Professor Chris Wickham
It is with overwhelming sadness that colleagues across the College of Arts and Law learned of the death last Friday of Professor Chris Wickham.
Chris originally joined the University of Birmingham in 1977, was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1987, to Reader in 1989, and to Professor of Medieval History in 1993 – a role that he held until taking up the Chichele Professorship of Medieval History at the University of Oxford in 2005. Chris then returned to Birmingham in 2016 on a part-time basis until 2020.
There are so many colleagues and students who owe Chris so much that it is impossible to quantify his impact and influence over the more than 30 years that he researched, taught, supervised, and led at the University of Birmingham. He was the most phenomenal of scholars but also the kindest and most generous of mentors, who cared deeply about the University (and the School of History and Cultures in particular). Tellingly, his 2009 book The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 was dedicated to ‘the students of AMH, the Ancient and Medieval History degree of the University of Birmingham, 1976–2005, who have heard and discussed much of this before’.
Chris and Leslie
We send condolences and sympathies to Chris’s family, friends and colleagues around the world – and especially to Leslie Brubaker, Chris’s wife, close collaborator and fellow Birmingham professor.
Leslie’s wish is that donations in Chris’s memory will support the establishment of The Chris Wickham Doctoral Scholarship, a new source of funding that will support PhD researchers at the University of Birmingham. Further details on the scholarships, including information on how to donate, are now online.
Tributes to Chris for inclusion on this page can be sent to calheadofcollege@contacts.bham.ac.uk. Please include your name and any institutional affiliation that you wish to be included in the attribution.
Tributes
Another giant is gone – annus horribilis. He will be missed.
I always felt I owed Chris Wickham' my career. His generous encouragement after a School of Humanities presentation in 2004 before the formal University interview in Aston Webb for my Birmingham Fellowship gave me the confidence that gave me the job. Given this interview came after a six-year career break with young children, the odds seemed low. I remember many occasions in Birmingham and latterly Oxford where I would seek him out at a reception and thank him for his role at that crucial point in my career. He was always gracious and encouraging again. My thoughts are with Leslie and Chris' family and friends.