Beeson, Charles Henry

Beeson, Charles Henry (1870–1949) scholar, medievalist; born in Columbia City, Ind. He took a B.A. (1893) and an M.A. (1895) in classics at Indiana University and taught there as instructor in Latin (1895–96) before going to the graduate school of the University of Chicago to study under William Gardner Hale. He collaborated with Hale and others to produce various Latin readers. He was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Munich in 1907, where he began to explore the influence of classical Latin language upon medieval writers. He returned to the University of Chicago in 1909 and became professor of Latin. His skill in detecting textual errors led to his work in codes and ciphers for the military intelligence division of the U.S. General Staff during World War I. His standard Primer of Medieval Latin Grammar appeared in 1925 and his other scholarly work on medieval Latin texts was wide-ranging.