{{Short description|British philologist (1891–1972)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Use British English|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox person | name = Nora K. Chadwick | image = File:Nora_Kershaw_Chadwick.png | birth_name = Nora Kershaw | birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|01|28|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Lancashire]], England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|04|24|1891|01|28|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Cambridge]], England | occupation = [[Medievalist]] | notable_works = ''The Druids'' }} '''Nora Kershaw Chadwick''' [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE]] [[Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries|FSA]] [[Fellow of the British Academy|FBA]] (28 January 1891 – 24 April 1972)<ref>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U153078 CHADWICK, Nora Kershaw], ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014</ref> was an English [[philologist]] who specialised in [[Anglo-Saxon]], [[Celtic studies|Celtic]] and [[Old Norse studies]].
==Early life and education== Nora Kershaw was born in [[Lancashire]] in 1891, the first daughter of James Kershaw and Emma Clara Booth, married in 1888. Nora's sister Mabel, born in 1895, converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun.<ref name=Straushaar>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QrnjT2NT5MC&pg=PA367 | title=Women Medievalists and the Academy |pages=367–379| chapter=Chapter 27. "An Extraordinary Sense of Powerful Restlessness" ''Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1891–1972)'' by Sandra Ballif Straushaar |isbn=9780299207502 | editor=Chance, Jane | year=2005 | publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press }}</ref>
She received her undergraduate degree from [[Newnham College, Cambridge]] (where she was later an Honorary Life Fellow) and lectured at [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]] during [[World War I]]. She returned to Cambridge in 1919 to study [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Old Norse]] under Professor [[Hector Munro Chadwick]]. They were married in 1922.<ref name=folklore>{{cite journal |title = Nora Kershaw Chadwick |last = Davidson |first = H. R. Ellis |author-link = Hilda Ellis Davidson |journal = [[Folklore (journal)|Folklore]] |issn = 0015-587X |volume = 83 |issue = 3 |year = 1972 |pages = 254–55 |jstor = 1259552 }}</ref> Nora's mother and stepfather and [[Enid Welsford]] were the only wedding guests.<ref name=Straushaar/>
The Chadwicks turned their home into a [[Salon (gathering)|literary salon]], a tradition which Mrs. Chadwick maintained after the death of her husband in 1947.<ref name=folklore/>
==Career== Most of her life was spent on research, in her later years primarily on the Celts.<ref name=folklore/> She was University Lecturer in the Early History and Culture of the British Isles at the University of Cambridge from 1950 to 1958. She received honorary degrees from the [[University of Wales]], the [[National University of Ireland]] and the University of St Andrews, and was made Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] in 1961.<ref name=folklore/> In 1965 she delivered the [[British Academy]]'s Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lectures|website=The British Academy|url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/lectures/listings/sir-john-rhys-memorial-lectures/}} [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2103/51p235.pdf text]</ref>
Chadwick took an interdisciplinary approach and wrote on many topics; she demonstrated influentially the study of multiple "early cultures of north-west Europe" and brought comparative evidence to bear on heroic literature. Nora Chadwick is best known for her work on the Celts, particularly on the earliest period.<ref name=encyc>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=Nora+Chadwick+Cambridge+Celts&pg=PA397 |first=Marion |last=Löffler |contribution=Chadwick, H.M. and Nora K. |encyclopedia=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |editor-first=John T. |editor-last=Koch |volume=2 |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |isbn=9781851094400 |pages=397–98 |title=Celtic Culture: A-Celti }}</ref>
==Bequest== Nora Chadwick died in Cambridge; she left a sum to the University of Cambridge to endow a readership in Celtic Studies.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I79SierlusoC&q=Nora+Chadwick+Cambridge+Celts&pg=PA747 |title=Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge |year=2008 |publisher=University of Cambridge |page=747 |isbn=9780521731492 }}</ref>
==Publications==
She published the first full English translation of ''[[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks]]'' together with other sagas and ballads in ''Stories and Ballads of the Far Past'' (1921), as well as a translation of the poem ''[[Hlöðskviða]]'' found within Heidrik's saga.
* {{citation| last=Kershaw | first=Nora | url=https://archive.org/details/storiesballadsof00chaduoft | title=Stories and Ballads of the Far Past | publisher= Cambridge University Press| year=1921| pages=79–150 |ref=none}}, [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33471 e-text] *{{citation | url=https://archive.org/details/anglosaxonnorsep00chadrich | editor-first=N. | editor-last=Kershaw | title=Anglo-Saxon and Norse poems | year =1922 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/anglosaxonnorsep00chadrich#page/142 | chapter=13. The Battle of the Goths and the Huns | publisher=Cambridge [Eng.] The University press |ref=none}}
With her husband, she published the three volume work ''The Growth of Literature'' between 1932–40. * {{citation | title=The Ancient Literatures of Europe | volume=I | year=1932}}<ref name="Ashley-Montagu1938">{{cite journal|last1=Ashley-Montagu|first1=M. F.|title=Review of ''The Growth of Literature. Volume I The Ancient Literature of Europe'' by H. Munro Chadwick and N. Kershaw Chadwick|journal=Isis|volume=29|issue=1|year=1938|pages=196–197|issn=0021-1753|doi=10.1086/347439}}</ref> * {{citation | title=Russian Oral Literature, Yugoslav Oral Poetry, Early Indian Literature, Early Hebrew Literature| volume=II | year=1936}} * {{citation | title=The Oral Literature of the Tatars and Polynesia, etc. | volume=III | year=1940 }}<ref name=encyc/> She also wrote ''[https://archive.org/details/beginningsofruss0000unse The Beginnings of Russian History, an enquiry into sources]'' (1946).
