The Chichele Professorships are statutory professorships at the University of Oxford named in honour of Henry Chichele (also spelt Chicheley or Checheley, although the spelling of the academic position is consistently "Chichele"), an Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of All Souls College, Oxford. Fellowship of that college has accompanied the award of a Chichele chair since 1870.

Following the work of the 1850 Commission to examine the organization of the university, All Souls College suppressed ten of its fellowships to create the funds to establish the first two Chichele professorships: The Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, established in 1859 and first held by Mountague Bernard, and the Chichele Professor of Modern History, first held by Montagu Burrows.

The military history chair was originally established in 1909 as the Chichele Professorship of Military History. In 1923, the History Faculty Board first recommended that the name of the chair be changed to the history of war, but this recommendation was not implemented until 1946.John Hattendorf, "The Study of War History at Oxford, 1860-1990" in John B. Hattendorf and Malcolm H. Murfett, eds., The Limitations of Military Power: Essays presented to Professor Norman Gibbs on his eightieth birthday (London, 1990), pp. 3 - 61.

Professorships

There are currently Chichele Professorships in five different subjects: Chichele Professor of Economic History, established 1931 Chichele Professor of the History of War, established 1909 Chichele Professor of Public International Law, established 1859 Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, established 1944 Chichele Professor of Medieval History, established 1862 as Modern History; renamed in 1984

Holders

Economic history George Norman Clark, 1931 W. K. Hancock, 1944 John Habakkuk, 1950–1967 Peter Mathias, 1969–1987 Charles Feinstein, 1989– Avner Offer, 2000–2011 Kevin O'Rourke, 2011–2019 Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2020–

History of war Spenser Wilkinson, 1909–1923 Sir Ernest Swinton, 1925–1939

The Chair was vacant from 1939 to 1943 and suspended between 1943 and 1946, when it was renamed from of Military History

Cyril Falls, 1946–1953 N. H. Gibbs, 1953–1977 Michael Howard, 1977–1980 Robert O'Neill, 1987–2000 Sir Hew Strachan, 2001–2015 Peter H. Wilson, 2015–present

Public international law Mountague Bernard, 1859–1870 Thomas Erskine Holland, 1874– Sir Henry Erle Richards, 1911– James Leslie Brierly, 1922– Sir Humphrey Waldock, 1947– D. P. O'Connell, 1972–1979 Ian Brownlie, 1980–1999 Vaughan Lowe, 1999–2012 Catherine Redgwell, 2012–2023 Dapo Akande, 2023–

Social and political theory G. D. H. Cole, 1944–1957 Sir Isaiah Berlin, 1957–1967 John Plamenatz, 1967–1975 Charles Taylor, 1976–1981 G. A. Cohen, 1985–2008 Jeremy Waldron, 2010–2014 Amia Srinivasan, 2020–

Modern history Montagu Burrows, 1862–1905 Sir Charles Oman, 1905–1946 Keith Feiling, 1946–1950 E. F. Jacob, 1950–1961 R. W. Southern, 1961–1969 Geoffrey Barraclough, 1970–1973 J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, 1974–1983

Medieval history Karl Leyser, 1984–1988 George Arthur Holmes, 1989–1995 Sir Rees Davies, 1995–2005 Christopher Wickham, 2005–2016 Julia M. H. Smith, 2016–2025 Alice Rio, 2025–

See also Chichele Lectures List of professorships at the University of Oxford

References

Owen, Dorothy M. "The Chichele Professorship of Modern History, 1862," Historical Research (1961) 34#90 pp 217–220, DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2281.1961.tb02098.x Soffer, Reba. "Nation, Duty, Character and Confidence: History at Oxford, 1850–1914," Historical Journal (1987) 30#1 pp. 77–104 in JSTOR