author
James R. (James Root) Hulbert
1884–1969
A University of Chicago scholar of medieval literature and language, he is best remembered for work that helped readers approach both Chaucer and Old English with clarity. His books reflect a teacher’s instinct for making difficult early texts feel manageable and alive.
1 Audiobook
Chaucer's Official Life
by James R. (James Root) Hulbert
About the author
Born in Eldora, Iowa, on March 8, 1884, James Root Hulbert went on to earn his Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago in 1912. His dissertation, published as Chaucer’s Official Life that same year, shows the blend of archival care and literary interest that shaped much of his career.
Hulbert spent his academic life at the University of Chicago, where he taught English and later became a professor. He worked in medieval and Old English studies, and readers still encounter his name through books such as The Elements of Old English and editions of Anglo-Saxon reading materials prepared for students.
He also played an important part in American lexicography. Britannica notes that he was a coeditor, with William A. Craigie, of A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, a major reference work tracing American words and usage from the earliest colonial period into the nineteenth century. Hulbert died in 1969.