Coulton, G.G. (George Gordon), 1858-1947

Professor of medieval history.

From the description of Papers. (University of Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 52247667

G. G. (George Gordon) Coulton, Historian, was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England in 1858. He was educated at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. Although ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1883, Coulton served only briefly before spiritual doubts led him to resign his curacy in 1885. For the next decades, he held a series of teaching and tutoring positions and studied and wrote extensively in medieval history.

In 1911, Coulton was named Birkbeck Lecturer in Ecclesiastical History at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1919, he became a Lecturer in English and a Fellow St. John's College. He retired from his faculty position in 1934, and devoted himself to research and writing. He spent the majority of the war years (1940-1944) in Canada, as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto. Coulton married Rose Dorothy Ilbert in 1904; they had two daughters. He died in Cambridge in 1947.

As an historian, Coulton was most noted for his attention to primary sources, particularly those illuminating religious, social and economic topics, and the controversy generated by his disputes with mostly Roman Catholic scholars. Among his published works are the anthologies of medieval sources A Medieval Garner, 1910 and Social Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation, 1918, monographs, including The Medieval Village, 1925; Art and the Reformation, 1928; Inquisition and Liberty, 1938 and Medieval Panorama, 1938 and the four-volume work Five Centuries of Religion, 1923-1950.

In addition to his scholarship, Coulton was a strong advocate for compulsory military service and an active member of the National Service League. He wrote and spoke publicly on the subject, particularly in the first two decades of the 20th century.

From the guide to the Coulton, George Gordon. Papers, 1875-1941, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)