# Michael Herren

Michael Wayne Herren (born December 15, 1940) is a Canadian classical philologist and medievalist. He taught at York University in Toronto for almost four decades and most recently held the position of Distinguished Research Professor of History and Classics there. Scott G. Bruce characterizes him as a central figure in the academic debate on the classical tradition and its reception in medieval Western Europe.

## Life

Michael W. Herren was born on December 15, 1940, in Santa Ana, California, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a concentration in Philosophy from Claremont McKenna College in 1962. In 1967, he completed his Master of Studies in Latin and Paleography at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. In 1969, Herren received his doctorate in Classics from the University of Toronto for a commentary on the Hisperica Famina. In 1974, he published an edition and translation of A-text of the Hisperica Famina (whose origin he argues is Ireland); classics scholar Charles Witke commented that "text, commentary and 'translation bear witness both to industry and to insight of a high order". Michael Winterbottom said it was "the basis for any fresh progress" on the text.
At York University, where he spent most of his academic career, Herren founded the Program in Classical Studies at Atkinson College. He taught courses in the humanities and in Greek and Latin literature. For the last fifteen years of his full-time teaching career, he also supervised doctoral students in the graduate program in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto.
In 1991, Herren founded the Journal of Medieval Latin, which quickly became a leading journal in the field of medieval Latin literature. He also co-founded the Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin series, which has been published since 2001. Another project he initiated is the Epinal-Erfurt Glossary Editing Project, which aims to produce a critical edition of a Latin–Old English dictionary from the seventh century.

## Honors and awards

Awards and grants include:
* Humboldt Research Award (2013)
* Konrad Adenauer Award of the Royal Society of Canada (2003)
* Guggenheim Fellowship (1998)
* Killam Research Fellowship (1995)
Herren was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1999, an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2002, and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2010. Two Festschrifts, one for his 65th birthday in 2006 and another for his 80th birthday in 2021, honor his scholarly achievements.

## Publications
### Monographs

* The Anatomy of Myth. The Art of Interpretation from the Presocratics to the Church Fathers. New York. 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister. Edition, translation and commentary. Turnhout. 2011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Aldhelm. The Prose Works. Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer. 2009. ISBN 9780859910415. (with Michael Lapidge)
* Christ in Celtic Christianity Britain and Ireland from the Fifth to the Tenth Century. Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer. 2002. (with Shirley Ann Brown)
* Latin Letters in Early Christian Ireland. Variorum. 1996. ISBN 9780860785811. (collected essays)
* Iohannis Scotti Erivgenae Carmina. Dublin. 1993.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* The Hisperica Famina: A New Critical Edition with English Translation and Philological Commentary. Related poems. Volume 2. Studies and texts. Vol. 85. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1987. ISBN 9780888440310.
* The Hisperica Famina: A New Critical Edition with English Translation and Philological Commentary. Volume 1. Studies and texts. Vol. 31. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 1974. ISBN 9780888440310.

### Edited collections

* Herren, Michael; Brown, Shirley Ann, eds. (1988). The Sacred Nectar of the Greeks: the Study of Greek in the West in the Early Middle Ages. London: Boydell and Brewer. ISBN 9780951308516.
* Herren, Michael, ed. (1981). Insular Latin Studies. Papers on Latin texts and manuscripts of the British Isles: 550-1066. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. ISBN 9780888448019.