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Michael Swanton
Michael James Swanton (born 1939) is a British historian, linguist, archaeologist and literary critic, specialising in the Anglo-Saxon period and its Old English literature.
Born in Bermondsey, in the East End of London, in childhood Swanton experienced the London blitz; he was an epileptic who suffered from bullying. A specific episode of this is referenced in Keith Richards's autobiography, Life.
Disadvantaged, Swanton failed the Eleven-plus, but was educated at a Modern, a Technical and then a Grammar school in South London. At the University of Durham, studying English he became chairman of the students' council and also of the Standing Congress of Northern Student Unions. In research at Bath, he was awarded M.Sc. in architecture; at Durham Ph.D. in archaeology and D.Litt. in arts.
Swanton became an expert on Anglo-Saxon England. He first taught Beowulf at the University of Manchester, then Linguistics at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen in Germany and the French University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and finally Medieval Studies at Exeter, where he also acted as the university's Public Orator for several years. During the 1960s and 1970s he served as Honorary Editor of the Royal Archaeological Institute. In 1975 he founded the Exeter Medieval Texts & Studies series (seventy-nine titles to 2020). During the 1970s-80s he notably chaired the Exeter Episcopal Committee for the Care of Historic Churches.
Reckoned an authority on Anglo-Saxon England, Swanton was elected Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. In retirement, he remains Emeritus Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Emeritus Professor of Medieval Studies at Exeter University. He now lives in Devon, writing under noms de plume.
Swanton’s own scholarly publications included translations of Beowulf, the Gesta Herewardi (a life of Hereward the Wake), the Vitae duorum Offarum (The Lives of Two Offas), and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as books on early English literature, art, architecture, and archaeology.
In 1965, at Richmond upon Thames, Swanton married Averil Birch, who had also been chairman of the Durham University students' council. and they had three children: Oliver, Alexander and Richard.
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Michael Swanton
Michael James Swanton (born 1939) is a British historian, linguist, archaeologist and literary critic, specialising in the Anglo-Saxon period and its Old English literature.
Born in Bermondsey, in the East End of London, in childhood Swanton experienced the London blitz; he was an epileptic who suffered from bullying. A specific episode of this is referenced in Keith Richards's autobiography, Life.
Disadvantaged, Swanton failed the Eleven-plus, but was educated at a Modern, a Technical and then a Grammar school in South London. At the University of Durham, studying English he became chairman of the students' council and also of the Standing Congress of Northern Student Unions. In research at Bath, he was awarded M.Sc. in architecture; at Durham Ph.D. in archaeology and D.Litt. in arts.
Swanton became an expert on Anglo-Saxon England. He first taught Beowulf at the University of Manchester, then Linguistics at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen in Germany and the French University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and finally Medieval Studies at Exeter, where he also acted as the university's Public Orator for several years. During the 1960s and 1970s he served as Honorary Editor of the Royal Archaeological Institute. In 1975 he founded the Exeter Medieval Texts & Studies series (seventy-nine titles to 2020). During the 1970s-80s he notably chaired the Exeter Episcopal Committee for the Care of Historic Churches.
Reckoned an authority on Anglo-Saxon England, Swanton was elected Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. In retirement, he remains Emeritus Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Emeritus Professor of Medieval Studies at Exeter University. He now lives in Devon, writing under noms de plume.
Swanton’s own scholarly publications included translations of Beowulf, the Gesta Herewardi (a life of Hereward the Wake), the Vitae duorum Offarum (The Lives of Two Offas), and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as books on early English literature, art, architecture, and archaeology.
In 1965, at Richmond upon Thames, Swanton married Averil Birch, who had also been chairman of the Durham University students' council. and they had three children: Oliver, Alexander and Richard.