E. F. Jacob

Ernest Fraser Jacob (12th September 1894 - 7th October 1971) was a British medievalist and scholar.

He was educated at Winchester College and then a period at New College, Oxford - broken by service in World War I. He won a fellowship to All Souls College, Oxford, and taught there and at Christ Church where his pupils included A. L. Rowse.

He was then Professor of History at Manchester University from 1929 to 1944 before returning to Oxford as Chichele Professor of Modern History at All Souls from 1950 until 1961.

His most important works were a biography of Bishop Chichele and a text book on England in the fifteenth century. The first of these books secured his reputation as a historian, while the latter caused considerable controversy. Firstly the book was meant to be written by K. B. McFarlane, who proved unwilling or unable to write a book of its kind. Secondly, after the book was released many academics suggested that he had plagerised his pupils' work and had also made a collection of factual errors.

Nevertheless he will be remembered as the link between the old school of medievalists, including distinguished names such as William Stubbs, T. F. Tout and F. W. Maitland, and the modern school of medieval historiography, to which Roskell, McFarlane and Armstrong belong. His periods at Manchester and Oxford did much to make them England's academic centers for medieval studies.

He was a well liked tutor. He is said to have once broken a female student's collar bone while playing musical chairs at a Manchester University Christmas party. He was a devout Christian and spoke French, German, Latin and Ancient Greek.