William Hugh Clifford Frend

William Hugh Clifford Frend (11 January 1916 – 1 August 2005) was an English ecclesiastical historian, archaeologist and Anglican priest. He was a specialist in the history and archaeology of early Christianity, particularly religious movements and controversies in the Roman and early Christian worlds.

Early life and family background

Frend was born at Shottermill, Surrey, on 11 January 1916. He was the second son of the Reverend E. G. C. Frend, Vicar of Shottermill, and his wife Edith (née Bacon). D.D. honoris causa, University of Edinburgh 1974 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1979 Fellow of the British Academy 1983 He set up and financed the Frend Medal, awarded by the Society of Antiquaries for archaeology, history and topography of the early Christian Church. Recipients include Harold McCarter Taylor and Charles Thomas (1981), Philip Rahtz (2003), Günter P. Gehring (2000) Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle (1986), Nancy Gauthier (2002), and Samuel Turner 2004.

Frend also held several international scholarly positions. He was president of the Comité international d'histoire ecclésiastique comparée from 1980 to 1983 and subsequently its honorary president. In 1981 he became vice-president of the Association Internationale d'Études Patristiques.

Family

Frend was the second son of the Reverend E. G. C. Frend, Vicar of Shottermill, and Edith Frend (née Bacon). His father was an Anglican priest of high church persuasion.

His great-great-uncle was William Frend (1757–1841), the mathematician, Unitarian, writer and political and social reformer.

Frend married Mary Grace Crook in 1951. They had one son, Simon, and one daughter, Sally. Mary died in 2002.

Major works The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa (1951) Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (1965) The Rise of the Monophysite Movement (1972) The Rise of Christianity (1984)

Works and publications The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa, 1951 Early Church, 1964 Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church, 1965 Saints & Sinners in the Early Church: Differing & Conflicting Traditions in the First Six Centuries, 1970 The Rise of the Monophysite Movement, 1972 Religion, Popular and Unpopular in the Early Christian Centuries, 1976 Town and Country in the Early Christian Centuries, 1980 The Rise of Christianity, 1984 Archaeology and History in the Study of Early Christianity, 1988 The Archaeology of Early Christianity: A History, 1996 Orthodoxy, Paganism and Dissent in the Early Christian Centuries, 2002 From Dogma to History: How Our Understanding of the Early Church Developed, 2003

Works co-authored with J. Stevenson A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337J. Stevenson (Editor of the 1957 First Edition), William H. C. Frend (Co-Revisor for the 1987 Second Edition) Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church, AD 337–461J. Stevenson (Editor of the 1966 First Edition), William H. C. Frend (Co-Revisor for the 1989 Second Edition)