Frederic Seebohm (historian) facts for kids

Frederic Arthur Seebohm (born November 23, 1833 – died February 6, 1912) was a British historian. He studied how economies and societies changed over time. He is known for showing how some things stayed the same from the Roman times to the Anglo-Saxon period in England.

Early Life and Career

Frederic Seebohm was born in Bradford, England. His family had moved to England from Germany. He was the great-grandson of William Tuke, a kind person who helped others, and a member of the Quaker religious group. Frederic went to Bootham School, which was also a Quaker school in York.

In 1856, Frederic became a barrister in London. A barrister is a type of lawyer who argues cases in court. The next year, he married Mary Ann Exton. They made their home in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Studying History

Even though he was a respected lawyer, Frederic Seebohm became famous as a historian. He studied how societies and economies worked in the past. His most important book was English Village Community, published in 1883. This book made him one of the top economic historians.

Before his book, many people thought that early Anglo-Saxon society was made of groups of free people. These groups shared land together, in what was called "the Mark." Over time, people believed that this free society changed into a more organized system called "the Manor." In this system, people who were once free became serfs, which meant they were tied to the land.

However, Frederic Seebohm's research showed something different. He found that there was no good reason to believe that the free community ever truly existed in England.

Instead, Seebohm pointed out how similar the Roman villa (a large Roman country estate) was to the medieval manor. He suggested that the medieval manor was a mix of the Roman villa system and the ways of the Germanic tribes. This idea changed how people understood early English history.

In 1902, the University of Cambridge gave him an honorary degree. This was a special award for his important work.

Family Life

Frederic Seebohm and his wife had six children. They had one son, Hugh, and five daughters. One of their daughters, Juliet, married a famous surgeon named Sir Rickman Godlee in 1891.

Frederic Seebohm was also the grandfather of Frederic Seebohm, Baron Seebohm (1909–1990). This grandson became a soldier, a banker, and helped create new ways of doing social work. Frederic Seebohm was also the great-grandfather of Victoria Glendinning, who is a well-known writer and broadcaster.