Professor David Luscombe

M.A., Litt.D. (Cantab.), F.B.A.

Emeritus Professor of Medieval History

Thought and religion in the middle ages

Office Hours: N/A

d.luscombe@sheffield.ac.uk

+44 (0)114 22 22559
 

346 Glossop Road. Room A03.

Major Publications

Biography

David Luscombe has been Professor of Medieval History at Sheffield since 1972. He retired officially from this post in 2003 but remains active in research in his Department at the University of Sheffield. His main interests lie in the history of medieval thought and religion from late antiquity to the end of the middle ages, particularly in the following areas: the writings of Peter Abelard and of other medieval scholars and thinkers; the history of the medieval schools and universities, and the history of medieval (and Dionysian) conceptions of hierarchy. He has recently completed a new edition from the manuscripts of the collected correspondence of Peter Abelard and Heloise. This is for publication, with translation, in the series Oxford Medieval Texts. With Lisa Liddy and David Hey he has recently published an edition of the Cartulary of Beauchief Abbey in the Camden Fifth Series of the Royal Historical Society.

He was the General Editor of the 4th series of Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought from 1988 until 2004 and of the British Academy series Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi from 1991 to 2004. He was President of the Société internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale from 1997 to 2002 and was the Associate Editor for the "block" of medieval philosophers and theologians in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography published in 2004.

He has lectured and read papers in recent years by invitation in Cologne and Bonn (2000), Fribourg, Switzerland, Nantes and Bonn (2001), Piliscsaba (2002), Chartres, Lublin and London (2003), Urbana-Champaigne and Notre Dame, Indiana (2004), Madison (2004 and 2008), Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin (2004), Oxford and Porto (2005), Durham and Mainz (2006), Kansas (2007), Brescia and Nijmegen (2009), Göttingen (2010), Louvain-la-Neuve, Troyes and Maynooth (2011).

Research

Research Supervision

Professor Luscombe remains willing to supervise and to provide guidance to research students in the general field of medieval thought and religion.

Selected Publications

The Last Decade

- Peter Abelard and the Poets', Poetry and Philosophy in the Middle Ages, ed. J.Marenbon (Leiden 2001), pp.155-71.

- 'Scientia' and 'disciplina' in the correspondence of Peter Abelard and Heloise', 'Scientia' und 'disciplina'. Wissenstheorie und Wissenschaftspraxis im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert, ed. R.Berndt, M.Lutz-Bachmann and R.M.W.Stammberger (Berlin 2002), pp.79-89.

- 'Pierre Abélard et l´abbaye du Paraclet', Pierre Abélard. Colloque international de Nantes, ed.J.Jolivet and H.Habrias (Rennes 2003), pp. 215-229.

- 'The medieval church', A Century of Theological and Religious Studies in Britain, ed. E.Nicholson (Oxford, 2003), pp. 171-86.

- 'Hierarchy', The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy, ed. A.S.McGrade (Cambridge 2003), pp.60-72.

- 'Dieu dit: "Que la lumière soit". Robert Grosseteste et Genèse 1, 3-5', Le Symbolisme de la Lumière au Moyen-Âge: de la Spéculation a la Réalité. Actes du Colloque Européen des 5 et 6 juillet 2003. Association des Amis du Centre Médiéval Européen de Chartres (Chartres 2004), pp. 69-74.

- 'Hugh of Reading', 'John of Cornwall', 'John of Salisbury', 'Robert Pullen', 'Simon of Tournai', The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford 2004).

- The New Cambridge Medieval History, c. 1024-c.1198, volume IV, parts 1 and 2, jointly edited with J.Riley-Smith (Cambridge University Press 2004), xxi + 917 and xix + 959 pp.

- Petri Abaelardi Opera theologic, 5. Expositio in Hexameron, ed. Mary Romig with the assistance of David Luscombe. Abbreviatio Petri Abaelardi Expositionis in Hexameron, ed. C. Burnett with the assistance of David Luscombe. Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis, 15 (Turnhout 2004).

