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Rev Professor Colin Morris FBA (Historian)

Colin Morris FBA, 16 September 1928-18 September 2021, was a British historian of the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in Medieval ecclesiastical and social history, the crusades and in the influence on the culture of Western Europe of the Holy Sepulchre

A graduate of Queen’s College, Oxford, in Modern History (1948) and Theology (1951), he was subsequently ordained a priest, joining Pembroke College, Oxford, as Chaplain and Fellow in Medieval History, prior to his appointment at the University of Southampton. Morris was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton 1969-1993.

His major works include The Discovery of the Individual 1050-1200 (1972); The Papal Monarchy (1987); and The Sepulchre of Christ and the Medieval West (2005). His awards included being elected as Supernumerary Fellow of Pembroke College, Emeritus Fellow of The British Academy, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University of Southampton; Honorary Fellow, Queen's College, Oxford and President of the Ecclesiastical History Society.

Early life and education
Morris was born in Kingston Upon Hull in Yorkshire. His father was Harry Morris, a commercial salesman and his mother was Catherine (always Kitty) Victoria Morris nee Metham, a tailor. When Morris was 11 his father died and his mother worked long days tailoring at home to support him. As the only child in the extended family, he was also supported by his Aunt Gertrude and Uncle Gilbert, a butcher, without whom basics such as school uniforms would have been unaffordable. Morris was awarded scholarships that provided vital financial support to the struggling family, first to Hymers College, aged 9, then to The Queens College Oxford aged 17. Morris saw education as life changing, the first in the family to go to university, he was part of a generation of northern boys who felt that they had broken down the gates of privilege by going up to Oxford.

During the war Morris was evacuated with his school to Pocklington in Yorkshire, which was the home town of his paternal family. Whilst at school he was very involved with his local Anglican Church, St Martin's Church in Hull where his friendship group included his future wife Brenda Gale.

Academia
Morris graduated from The Queen’s College, Oxford, in Modern History (1948). Following 13 months of national service he returned to Queen’s achieving another first class degree in theology. Whilst he was at Queen's the chaplain was Dennis Nineham, and a contemporary was David Jenkins, later Bishop of Durham.

After studying at Lincoln Theological College, in 1953 he was ordained deacon and appointed chaplain and fellow in medieval history at Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1954 he was ordained priest.

Morris was appointed as Chaplain and Fellow in Medieval History at Pembroke College Oxford in 1951. There he became part of a distinguished group of medieval historians that included Richard Hunt, Beryl Smalley and Richard Southern. This group transformed understanding of culture, religion and intellect of the central middle ages, a move that was reflected in the work in the US of Giles Constable and Robert Benson.

Morris also served in 1968 as acting Master of Pembroke during a vacancy. He was then appointed as Professor of Medieval History at Southampton University in 1969, retiring in 1993 and being appointed as Emeritus Professor. This enabled him to continue his research free of university commitments. He had a number of academic distinctions including being elected President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (1998-2000) and as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2007. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and was elected as an honorary Fellow of Queens in 2009.

Throughout his career and into retirement Morris used his flair for languages to inform his scholarship and enrich his wide travels. His languages included Latin, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, and Spanish and in his 90s he expressed regret that he had not learned Russian.

The concept of the individual
Morris challenged the orthodoxy that the concept of the individual emerged in western Europe during the Italian renaissance. This view had been promoted by Jacob Burckhardt, a Swiss historian, in the 19th century. In 1972 Morris published The Discovery of the Individual 1050-1200, using a wide range of written sources drawn from the "long 12th century". He evidenced the emergence in the secular world of new representations of human love and the first sign of autobiographical writing in the west. He argued that new more personal forms of religious practice, in particular private and individual confession brought a new relationship with God and the saints.

Papal Monarchy
In The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 (1989), Morris outlined the emergence of papal power. A growing centralisation of ecclesiastical authority in Rome was supported by sophisticated administrative and legal structures accompanied by control of lay belief and religious practice via legislation and teaching. The resultant shrinking of local autonomies led to conflict with secular powers including the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England. Morris examined both the internal dynamics and tensions within the church and the the external strategies it employed against outsiders in the west (Jews and heretics) and east (the eastern church and Islam).

The Holy Sepulchre
Morris' research was informed by his interest in medieval architecture and art, especially of Italy and France. In Bringing the Holy Sepulchre to the West: S Stefano, Bologna, from the fifth to the 20th Century (1997) he examined the 7 churches of Santo Stefano, a complex of buildings designed as a literal representation of the holy places of Jerusalem (access to these had become increasingly difficult after the Crusades). Published in 2005, his book The Sepulchre of Christ and the Medieval West: From the Beginning to 1600, examines visual evidence of how Christ's tomb was a focus for Crusading ideology before the fall of Jerusalem (in 1187). The tomb then became a model for the Templars' new churches such as the Temple Church in London, and provided the template for "alternative tombs" in new European centres of devotion and pilgrimage including the Holy Sepulchre in Görlitz, Saxony and the Jerzalemkapel in Bruges, Belgium.

Personal life
Morris was married for almost 55 years to Dr Brenda Morris nee Gale, a psychiatrist, who he met whilst still at school. They lived in Pembroke College and this enabled him to play an playing an active role in bring up their three children.

Political and religious views
Morris prepared for ordination at Lincoln Theological College, was ordained deacon in 1953 and unusually was appointed as Chaplain at Pembroke whilst still a Deacon. He was ordained as a priest in 1954. At Pembroke the chapel flourished under his ministry. His organ scholar was Dr Harry Bramma and together they instigated a lively and well attended programme of services and music. Morris welcomed Christians from all denominations to receive the sacrament, creating a fellowship that united Anglicans and Free Churchmen.

Always a man of the left, Morris' faith and political views united in a commitment to social outreach. He established the Oxford Borstal Camps in which students and an equal number of Borstal boys had a two week fellowship. The first week was spent camping in the Yorkshire Dales, the second with the Oxford students living in a Borstal. He extended his ministry beyond the college to the homeless, helping to establish the Oxford branch of Shelter and being a ready source of tea and bacon sandwiches for any who knocked on the door.

Morris served for a while as acting head of Pembroke during a vacancy and his thoughts on the period give a good reflection of the man. He described his rule as republican and at that time of student unrest he approved of students' expectations that their views should be heard and responded to seriously. He was sympathetic to students' internationalist concerns including what he described as "the tragedy of Biafra". He noted the flowering of 1960s youth culture in wall slogans and changing fashions: "......

Morris' leadership at Southampton University is said to have been marked by good-tempered even-handedness and support for all the university historians in his care. As a priest, he participated wholeheartedly in the ministry of the churches in central Southampton.

Publication list
1972 The Discovery of The Individual Articles on the Crusades, pilgrimage and saints’ cults were followed by The Papal Monarchy 1987 The Papal Monarchy 1997 Bringing the Holy Sepulchre to the West: S Stefano, Bologna, from the fifth to the 20th Century 1998-9 Christians and the Holy Land; published as The Holy Land, Holy Lands and Christian History, SCH 36 (2000) 2005 The Sepulchre of Christ and the Medieval West

Awards and Honours
1969 elected as Supernumerary Fellow of Pembroke College Oxford 1993 Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University of Southampton 1998-2000 President of the Ecclesiastical History Society 2007 elected as Emeritus Fellow of The British Academy 2009 Elected as Honorary Fellow, Queen's College, Oxford