Ralph Henry Carless Davis

Ralph Henry Carless Davis (7 October 1918 – 12 March 1991) was a British historian and educator specialising in the European Middle Ages. Davis was born and died in Oxford. He was a leading exponent of strict documentary analysis and interpretation, was keenly interested in architecture and art in history, and was successful at communicating to the public and as a teacher.

Life Much of this biography is derived from a memoire by G. W. S. Barrow published in the Proceedings of the British Academy. 1956–1970. Fellow and tutor in Modern History at Merton College, Oxford, where he produced a number of important works. 1970–1984. Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Birmingham (UK). 1984–1991. Retirement.

Early life and influences, 1918–1939 Ralph (pronounced to rhyme with 'safe') Davis was born on 7 October 1918 at 11 Fyfield Road, Oxford. with the support of Vivian Galbraith, and he held that post for 14 years.

His A History of Medieval Europe: From Constantine to Saint Louis (see list of works below), which he had started while still at UCL, came out in 1957. It was part of a series designed for use in universities and better-equipped schools. It was still in print and has been a very successful textbook. Ten years later, Davis's King Stephen, 1135–1154 (see also below) appeared in print.

In 1968 Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, volume 3 came out – edited by H. A. Cronne and Davis (these brought together by Vivian Galbraith), a major work of scholarship on King Stephen's reign. This set of volumes had been conceived by Davis's father, who had also produced (with the help R. J. Whitwell and others) volume i in 1913 – but it had been subjected to a typical devastating review by J. H. Round. Davis variously published a number of points contradicting Round's views, suggesting a loyal son's rejoinder to the scholar who had wounded his father. Volume ii, a collaboration of Cronne and Charles Johnson, had come out in 1956. Volume iv came out later. Ralph Davis was the main editor for volumes iii and iv.

1976 saw the appearance of a book in gestation since 1966 or before on the Normans and their myth (see list of works below). This argued that the Normans were rather good at propaganda, of which they were in some respects themselves the victims. Other papers appeared around this time on authorship of various sources including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

At Merton, Davis was tutor for admissions and introduced the practice of electing a 'schoolmaster fellow'. He taught and lectured on a variety of topics. His tutoring was accompanied by hospitality at the family home at Lathbury Road in North Oxford. He was Sub-warden 1966–1968. It is said of him that "he was a man of great moral seriousness, and didn't always bother to hide his contempt for those he thought impelled by self-interest, cowardice or just mental laziness" (Barrow, page 391). He was never unreservedly an Oxford 'college man'. However, he was a keen cyclist, typical of an Oxford don.

The Birmingham years, 1970–1984 In 1970 Davis became Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Birmingham (UK), heading the History Department there in succession to H. A. Cronne. This gave him the opportunity to express his missionary-like belief in the study of history as an intellectual discipline. He applied a firm but friendly hand to the project of restoring the well-being of the department after the troubled 'interregnum' following Cronne's illness. The usual hospitality was extended by Davis and his wife, especially to newly appointed and junior members of staff. They continued for many years their habit of inviting students into their own home.

Davis attached no great importance to formal syllabuses and course structures. He was much more interested in the contact between teacher and student, and brought in a system of fortnightly undergraduate essays which has persisted for a long time. There were fortnightly tutorials and weekly seminars, all supplemented by lectures. Postgraduate research was, surprisingly, not a high priority although he encouraged his younger colleagues in research, and pursued his own research with vigour and distinction.

Davis set up regular meetings of 'Midlands Mediaevalists'. All mediaevalists at Bristol, Keele, Leicester and Nottingham universities were invited to an annual lecture and dinner.

In this general period, Davis produced papers on the beginnings of municipal liberties in Oxford (1968, Oxoniensia, xxxiii), Coventry in Stephen's reign (1971, English Historical Review, lxxxvi, 533-47).

Retirement, 1984–1991 Davis retired in 1984 and moved to North Oxford. He was elected Emeritus Fellow of Merton College. He kept active in his retirement despite a repair that had to be made to his aorta in 1987.

Through his wife Eleanor, he had come to know much about Ireland and especially Northern Ireland. She came from the Protestant plantation community of Ulster, originating largely in south-western Scotland. Presumably because of this knowledge, Davis was in 1985 induced by Sir David Wills into a project in historical education, to be financed by the Wills Trust, to encourage better understanding between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and presumably between Catholics and Protestants in the North. Davis recruited teachers, school inspectors and academics to serve on a committee to frame a curriculum of Irish history which would be acceptable to schools in both North and South. The committee oversaw the writing of the Questions in Irish History series of history books. The Teaching of History Trust has continued to work long afterwards, sponsored by Longman. The first volumes of the series are dedicated to Ralph Davis' memory. He was still actively working for peace in Northern Ireland when he died.

