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The Stubbs Society was the oldest historical society in the University of Oxford, named in honour of the Victorian historian, William Stubbs. When an American, Samuel Brearly, introduced the idea of the 'seminar' to Oxford in 1882, his initiative became, first, the Oxford Historical Seminar, and then, in 1884, the Stubbs Society.〔Brock & Curthoys (eds.), ''The History of the University of Oxford'', Oxford University Press (2000), vol. vii, p. 380.〕 Functioning as a 'proving ground for future leaders and the founders of new fields of enquiry', the Stubbs fostered critical thinking and intellectual curiosity, under the aegis of dons such as Sir Charles Oman, E. A. Freeman, and with members including such future doyens of the historical profession as James Tait, Sir Charles Harding Firth, and Frederick York Powell.〔 The society's 'Transactions', largely extant from 1894 in the Bodleian Library, reveal much about its character; but the society resists easy characterisation. The early model may have overtones of the gentleman's club, with one blackball in six enough to prevent election as a member; yet when the idea of a club tie was mooted, only one member voted in its favour, and women were invited to join with alacrity. Equally, if some of the talks and debates are replete with naivety and ''sui generis'' moral judgement, discussion was often insightful, sophisticated, and culturally inflected: for instance, a paper on Lollardy, delivered in the 1910s, provoked suggestions that Lollardy was a rhetorically-constructed vehicle for the condemnation of the enemies of the Lancastrian regime—a thesis broadly similar to that advanced by recent historians of the Lollards such as Paul Strohm.〔See Strohm, ''England's Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399-1422'', Yale University Press (1998).〕 The Stubbs Society, then, seems to have been a vigorous intellectual space, necessarily coloured by its setting, but nonetheless (indeed, in some respects, all the more) worthy of attention. In over a century of continual activity, the Stubbs was addressed by a series of eminent historians in meetings famous, sometimes notorious, for the combative discussion that ensued after a paper had been read. Conrad Russell recalled an occasion when Geoffrey Elton was the speaker:
Senior members included historians of such diverse political persuasions as Christopher Hill and Hugh Trevor-Roper, and speakers were equally diverse, ranging from Joseph Needham on the history of Chinese science, to Veronica Wedgwood on the Seventeenth Century.〔See Felipe Fernández-Armesto in the ''Times Literary Supplement'', 26 February 2009, for a distinctive perspective.〕 Despite such endurance and vitality, however, the society evanesced. ==External links== *(The Stubbs Society weblog ) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Stubbs Society」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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