- 'Symbols and their Interpretation: John the Scot and Hugh of Saint Victor on the Celestial Hierarchy, chapter 2', Being or Good? Metamorphoses of Neoplatonism, ed. A.Kijewska (Lublin 2004), pp. 343-54.

- (With C. Burnett) 'A New Student for Peter Abelard:The Marginalia in British Library MS Cotton, Faustina A. X', Itinéraires de la Raison. Études de philosophie médiévale offertes à Maria Candida Pacheco, ed. J.F.Meirinhos (Louvain-la-Neuve 2005), pp. 163-86.

- 'The Sense of Innovation in the Writings of Peter Abelard', Tradition, Innovation, Invention. Fortschrittsverweigerung und Fortschrittsbewusstein im Mittelalter, ed. H.-J. Schmidt. Scrinium Friburgense, 18 (Berlin 2005), pp. 181-94.

- 'Ethics in the Early Thirteenth Century', Albertus Magnus und die Anfänge der Aristoteles-Rezeption im lateinischen Mittelalter. Von Richardus Rufus bis zu Franciscus de Mayronis, ed. L. Honnefelder and others. Subsidia Albertina. Albertus-Magnus-Institut Bonn, 1 ( Munster 2005), pp. 657-83.

- 'Anselm's Writings and his Correspondence', Rationality from Saint Augustine to Saint Anselm. Proceedings of the International Anselm Conference. Piliscsaba (Hungary) 20-23 June 2002, ed. C. Viola and J. Kormos (Piliscsaba 2005), pp. 285-97.

- 'Roger Bacon and Language' in Britannia Latina: Latin in the Culture of Great Britain from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, ed. C. Burnett and N. Mann. Warburg Institute Colloquia 8 (London 2005), pp. 42-53.

- Petri Abaelardi Opera theologica, 6. Sententie Magistri Petri Abaelardi, ed. David Luscombe with the assistance of J. Barrow, C. Burnett, K. Keats-Rohan and C. J. Mews. Liber Sententiarum Magistri Petri, ed. C. J. Mews with the assistance of David Luscombe. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis XIV (Turnhout 2006), 109* + 199 pp.

- 'Hrabanus Maurus and the Predestination Controversy', Hrabanus Maurus. Gelehrter, Abt von Fulda und Erzbischof von Mainz, ed. J. Felten and B. Nichtweiss (Mainz 2006), pp. 141-58.

- 'Medieval Thought', A Century of British Medieval Studies, ed. A. Deyermond (Oxford 2007), pp. 611-30.

- 'The Hierarchies in the Writings of Alan of Lille, William of Auvergne and St Bonaventure', Angels in Medieval Philosophical Enquiry. Their Function and Significance, ed. I. Iribarren and M. Lenz. Ashgate Studies in Medieval Philosophy (Aldershot 2008), pp. 15-28.

- 'Monks and friars', The Cambridge History of Medieval Philosophy, ed. R. Pasnau; associate ed. C. Van Dyke. 2 vols. (Cambridge 2010), 1, pp. 63-76.

- 'Crossing Philosophical Boundaries, c. 1150-c. 1250', Crossing Boundaries at Medieval Universities, ed. Spencer E. Young. Education and Society in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 36 (Leiden 2011), pp. 9-27.

- 'Instruments of identification: the scholastic and university formation of intellectuals', Religiosità e civiltà. Identità delle forme religiose (secoli X- XIV). Atti del Convegno Internazionale Brescia, 9-11 settembre 2009, a cura di Giancarlo Andenna. “Le Settimane internazonali della Mendola”, Nuova Serie 2007-2011 (Milan, 2011), pp. 103-24.

- A Monastic Community in Local Society: The Beauchief Abbey Cartulary, ed. David Hey, Lisa Liddy, and David Luscombe. Camden Fifth Series, vol. 40 (Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society, London, 2011), viii + 304 pp.