Robert John Weston Evans
Encyclopedia
Professor Robert John Weston Evans FLSW FBA is a historian, whose speciality is the post-medieval history of Central
and Eastern Europe
. He was educated at Dean Close School
, Cheltenham
and Jesus College, Cambridge
. Evans is Regius Professor of Modern History
in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He works on the post-medieval history of Central
and Eastern Europe
, especially concerning that of the Habsburg
lands from 1526-1918.
He has a particular interest in the role of language
in historical development. His main current research is on a history of Hungary
, from 1740-1945. He also studies the history of Wales
and is the President of Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym, the Oxford University Welsh language society. He is a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales
and is a Member of its inaugural Council.
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. He was educated at Dean Close School
Dean Close School
Dean Close School is a co-educational independent school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private land area in the town...
, Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
and Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
. Evans is Regius Professor of Modern History
Regius Professor of Modern History (Oxford)
The Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford is an old-established professorial position. The first appointment was made in 1724...
in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He works on the post-medieval history of Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, especially concerning that of the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
lands from 1526-1918.
He has a particular interest in the role of language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
in historical development. His main current research is on a history of Hungary
History of Hungary
Hungary is a country in central Europe. Its history under this name dates to the early Middle Ages, when the Pannonian Basin was colonized by the Magyars, a semi-nomadic people from what is now central-northern Russia...
, from 1740-1945. He also studies the history of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and is the President of Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym, the Oxford University Welsh language society. He is a Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales
Learned Society of Wales
The Learned Society of Wales is a society that exists to “celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines”.The society was launched on 25 May 2010 at the National Museum of Wales...
and is a Member of its inaugural Council.
Publications
- Rudolf II and his World. A Study in Intellectual History, 1576-1612 (Oxford, 1973)
- The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550-1700. An Interpretation (Oxford, 1979)
- The Coming of the First World War, ed. Robert Evans and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann (Oxford, 1988)
- 'Culture and Anarchy in the Empire, 1540-1680', Central European History, 18: 1 (Mar. 1985), pp. 14–30.
- 'The Habsburgs and the Hungarian Problem, 1790-1848', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser., vol. 39 (1989), pp. 41–62.
- 'Maria Theresa and Hungary', and 'Joseph II and Nationality in the Habsburg Lands', in Enlightened Absolutism: Reform and Reformers in Later Eighteenth-Century Europe, ed. H.M. Scott (Houndmills, 1991), pp. 189–207 and 209-19.
- Crown, Church and Estates. Central European Politics in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. Robert Evans and T.V. Thomas (London, 1991)
- 'Essay and Reflection: Frontiers and national identities in Central Europe', The International History Review, 14: 3 (Aug. 1992), pp. 480–502.
- The language of history and the history of language: an inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 11 May 1998 (Oxford, 1998) 34pp.
- 'Language and Society in the Nineteenth Century: Some Central European Comparisons', in Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Geraint H. Jenkins (Cardiff, 1999).
- 'Liberalism, Nationalism, and the Coming of the Revolution', and '1848 in the Habsburg Monarchy', in The Revolutions in Europe, 1848-9: From Reform to Reaction, ed. Robert Evans and H. Pogge von Strandmann (Oxford, 2000), pp. 9–26, 181-206.
- Wales in European Context. Some Historical Reflections (Aberystwyth, 2001), 31pp.
- Great Britain and East-Central Europe, 1908-48. A Study in Perceptions (London, 2002), 31pp.
- '1848 in Mitteleuropa: Ereignis und Erinnerung', in 1848: Ereignis und Erinnerung in den politischen Kulturen Mitteleuropas, ed. Barbara Haider and Hans Peter Hye (Vienna, 2003), pp. 31–55.
- 'Kossuth and Štúr: Two national heros', in Lajos Kossuth Sent Word..., ed. László Péter, Martyn Rady and Peter Sherwood (London, 2003), pp. 119–34.
- Great Britain and Central Europe, 1867-1914, ed. Robert Evans, Dusan Kovac and Edita Ivanickova (Bratislava, 2003)
- 'Language and State-building: The Case of the Habsburg Monarchy', Austrian History Yearbook, vol. xxxv (2004), pp. 1–24.
- 'The Making of October Fifteenth: C.A. Macartney and his Correspondents', in British-Hungarian Relations since 1848, ed. Laszlo Peter and Martyn Rady (London, 2004), pp. 259–70.
- '"The Manuscripts": The culture of politics and forgery in Central Europe', in A Rattleskull Genius: The many faces of Iolo Morganwg, ed. Geraint H. Jenkins (Cardiff, 2005), pp. 51–68.
- Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, ed. Robert Evans and Alexander Marr (Aldershot, 2006)
- Austria, Hungary and the Habsburgs. Essays on Central Europe, c.1683-1867 (Oxford, 2006)
- 'Europa in der britischen Historiographie', in Nationale Geschichtskulturen. Bilanz, Ausstrahlung, Europabezogenheit (Mainz/Stuttgart, 2006), pp. 77–93.
- 'Coming to Terms with the Habsburgs: Reflections on the historiography of Central Europe', in Does Central Europe Still Exist? History, economy, identity, ed. Thomas Row (Vienna, 2006), pp. 11–24.
- Czechoslovakia in a Nationalist and Fascist Europe 1918-1948. Proceedings of the British Academy no. 140. Ed. Robert Evans and Mark Cornwall (Oxford, 2007)
- 'The Successor States', in Twisted Paths: Europe 1914-1945, ed. Robert Gerwarth (Oxford, 2007), pp. 210–36.
- 'The Politics of Language and the Languages of Politics: Latin and the vernaculars in eighteenth-century Hungary', in Cultures of Power in Europe during the Long Eighteenth Century, ed. Hamish Scott and Brendan Simms (Cambridge, 2007), pp. 200–24.
- 'Communicating Empire: The Habsburgs and their critics, 1700-1919 (The Prothero Lecture)', Proceedings of the Royal Historical Society, 19 (2009), pp. 117–38.
- 'The Creighton Century: British historians and Europe', Historical Research, 82, no. 216 (2009), pp. 320–39.
- 'Afterword', in Re-Contextualising East Central European History: Nation, culture and minority groups, ed. Robert Pyrah and Marius Turda (Leeds, 2010), pp. 155–8.
- Wales and the Wider World: Welsh history in an international context, ed. T.M. Charles-Edwards and Robert Evans (Donington, 2010)
- The Uses of the Middle Ages in Modern European States, ed. Robert Evans and Guy P. Marchal (Basingstoke, 2010)
- The Holy Roman Empire 1495-1806, ed. Robert Evans, Michael Schaich, and Peter H. Wilson (Oxford, 2011)
- 'Confession and Nation in Early Modern Central Europe', Central Europe, 9, no. 1 (May, 2011), pp. 2-17.