THOMSON, John A(idan) F(rancis) 1934-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born July 26, 1934, in Edinburgh, Scotland; died September 2, 2004, in Denny, Stirlingshire, England. Historian, educator, and author. Thomson, a professor emeritus of medieval history at Glasgow University, was an authority on fifteenth-century history. After completing his undergraduate work at the University of Edinburgh in 1955, he spent two years in Libya with the British Army Intelligence Corps during the Suez Canal crisis. Returning home, he earned his doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1960. He then joined the faculty at Glasgow University, where he would remain throughout his career, becoming a full professor in 1994 and retiring in 2000. Known for his detailed research and for being an outstanding teacher, Thomson first gained attention for his scholarly publications with The Later Lollards, 1414-1520 (1965; second edition, 1968), which is considered an important work for establishing that many of sixteenth-century bishop John Foxe's ideas about medieval heretics being forerunners of the Protestant movement were largely on the mark. Though Thomson held that these heretics more properly belonged within their own cultural tradition, the scholar's work brought more attention to Foxe and to research involving traditions of popular belief during the Middle Ages. Later works by Thomson were to prove somewhat less influential than The Later Lollards, though they still represent what are considered examples of outstanding research. Among these are The Transformation of Medieval England, 1370-1529 (1983) and The Western Church in the Middle Ages (1998).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), September 10, 2004, p. 24.

Independent (London, England), September 7, 2004, p. 35.