Chadwick collaborated with [[Viktor Zhirmunsky|V. M. Zhirmunsky]] on a revision of the part of volume III that deals with epic poetry in Central Asian languages. The revised text was published separately in 1969 as ''[https://archive.org/details/oral-epics-of-central-asia-chadwick-nora-k.-nora-kershaw-1891-1972-free-download Oral Epics of Central Asia]''.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Lang, D. M.|author-link=David Marshall Lang|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/c7bdf8cbd2e84b4a4ea4847774ccd9ef/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819308 | title=Book Review: ''Oral Epics of Central Asia'' by N. K. Chadwick & V. Zhirmunsky|journal=Slavonic and East European Review|volume=48|issue=111|year=1970|page=291}}</ref>
In 1955 she published ''Poetry and Letters in early Christian Gaul''.
Chadwick wrote about Celtic Britain and Breton history, and collaborated with [[Myles Dillon]] and [[Kenneth H. Jackson]]. * ''Early Scotland'' (1949); [https://books.google.com/books?id=lRE8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PR11 ''Introduction'', pages xi–xxvi, by Nora Kershaw Chadwick] * ''Studies in Early British History'' (editor and co-author, 1954)<ref>{{cite journal | title=Review: ''Studies in Early British History by Several Authors'' by Nora Kershaw Chadwick |first=F. P. Jr. |last=Magoun |author-link=Francis P. Magoun, Jr. |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=30 |issue=4 |date=October 1955 |pages=628–31 |doi=10.2307/2849623 |jstor=2849623 }}</ref> * ''Celtic Britain (ancient people and places)'' (1963) * ''The Age of Saints in the Celtic Church'' (1964)<ref>{{cite journal | title=Reviews: ''The Age of the Saints in the Early Celtic Church'' by Nora Kershaw Chadwick; ''Irish Monks in the Golden Age'' by J. Ryan |first=Tomás |last=Ó Fiaich |journal=Studia Hibernica |issue=6 |year=1966 |page=195 |jstor=20495860 }}</ref> * ''The Colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain'' (1965)<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/1c8c6e4bafde9efdec87e934c1cf08ea/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819162 | title=Book Review: ''The Colonization of Brittany from Celtic Britain'' by Nora K. Chadwick|author=Wrenn, C. L.|author-link=Charles Leslie Wrenn|year=1968|journal=Medium Ævum|volume=37|pages=105–106| doi=10.2307/43627413| jstor=43627413|url-access=subscription}}</ref> * ''The Druids'' (1966)<ref>{{cite journal |title=Review: ''The Druids'' by Nora K. Chadwick |first=Ralph V. |last=Turner |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=72 |issue=1 |date=October 1966 |pages=136–37 |doi=10.2307/1848194 |jstor=1848194 }}</ref> * ''The Celtic Realms'' (1967, with [[Myles Dillon]])<ref>{{cite journal |title=Review: ''The Celtic Realms'' by Myles Dillon, Nora K. Chadwick |first=Derick S. |last=Thomson |journal=The Scottish Historical Review |volume=48 |issue=146, Part 2 |date=October 1969 |pages=174–76 |jstor=25528803 }}</ref> * ''[https://archive.org/details/celts00chad_0 The Celts]'' (1970, with an introductory chapter by Dr. J.X.W.P. Corcoran: 'The Origins of the Celts: The Archaeological Evidence')<ref>{{cite journal |first=T.G.E. |last=Powell |author-link=T. G. E. Powell |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/reviews-chadwick-nora-the-celts-with-an-introductory-chapter-by-j-x-w-p-corcoran-harmsworth-penguin-books-1970-301-pp-4-maps-8-pls-45p/8567760309C8E9D071B4E551B809D17C# |title=Review: Nora Chadwick: ''The Celts''. With an introductory chapter by J. X. W. P. Corcoran |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |volume=45 |issue=178 |date=June 1971 |page=152 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00069350 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [https://books.google.com/books?id=jahonLSS_dUC 1997 pbk edition]
On Anglo-Saxon language and literature: * ''The Study of Anglo-Saxon'' (1955, with her husband) * "The Monsters and Beowulf" (1960), in which she suggests that the monsters in ''[[Beowulf]]'' are drawn entirely from Scandinavian tradition.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Review: ''The Anglo-Saxons. Studies in Some Aspects of Their History and Culture Presented to Bruce Dickins'' by Peter Clemoes |first=Norman E. |last=Eliason |journal=[[The Modern Language Review]] |volume=56 |issue=2 |date=April 1961 |pages=238–39 |doi=10.2307/3721913 |jstor=3721913 }}</ref>
A list of the publications of Hector and Nora Chadwick was printed for her 80th birthday in 1971.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=36427| name=Nora Kershaw}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Nora Kershaw}}
{{Beowulf}} {{Celts}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Nora Kershaw}} [[Category:British medievalists]] [[Category:British women medievalists]] [[Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Academics of the University of St Andrews]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:1891 births]] [[Category:1972 deaths]] [[Category:English philologists]] [[Category:Anglo-Saxon studies scholars]] [[Category:Germanic studies scholars]] [[Category:Old Norse studies scholars]] [[Category:Celtic studies scholars]] [[Category:British salon-holders]] [[Category:20th-century British philologists]]