John Robert Martindale

Last updated

John Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British historian specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires. Martindale's major publications are his magnum opus , the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire , begun by A. H. M. Jones and published between 1971 and 1992, and the first part of Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire, which was published in 2001.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in 1935, [1] Martindale was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, where in 1958 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Literae Humaniores , later promoted to MA, and then in 1961 with a Bachelor of Letters. His dissertation was entitled "Public disorders in the late Roman Empire, their causes and character". [2]

In 1960, Martindale's supervisor was A. H. M. Jones, Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge, and as Martindale approached the conclusion of his B.Litt. work Jones invited him to assist in his ongoing Roman prosopography project, [3] originally conceived by Theodor Mommsen. [4] Martindale accepted [3] and began work as Jones's assistant later the same year, joining John Morris, another of Jones's former pupils. [5]

Academic career

After his final graduation at Oxford, in 1961 Martindale migrated to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he incorporated as a Cambridge MA and was appointed as a Senior Researcher in Classics, continuing in that post until 1971. [6] [7] Jones noted in 1964 that Martindale had already by then checked all the dates and references to the Codex Theodosianus, the Codex Justinianus, and the Novels of Theodosius II, "an accomplishment that would surely qualify as a worthy contender for the thirteenth labour of Hercules". [8]

Greater responsibility fell on Martindale with the death of Professor Jones in 1970. Thereafter, he focussed increasingly on leading the prosopography projects, with funding from the British Academy. [4] Morris continued to work on the project until his death in 1977, but also had other interests, especially in Arthurian studies. [9]

Most of Martindale's work in the 1970s and 1980s was on the second and third volumes of Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, describing the common characteristics of groups of people within the Empire between the years 395 and 641 AD, which is from the reign of Honorius up to that of Heraclius. [10] The years from 260 to 395 AD (Gallienus to Theodosius I) had been dealt with in the first volume, published in March 1971, [11] and Martindale had begun preliminary work on the second volume in 1969. [3] A large team of scholars was employed to read the authors of the period and draw excerpts from them. [10]

After the publication of the third volume, Michael Whitby noted that the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire was "a project which was initiated by Jones and seen through, in considerably expanded form, to improvement and completion by John Martindale". [12]

Martindale then proceeded to the Byzantine world, and Volume 1 of Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire was published on a compact disc in 2001. [4]

Major publications

Minor publications

Notes

  1. Martindale, John Robert, at Virtual International Authority File, accessed 10 April 2020
  2. University of Oxford Committee for Advanced Studies, Successful Candidates for the Degrees of D.Phil., B.Litt., and B.Sc. with Titles of Their Theses (Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 5
  3. 1 2 3 J. R. Martindale, "A memoir of the era of A. H. M. Jones", in Averil Cameron, ed., Fifty Years of Prosopography: The Later Roman Empire, Byzantium and Beyond (Oxford University Press for British Academy, 2003), pp. 3–10
  4. 1 2 3 Averil Cameron, "Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire" at thebritishacademy.ac.uk, accessed 10 April 2020
  5. Averil Cameron, "A.H.M. Jones and the end of the ancient world", in David M. Gwynn, A. H. M. Jones and the Later Roman Empire (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2008), p. 241
  6. Cambridge University List of Members 1976 (CUP 1976), p. 613; Cambridge University Calendar 1974 (CUP 1974), p. 22
  7. Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, vol. 1 (1978), p. 316
  8. Caroline Humphress, "Law and justice in the Later Roman Empire", in Gwynn (2008), p. 125
  9. "Dr J. R. Morris: Studies in ancient history" (obituary) in The Times , 10 June 1977, p. 18
  10. 1 2 J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, review "Persons No Longer Missing - J. R. Martindale: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. II: A.D. 395–527" in The Classical Review 31, Issue 2 (October 1981), pp. 256-258 at doi.org, accessed 10 April 2020
  11. G. W. Bowersock, "The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire by A. H. M. Jones, J. R. Martindale, J. Morris" in American Journal of Philology 97, No. 1 (Spring, 1976), pp. 84-86
  12. Michael Whitby, "The role of the Emperor" in Gwynn (2008), p. 70.

