Roger Sherman Loomis
Encyclopedia
Roger Sherman Loomis was an American
scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval
and Arthurian literature.
, Japan
, he was educated at The Hotchkiss School Lakeville, Connecticut
. He earned a B.A. from Williams College
in 1909, an M.A. from Harvard University
in 1910, and was a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford University in 1913. He held honorary degrees from Columbia, Williams, the University of Wales and the University of Rennes in France. During World War I, he edited an Army publication Atenshun 21. In 1930, Loomis attended the first International Arthurian Congress in Truro, Cornwall, where he and other scholars investigated Arthurian legends. Loomis was a member of the International Arthurian Society (president of American Branch, 1948 – 63), the Modern Language Association, the Mediaeval Academy of America (fellow; second vice-president, 1961 – 64), the Modern Humanities Research Association, and the American Humanist Association. He was an instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana
from 1913 to 1918. He left Illinois for Columbia University
, where he taught from 1919 until 1958. He was a member of Columbia's English faculty and held an emeritus position from 1958 until his death in 1966. In 1955-6, he was an Eastman Professor at Oxford University.
Loomis was the author of 10 scholarly books as well as numerous journal articles. From his early years Loomis wrote on influence of Celtic mythology
on the Arthurian legend, especially in the Holy Grail
myth. His book A Mirror of Chaucer's World, published in 1965 by Princeton, is a pictorial presentation of drawings, sculpture, paintings, and other materials related to Geoffrey Chaucer
and his age. His most notable book Arthurian Tradition and Chretien de Troyes, published by Columbia University in 1949 won the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy of America.
Roger Sherman Loomis was the son of Henry Loomis and Jane Herring Greene, the great nephew of William Maxwell Evarts and the great-great grandson of American founding father Roger Sherman
. Loomis's first wife was Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis (1882-1921), a medieval scholar with whom Loomis shared an interest in Arthurian literature. They married in 1919 (Folklore 38.4 1927 405–407). Loomis subsequently married Laura Alandis Hibbard (1883-1960), with whom he collaborated in many of his research and writing efforts. He dedicated one of his final volumes to Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis and Laura Hibbard Loomis "in grateful and loving remembrance" (The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol published by the University of Wales 1963; and later by Princeton University, in 1991).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval
Medieval literature
Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
and Arthurian literature.
Biography
Born to American parents in YokohamaYokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, he was educated at The Hotchkiss School Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville, Connecticut
Lakeville is a village and census-designated place in the town of Salisbury in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on Lake Wononskopomuc. The village includes Lakeville Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district represents about of the village center...
. He earned a B.A. from Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
in 1909, an M.A. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1910, and was a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford University in 1913. He held honorary degrees from Columbia, Williams, the University of Wales and the University of Rennes in France. During World War I, he edited an Army publication Atenshun 21. In 1930, Loomis attended the first International Arthurian Congress in Truro, Cornwall, where he and other scholars investigated Arthurian legends. Loomis was a member of the International Arthurian Society (president of American Branch, 1948 – 63), the Modern Language Association, the Mediaeval Academy of America (fellow; second vice-president, 1961 – 64), the Modern Humanities Research Association, and the American Humanist Association. He was an instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
from 1913 to 1918. He left Illinois for Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he taught from 1919 until 1958. He was a member of Columbia's English faculty and held an emeritus position from 1958 until his death in 1966. In 1955-6, he was an Eastman Professor at Oxford University.
Loomis was the author of 10 scholarly books as well as numerous journal articles. From his early years Loomis wrote on influence of Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
on the Arthurian legend, especially in the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
myth. His book A Mirror of Chaucer's World, published in 1965 by Princeton, is a pictorial presentation of drawings, sculpture, paintings, and other materials related to Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
and his age. His most notable book Arthurian Tradition and Chretien de Troyes, published by Columbia University in 1949 won the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy of America.
Roger Sherman Loomis was the son of Henry Loomis and Jane Herring Greene, the great nephew of William Maxwell Evarts and the great-great grandson of American founding father Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman
Roger Sherman was an early American lawyer and politician, as well as a founding father. He served as the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and served on the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was also a representative and senator in the new republic...
. Loomis's first wife was Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis (1882-1921), a medieval scholar with whom Loomis shared an interest in Arthurian literature. They married in 1919 (Folklore 38.4 1927 405–407). Loomis subsequently married Laura Alandis Hibbard (1883-1960), with whom he collaborated in many of his research and writing efforts. He dedicated one of his final volumes to Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis and Laura Hibbard Loomis "in grateful and loving remembrance" (The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol published by the University of Wales 1963; and later by Princeton University, in 1991).
Works
- Illustrations of Medieval Romance On Tiles From Chertsey Abbey (1916)
- Freshman Readings (1925)
- Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance (1927)
- The Art of Writing Prose (1930) with Mabel Louise Robinson, Helen Hull and Paul Cavanaugh
- Models for Writing Prose (1931)
- The Romance of Tristram and Ysolt (1931) translator
- Tristan and Isolt: A study of the Sources of the Romance by Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis, 2d ed., expanded by a bibliography and critical essay on Tristan scholarship since 1912, by Roger Sherman Loomis (New York, B. Franklin, 1960)
- Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art (1938) with Laura Hibbard Loomis
- Introduction to Medieval Literature, Chiefly in England. Reading List and Bibliography (1939)
- Representative Medieval And Tudor Plays (1942) editor with Henry W. Wells
- The Fight for Freedom: College Reading in Wartime (1943) with Gabriel M. Liegey
- Modern English Readings (1945) editor with Donald Lemen Clark
- Medieval English Verse and Prose (1948) with Rudolph Willard
- Arthurian Tradition And Chretien De Troyes (1949)
- Wales and the Arthurian Legend (1956)
- Medieval Romances (1957) editor with Laura Hibbard Loomis
- Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, A Collaborative History (1959) editor
- The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol (1963)
- The Development of Arthurian Romance (1963)
- A Mirror of Chaucer's World (1965)
- The Arthurian Material in the Chronicles: Especially Those in Great Britain and France (1973) expansion of Robert Huntington Fletcher's 1906 book
- Lanzelet (2005) translator Thomas Kerth, notes by Loomis and Kenneth G. T. WebsterKenneth G. T. WebsterKenneth Grant Tremayne Webster was a Canadian-born American literary scholar. He was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and was educated at Dalhousie University, graduating in 1892. He then took another undergraduate degree at Harvard University, followed by a master's and doctorate there, after which...