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1891– 24 April 1972) was a noted medievalist.
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Background
Chadwick was born in Lancashire, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge in 1891(?) and lectured at St. Andrews during World War I. She returned to Cambridge in 1919 to study Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse under Professor Hector Munro Chadwick. They were married in 1922.[1] The Chadwicks turned their home into a literary salon, a tradition which Chadwick maintained after the death of her husband in 1947. [2] Chadwick received numerous honorary degrees and was a respected scholar in her own right. [3]
Scholarship
- The Growth of Literature was published in 1932. She published a series on Russian literature:
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- I: The Ancient Literatures of Europe (1932)
- II: Russian Oral Literature, Yugoslav Oral Poetry, Early Indian Literature, Early Hebrew Literature (1936)
- III: The Oral Literature of the Tatars and Polynesia, etc. (1940)
She also wrote The Beginnings of Russian History, an enquiry into sources.
- Chadwick collaborated with V. M. Zhirmunsky on a revision of the part of volume III that deals with epic poetry in Central Asian languages. The revised text was published separately in 1969 as Oral Epics of Central Asia.
- In 1955 she wrote Poetry and Letters in early Christian Gaul.
- Chadwick wrote about Celtic Britain and Breton history, and collaborated with Myles Dillon and Kenneth H. Jackson.
- In 1949 she wrote Early Scotland.
- In 1954 she published Studies in Early British History.
- In 1963 she wrote Celtic Britain (ancient people and places).
- In 1964 she wrote The Age of Saints in the Celtic Church.
- In 1965 she published The colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain.
- in 1966 she wrote The Druids
- In 1967 she wrote Celtic Realms with Myles Dillon.
- Nora Chadwick also wrote about the Anglo-Saxon language:
- In 1955 she published The Study of Anglo-Saxon with her husband.
- Chadwick is also well known for her famous essay, "The Monsters and Beowulf" in which she argues that Grendel's mother might have been a goddess from Norse mythology, possibly the myth of the Valkyries.
A list of the publications of Hector and Nora Chadwick was printed for her 80th birthday in 1971.
References
- Chadwick, Nora K. "The Monsters and Beowulf." The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some Aspects of Their History. Ed. Peter ed Clemoes. London: Bowes & Bowes, 1959. 171-203.
