Christopher N. L. Brooke

Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke CBE FSA FBA FRHistS (23 June 1927 – 27 December 2015) was a British medieval historian. From 1974 to 1994 he was Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge.

Christopher N. L. Brooke CBE FSA FBA FRHistS
Born	Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke (1927-06-23)23 June 1927 Cambridge, England[1]
Died	27 December 2015(2015-12-27) (aged 88)
Nationality	British
Title	Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History (1977–1994)
Spouse	Rosalind Brooke ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 2014)​
Parents	Rosa Brooke Zachary Brooke
Academic background
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Influences	David Knowles[2]
Academic work
Discipline	Historian
Sub-discipline	Medieval history ecclesiastical history
Institutions	University of Liverpool Westfield College, London Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Early life and education

Born on 23 June 1927, Brooke was the son of Zachary Nugent Brooke (1883–1946) and his wife Rosa Grace Brooke (1888–1964). Following schooling at Winchester College, Brooke undertook his undergraduate work at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied with David Knowles.^[2]

Academic career

Brooke spent his early years as head of department at Westfield College, University of London, before taking up a post at Caius from 1977 to 1994, where he remained a life fellow. He held the position of Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge and before becoming a professor emeritus.^[3] He was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society (1968–1969).^[4]

Later life

Brooke died on 27 December 2015 at the age of 88.^[5]

Personal life

He met his future wife and fellow medievalist Rosalind Brooke (née Clark) at Cambridge in 1951. She died in 2014.^[1][6] Christopher N. L. Brooke died on 27 December 2015.

Selected works

Among Brooke's publications are:

• The Church and the Welsh Border in the Central Middle Ages^[7]
• London, 800–1216: The Shaping of a City^[8]
• The English Church & the Papacy, From the Conquest to the Reign of John^[9]
• The Medieval Idea of Marriage^[10]
• A History of the University of Cambridge. Vol. 4, 1870–1990^[11]
• Churches and Churchmen in Medieval Europe^[12]
• The Normans as Cathedral Builders^[13]
• The Architectural History of Winchester Cathedral^[14]
• The Saxon and Norman Kings^[15]
• From Alfred to Henry III 871–1272^[16]
• Carte Nativorum: A Peterborough Abbey Cartulary of the Fourteenth Century^[17]
• The Letters of John of Salisbury^[18]
• The Letters of John of Salisbury. Vol. 2, The Later Letters (1163–1180)^[19]
• A History of Gonville and Caius College^[20]
• Gilbert Foliot and His Letters^[21]
• The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales: Volume 1, 940–1216^[22]
• The Investiture Disputes^[23]
• Religious Sentiment and Church Design in the Later Middle Ages^[24]
• Archbishop Lanfranc, the English Bishops and the Council of London of 1075^[25]
• The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc^[26]
• Councils and Synods, with Other Documents Relating to the English Church: Volume I: A.D. 871–1204^[27]
• Hugh the Chanter: The History of the Church of York, 1066–1127^[28]
• Oxford and Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1988 (with Roger Highfield)