James Holt (historian)

Educated at Bradford Grammar School, Holt's studies at The Queen's College, Oxford, were interrupted by war service with the British Army, including 14 months in north-west Europe in 1944–1945. Returning to The Queen's College in 1945, he graduated with first-class honours in history in 1947, and subsequently took his DPhil with a thesis titled The "Northern" Barons Under John in 1952, at Merton College, Oxford.{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900-1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=372}}

He held the positions of Lecturer (1949–1962) and then Professor of Medieval History (1962–65) at the University of Nottingham, Professor of History at the University of Reading (1965–1978) and Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge from 1978 until his retirement in 1988. From 1981 until 1988 he served as the Master of Fitzwilliam College.

He was on the governing body of Abingdon School from 1969 to 1979.{{cite web |url=https://www.abingdon.org.uk/uploads/school/files/abingdonian/1974_February_V016_N004.pdf#page=35|title=Governors|publisher=The Abingdonian}}

Holt became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1978 and was its Vice President from 1987 to 1989, was president of the Royal Historical Society (1981–1985),{{cite web| url= http://www.royalhistoricalsociety.org/rhspresidents.pdf| title= A List of Presidents| publisher= Royal Historical Society| access-date= 20 December 2010| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130203053425/http://www.royalhistoricalsociety.org/rhspresidents.pdf| archive-date= 3 February 2013}} and was knighted for his work as an historian.

Holt made his name with the book Magna Carta, which came out in its original edition in 1965. In this work he treated charter in the context of the political framework of its time. The second edition was published in 1992. Holt retained the thematic structure, although he had entertained the thought of revising the work as a clause by clause commentary. New appendices were added for the second edition, and previous ones were expanded. Some parts of the main text underwent limited revision. Holt did not defend his original analysis from critics as much as aggressively restate his views.{{Cite book| last1 = Holt| first1 = J. C.| last2 = Garnett| first2 = George| last3 = Hudson| first3 = John| title = Magna Carta |chapter=Introduction |publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-107-09316-4| date = 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4LssCQAAQBAJ}}

One of the most noted aspects of Holt's work on Magna Carta has been its attention to events in continental Europe. Several studies undertaken after the publication of the Second Edition have expanded on the turmoil between John and Pope Innocent III, most significantly the Albigensian Crusade. Holt's original analysis noted similarties between the Statute of Pamiers and Magna Carta, but remained cautious and unwilling to claim a direct influence. George Garnett and John Hudson write in the introduction of the Third Edition that "a picture of closer ties between the Crusade and developments in England can be sketched". Several of John's opponents in England were connected to the Crusade. Stephen Langton's brother Walter Langton and Hugh de Lacy fought alongside Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade in Languedoc.{{Cite book| last = Tyerman| first = Christopher| title = England and the Crusades, 1095-1588 |publisher = University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-82013-2| date = 1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=215JWFCeSOsC |page=90}} Baronial leader Robert fitz Walter fled to France in 1212 where he was given the title "Marshal of the Army of God and of the Holy Church in England". Holt originally called the title "imposing", but changed this in the second edition to "vainglorious and seditious".

• The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John, (1961)
• Magna Carta, (1965)
• What's in a Name? Family Nomenclature and the Norman Conquest. (The Stenton Lecture 1981). University of Reading, 1982.
• Robin Hood, (London, 1982)
• Magna Carta and Medieval Government, (1985)
• Foundations for the Future: The University of Cambridge, (1995)
• Colonial England, 1066–1215, (1997)
• Magna Carta (Cambridge, 2015)

Holt married Alice Suley in 1951; they had one son. Holt was "passionate about cricket".{{cite journal |author= Rosamond McKitterick and Christine Carpenter|title = Jim Holt [Obituary tribute]| journal =The Seeley History Faculty News Letter| volume = nbr 5/2014|page=10 | date = August 2014}}

He died on 9 April 2014, aged 91.[http://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/about/newsitem-4-211 Professor Sir James Holt dies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413141215/http://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/about/newsitem-4-211 |date=13 April 2014}} Fitzwilliam College News accessed 11 April 2014

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/interviews/Holt_James.html Transcript of Interview with Prof Sir James Holt] (interview took place in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, 16 May 2008). Includes photograph & autobiographical details.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110616193043/http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/interviews/mp3/JH.mp3 MP3 audio file of the Interview with Prof Sir James Holt, 16 May 2008].

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{{Professors of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge}}

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{{Presidents of the Royal Historical Society}}

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