- Fellow type
- UK Fellow
- Year elected
- 2001
Diarmaid MacCulloch is a Fellow of Saint Cross College, Oxford, and Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Society of Antiquaries of London; he co-edited the Journal of Ecclesiastical History for twenty years. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1987 and was knighted in the UK New Years' Honours List of 2012. His chosen research field has been Tudor England (beginning with the Reformation in East Anglia, extending to a biography of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and a study of the Reformation under Edward VI); he has also written on the wider history of the European Reformation and on world Christianity generally. His A History of Christianity: the first three thousand years (winner of the 2010 Hessell-Tiltman Prize and the 2010 Cundill History Prize, Montreal) was followed by the BBC series A History of Christianity (given the Radio Times Readers' Award, May 2010). Further television work has included How God made the English, 2012, Henry VIII's Fixer: the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, 2013, and Sex and the Church, 2015. His most recent book is Thomas Cromwell: A Life, 2018.
10-Minute Talks: Making the real Thomas Cromwell stand up
22 Apr 2020 Revd Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch Kt FBA
Revd Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch Kt FBA talks about how to understand Thomas Cromwell, even though so many of Cromwell's own letters have vanished from his vast surviving archive.
Current post
University of Oxford Professor of the History of the Church
St Cross College, Oxford Fellow
Past appointments
Wesley College, Bristol Tutor in History, Librarian and Archivist
1978 - 1990
University of Cambridge Approved Lecturer in the Faculty of History
1977 - 1978
Churchill College, University of Cambridge Junior Research Fellow
1976 - 1978
British Academy appointments
Vice President for Public Engagement
Chairman, Events and Prizes Committee
Activities Committee
Member of the Standing Committee of section H9 (Early Modern History)
Top picks
Thomas Cromwell with Diarmaid MacCulloch - HistoryHit LIVE in association with the British Academy
Audio
In our first-ever HistoryHit Live in association with the British Academy, Dan talks to Diarmaid MacCulloch about Thomas Cromwell, whether or not the Reformation was like Brexit, and what is wrong with Putney.
From ‘same-sex marriage’ to ‘equal marriage’
Blog
Tuesday 17 July 2018 marked the fifth anniversary of the passage into UK law of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. Social attitudes have seen a remarkable shift since the limited decriminalisation in 1967. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch FBA recounts his own experience in the Sixties and discusses how changes in social attitudes continue to progress.
Thinking With Things: Rev. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch
Video
On Henry VIII and the Founding of the Church of England Minted at London in 1545, this medal shows a bust of Henry VIII, with inscriptions in Hebrew and Greek on the reverse. As a consequence of Henry’s break with Rome in 1533, he claimed to be 'Supreme head of Church of England.' In this episode of Thinking About Things Rev. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch (History of the Church, University of Oxford) looks at the Henry VIII Renaissance Medal at the Ashmolean Museum.
