In Memoriam: David Mackenzie, 1943–2016

David Mackenzie passed away on 26 February 2016, in his beloved city of Santiago de Compostela where he had lived since his retirement from University College Cork in 2008. David first visited Santiago, by chance he said, in his teenage years but so thoroughly did he fall in love with the city, the Galician language and culture that he returned there practically every year of his life. He was born in Sutton-in-Ashfield (Nottinghamshire) on 8 September 1943, but it was Celtic blood that coursed through his veins: his family was of Scottish ancestry and he spent the majority of his professional life in Ireland before retiring to Galicia.

In 1966, he graduated with a B.A. degree in Spanish from Oxford University and, after a year teaching as a lecturer in a technical college in Worcestershire, he was awarded a Research Fellowship at the University of Nottingham. In 1970 he accepted a position as Assistant Keeper in the Hispanic Section of the British Museum’s (now British Library) Department of Printed Books where he remained until 1974. In that year he was appointed lecturer in the Spanish department at the New University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, a somewhat challenging job given that the university was only six years old and the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland were then in full swing. After the Thatcherite reforms of higher education in the United Kingdom in 1986, David opted to transfer to the University of Birmingham rather than stay in the newly created University of Ulster, formed from the amalgamation of three formerly separate entities. He served in the Department of Hispanic Studies in Birmingham as professor and chair until his appointment as professor in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies of the University College Cork (UCC) in 1996.

For his PhD dissertation, awarded in 1975 from the University of Nottingham, David produced a study and edition of the Crónica de Santa María de Iria, a topic that neatly encapsulated the two main interests of his academic life: the transcription and editing of medieval chronicles, and the Galician language. His interest in the former led him to answer the clarion call issued in 1976 by Professors Lloyd A. Kasten and John J. Nitti of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for collaborators in the Seminary of Medieval Spanish Studies’ summer workshop on the Dictionary of the Old Spanish Language (DOSL) project where new computer-aided methodologies were to be employed for the first time in the field of Spanish-language studies. David was rather surprised to discover that he was one of the very few European-based scholars to attend the Seminary’s workshop, but it was a relationship that was to endure for the rest of his life. In addition to his role as associate editor of the Alfonsine and Juan de Heredia corpora of concordances and texts (first published on microfiche in 1978 and 1982 respectively),¹ David also served as senior editor of the three-volume Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X (New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 2002). However, his major contribution to DOSL was to author the project’s A Manual of Manuscript Transcription for the Dictionary of the Old Spanish Language which, to David’s great pleasure and despite the clearly stated limited goals of the work, took on a life of its own and became a de facto manual for the teaching of paleography in general. It was first published in 1977 and was subsequently revised four times.²

Although David maintained his interest in medieval Castilian and Aragonese language and literature throughout his life, the study and promotion of Galician came to occupy more and more of his time in the latter part of his career. During his tenure at the University of Birmingham in 1991, with the support of the Xunta de Galicia, he founded and directed the Centro dos Estudos Galegos and the accompanying Cátedra de Estudos Galegos, the first time a professorship at this level had been created outside of Galicia. Such was the appreciation for David’s efforts on behalf of the Galician language that, upon his move to UCC in 1996, the Xunta again supported the creation of a centre, and the Irish Centre for Galician Studies was inaugurated in 1997. David was also responsible for the creation of UCC’s Centre for Mexican Studies.

After his retirement from UCC in 2008, David served as Visiting Professor at UW–Madison (Spring 2010) and at UW–Milwaukee (2010–2011). He also remained active as a contributor to The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies (Galician Studies Language, edited with Francisco Dubert and Xulio Sousa), as a member of the editorial board of the Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, and as a frequent attendee and presenter at conferences and colloquia.

During his career, David was recognized for his many contributions to Hispanic Studies: in 2003 he was elected an Honorary Associate of The Hispanic Society of America. But it was the recognition he received from the various institutions in Galicia that gave him the most pleasure: in 1994 he was awarded the Pedrón de Honra, given to people who are resident outside of Galicia. In 2001 he was elected as Membro Correspondente da Real Academia Galega; in 2009 he was recognised as a Socio de Honra da Asociación Internacional de Estudos Galegos; and in 2014 the Xunta de Galicia awarded him the prestigious Premio da Cultura Galega for his services to the diffusion and appreciation of the Galician language and culture throughout the world. In 2015, Gabriel Rei-Doval organised a session in his honour at the 50th Medieval Studies Congress in Kalamazoo. Already seriously ill at the time, David nevertheless travelled to Kalamazoo for the panel in his honour and to participate in another celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (HSMS). Later the same year, in an act at the Instituto da Lingua Galega in Santiago de Compostela, he was presented with the festschrift, En memoria de tanto miragre: Estudos dedicados ó profesor David Mackenzie. It was to be his last participation and appearance in academic circles.

I first met David in October 1978, in my freshman year at the New University of Ulster, where he was assigned as my advisor. His advice to me then, upon our first meeting, was to “never stop reading”, words that he himself lived by: although not the most prolific of authors, David never stopped reading. His apartment in Santiago was littered with heavily annotated copies of editions, critical works and poetry translations (both into and out of Galician), and any manuscript submitted to him for consideration for publication by the HSMS was returned with a wealth of comments, suggestions and criticisms.

In Santiago de Compostela, he was a gracious and generous host, provided one could adapt to his daily routine. All outings, either morning, afternoon or evening, began and ended in El Quijote restaurant where David’s quixotic approach to life was countered by the Sanchoesque forbearance of Manolo, the ever-patient owner. David took great pride and pleasure in showing visitors around the city, with frequent stops at the many bars and restaurants where he was warmly received. He was indeed a son of the city of Santiago, a true compostelán.

A funeral service was held for David in Santiago at the beginning of March. He is survived by his three children, Alexander, Felix and Niamh.