Connections between Meriol Trevor and Tolkien?
3 June
(edited)
2024-6-3 2:10:54 PM UTC
2024-6-3 2:10:54 PM UTC
Because of an inscription in a book that I recently acquired, I am trying to assess the relationship, if any, between Meriol Trevor and J.R.R. Tolkien. Meriol Trevor (1919-2000) was an author of historical and children's fiction and biographies. She was a Catholic, a scholar of Cardinal Newman, and an alumna of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her fiction is frequently set in Romano-Britain and sometimes has fantastical elements or Arthurian influences.
Tolkien obviously is very closely associated with much of the same institutions and ideas: he was a Catholic, whose guardian as a child, Father Morgan, had been taught by Cardinal Newman. He was an Oxford don who tutored occasionally at St. Hugh's College, Oxford. He was a writer of fantastical fiction with occasional interest in Arthuriana and expertise in medieval and early Britain.
The closest connection I can find is St Hugh's College, but I believe the dates don't add up. Tolkien tutored there in the 1920s and 1930s, but Meriol Trevor graduated from Oxford in 1942. I'm not sure if Tolkien was still tutoring at St Hugh's at that point.
Anyway, the book I have is "The Ancrene Riwle" edited by M. B. Salu (n.b. I don't know which Oxford college Salu was associated with) with a preface by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book was apparently owned for a short time by Meriol Trevor. She probably bought it because of the insight into the lives of anchoresses in medieval England, so it has a Catholic and medieval focus, but I wonder if she also may have been interested in it for the Tolkien connection or the Oxford connection.
If there's any connection between Meriol Trevor and Tolkien that anyone here knows of, I'd be grateful to hear about it!
Tolkien obviously is very closely associated with much of the same institutions and ideas: he was a Catholic, whose guardian as a child, Father Morgan, had been taught by Cardinal Newman. He was an Oxford don who tutored occasionally at St. Hugh's College, Oxford. He was a writer of fantastical fiction with occasional interest in Arthuriana and expertise in medieval and early Britain.
The closest connection I can find is St Hugh's College, but I believe the dates don't add up. Tolkien tutored there in the 1920s and 1930s, but Meriol Trevor graduated from Oxford in 1942. I'm not sure if Tolkien was still tutoring at St Hugh's at that point.
Anyway, the book I have is "The Ancrene Riwle" edited by M. B. Salu (n.b. I don't know which Oxford college Salu was associated with) with a preface by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book was apparently owned for a short time by Meriol Trevor. She probably bought it because of the insight into the lives of anchoresses in medieval England, so it has a Catholic and medieval focus, but I wonder if she also may have been interested in it for the Tolkien connection or the Oxford connection.
If there's any connection between Meriol Trevor and Tolkien that anyone here knows of, I'd be grateful to hear about it!
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