John Lister Illingworth Fennell

Fennell was educated at Radley College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read modern languages and completed MA (Cantab) and PhD degrees. He taught at Cambridge, Nottingham, and London universities, and from 1964 at Oxford, where he was a fellow first at University College, and later at New College. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1980, and retired in 1985. His speciality was as an historian, translator, philologist, editor, and teacher of advanced students. ==Work==

His speciality was the reign of Ivan III (1462–1505) and 15th-century Russia. In evaluating the overall significance of Ivan III, Fennell concludes that his reign was "militarily glorious and economically sound," and especially points to his territorial annexations and his centralized control over local rulers. However, Fennell adds that his reign was also "a period of cultural depression and spiritual barrenness. Freedom was stamped out within the Russian lands. By his bigoted anti-Catholicism Ivan brought down the curtain between Russia and the west. For the sake of territorial aggrandizement he deprived his country of the fruits of Western learning and civilization." Martin Dimnik said of Fennell, "His achievements are unrivaled in the West, and almost so in the Soviet Union and Russia". ==Bibliography==