James Howard-Johnston


James Douglas Howard-Johnston is an English historian of the Byzantine Empire. He was University Lecturer in Byzantine studies at the University of Oxford. He is an emeritus fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His approach to Byzantium follows that of Edward Gibbon and concentrates on comparisons between the Byzantine state and its Western counterparts. Howard-Johnston has also done research on Late Antiquity, especially the Roman–Persian Wars and the early history of Islam.

Early life

Born in Dublin, Howard-Johnston is the son of Rear-Admiral Clarence Howard-Johnston and his wife Lady Alexandra Henrietta Louisa Haig, a daughter of Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig. His mother married secondly the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper.
He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he read literae humaniores, graduating with a B.A. in 1964 and a D.Phil. in 1971.

Career

Howard-Johnston was a junior research lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1966 to 1971 and also held a junior fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks in 1968–1969. Later, he was University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, until his retirement in 2009. He was briefly interim President of the same college in the mid-2000s.
He was a member of Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council. At the time of his re-election in 1973 as an Oxford councillor in the Oxford South ward, where he garnered 43.7% of the vote, he was a member of the Labour Party.

Personal life

Howard-Johnston is married to the novelist Angela Huth and has a step-daughter, Candida Crewe, daughter of Quentin Crewe, and a daughter, Eugenie Teasley.

Books