Related Research Articles

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date of the beginning of Gallienus' sole rule, to 641, the date of the death of Heraclius. Sources cited include histories, literary texts, inscriptions, and miscellaneous written sources. Individuals who are known only from dubious sources, as well as identifiable people whose names have been lost, are included with signs indicating the reliability. A project of the British Academy, the work set out with the goal of doing

"...for the later Empire what the Prosopographia Imperii Romani has done for the Principate, to provide the materials for the study of the governing class of the Empire. The majority of the entries will be persons holding official posts or rank together with their families, and the work will not include clerics except in so far as they come into the above categories."

The logothetes tou stratiotikou, rendered in English as the Logothete of the Military or Military Logothete, was a Byzantine imperial official in charge of the pay and provisioning of the Byzantine army. The office appears in the late 7th century and is mentioned until the 14th century.

The Prosopography of the Byzantine World (PBW) is a project to create a prosopographical database of individuals named in textual sources in the Byzantine Empire and surrounding areas in the period from 642 to 1265. The project is a collaboration between the British Academy and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Marcellus was an Eastern Roman judicial official, one of the closest aides of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and commander of the imperial bodyguard of the excubitores in circa 541–552.

Flavius Celer was a Byzantine general and magister officiorum under Emperor Anastasius in the early 6th century.

Praejecta or Praiecta was a niece to Byzantine emperor Justinian I by blood and of his empress Theodora by marriage.

Baduarius was a Byzantine general, active early in the reign of Justinian I in Scythia Minor.

Mataswintha, also spelled Matasuintha, Matasuentha, Mathesuentha, Matasvintha, or Matasuntha, was a daughter of Eutharic and Amalasuintha. She was a sister of Athalaric, King of the Ostrogoths. Their maternal grandparents were Theodoric the Great and Audofleda.

Vigilantia was a sister of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and mother to his successor Justin II.

Tzath II was King of Lazica as a Byzantine client from 556 to an unknown date.

Justin was a general of the Byzantine Empire, active early in the reign of Emperor Justinian I as commander of the Danubian limes in Moesia Secunda.

Ascum was a general of the Byzantine Empire, active early in the reign of Justinian I. He was in command of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. His name is reported by John Malalas. Both Theophanes the Confessor and George Kedrenos render his name "Ακούμ" (Acum).

Boraides was a cousin of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, better known for his role in ending the Nika riots of 532. The primary source about him is Procopius.

Godilas was a Byzantine general, active in the reigns of Emperor Justin I and Emperor Justinian I.

Chanaranges was a Byzantine military officer, active in the late reign of Justinian I. He was an Armenian and his name is occasionally rendered as Charanges. He is only known for his activities in the Gothic War, in particular the Battle of the Volturnus in 554. The main source about him is Agathias. The name probably derives from Kanārang, a military title of the Sassanid Empire. He should probably not be confused with his contemporary, the Chanaranges who took part in the conspiracy of Artabanes.

Chilbudius or Chilbuldius was a Byzantine general, holding the rank of magister militum per Thracias in the early 530s. He was apparently killed in battle c. 533, but an impostor claimed his identity c. 545–546. The only source for both men is Procopius.

The Apion family was a wealthy clan of landholders in Byzantine Egypt, especially in the Middle Egyptian nomes of Oxyrhynchus, Arsinoe and Heracleopolis Magna. Beginning as a local aristocracy, it rose to prominence in the 5th, 6th and early 7th centuries when several successive heads of the family occupied high imperial offices, including the consulship. After the Sasanian conquest of Egypt, the family disappeared.

Agilo was an Alemannic warrior. Originally tribunus stabuli (354) and then tribunus gentilium et scutariorum (354–360), he was promoted to magister peditum (360–362). During the reigns of Roman emperors Constantius II and Julian in the 4th century. Under Constantius he was sent to protect the frontier on the Tigris, while Julian appointed him to the Commission of Chalcedon but passed him over for military service. When Procopius attempted a coup against the emperor Valens in 365, he recruited Agilo back into military service, but eventually defected to the emperor in 366.

Domitius Zenofilus was a Roman senator who had an illustrious political career under the Emperor Constantine. He governed many provinces and held the consulate in 333.