Davis also published a work on warhorses in 1989, having worked on the project since before his retirement. A paper on the mediaeval warhorse had appeared in 1983 in F. M. L. Thompson (ed.), Horses in European Economic History: a preliminary canter. Another on the same topic was read at a Battle Conference in 1987 (From Alfred the Great to Stephen, pp. 63–78).

A tribute was made to him on his 67th birthday in the form of a Festschrift, a compilation of articles edited by Henry Mayr-Harting and Robert I. Moore. There were 22 contributors, and it was subscribed by 122 friends.

Davis had planned a volume of collected papers, From Alfred the Great to Stephen, but it remained incomplete on his death and had to be published with some omissions and errors. It includes his last word on an academic controversy over the role of Geoffrey de Mandeville in King Stephen's reign, on which a number of papers and counter-papers had been written.

Davis was taken seriously ill in early March 1991 as he was about to set off for Dorset to fulfil a speaking engagement. He was rushed to hospital but did not recover, dying on 12 March. A funeral service was held on 18 March and a memorial service in the chapel of Merton College followed on 1 June, at which an address was given by Prof. Rees Davies, FBA. He left a wife, Eleanor, and two sons.

Extra-curricular activities

Davis was an active member of the Historical Association from his early days at UCL. He edited History magazine for the Association from 1968 to 1978, and he was its president from 1979 to 1982. He was a very active president, visiting many branches and campaigning for the teaching of history in schools and universities and founding the History at the Universities Defence Group (HUDG). In 1981, he and Eleanor were guests at a party attended by Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the Association's 75th year.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (from 1954), but was never as active for them as he had been for the HA. Nevertheless, he published work in both the Transactions and the Campden Series, served on the council (1964–1967) and was vice-president (1974–1977).

He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (from 1948), but was never prominent in its administration.

He was much more active in the British Academy, being elected in 1975 and serving on the council from 1979 to 1982, and as chairman of Section 2 from 1986 to 1989.

During the Birmingham years, Davis became a lecturer for Swan's Hellenic Tours. For Mr Swan and the Historical Association, he presided in 1981 over a tour of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela.

Works

Main works A History of Medieval Europe: From Constantine to Saint Louis, 1957, (3rd Ed. revised by Robert I. Moore, , 2005) – reissued many times King Stephen, 1135–1154 (University of California Press, 1967) (, 1990) Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum volume iii (joint editor with H. A. Cronne), 1968 Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum volume iv (joint editor with H. A. Cronne), 1969 The Normans and Their Myth (Thames & Hudson, 1976 (, 1980) – a little book dealing with the identity of the Normans and their self-myth The Medieval Warhorse: Origin, Development and Redevelopment, 1989 From Alfred the Great to Stephen (author and editor) (A&C Black, 1991) – 22 of his own essays on late Anglo-Saxon and Norman history

Other works A Catalogue of Mason's Marks as an aid to Architectural History, 1954, published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd series, xvii, pp. 43–76 The Mosques of Cairo, 1941 (no ISBN) The Kalendar of Abbot Samson of Bury St. Edmunds and Related Documents (London: Royal Historical Society, 1954) Royal Historical Society, Camden Third Series, lxxxiv – Latin Medieval European History 395–1500: A Select Bibliography (London: Historical Association, 1963) (no ISBN) – 44-page pamphlet; Historical Association's "Helps for Students of History" series, no. 67 The Early Middle Ages (editor) (Routledge & K. Paul, 1964) – English History in Pictures series The Investiture Contest(with Eric John (audio cassette) (Sussex Tapes, 1971) Gesta Stephani, translated by K.R. Potter (with Kenneth Reginald Potter) (Clarendon Press, 1976) The Early History of Coventry (Oxford University Press, 1976) – Dugdale Society Occasional Papers, no. 24 The Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to Richard William Southern (joint editor) (Clarendon Press, 1981) – 17 essays David Charles Douglas, 1898–1982, 1985 – 30 pages Studies in Mediaeval History: Presented to R. H. C. Davis (recipient) (Bloomsbury Press, 1985) Blackwell Dictionary of Historians (joint editor with John Cannon, William Doyle, and Jack P. Greene) (Wiley: 1988) The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers (joint editor) (Clarendon Press, 1998) – first-hand account of William the Conqueror's reign by his chaplain William of Poitiers

The lists above are complete as regards books, although not as regards other media such as papers and pamphlets.