In memoriam
James Ross Sweeney
(November 18, 1940 - August 21, 2011)
The sad news reached us only recently. Jim had been a guest of our department in the early years of the program and many graduates of those years remember him as a "jolly good fellow." His classes were most enjoyable and he helped many a student in their research and writing. Sweeney wrote his dissertation (with Brian Tierney) about papal-Hungarian relations in the thirteenth century and kept up his interest in matters Central European ever after. He wrote about refugees of the Mongol and Ottoman invasions, on Hungarians in the Crusades, and was founding editor of the five-volume edition of medieval Hungarian laws, the Decreta Regni Mediaevalis Hungariae the completion of which he did not live to see. For many years, he worked on the planned Hungaria pontificia volume in the framework of the international project of the Pius Stiftung publishing papal charters from all around Europe. He retired from Pennsylvania State University quite some time ago and fought a long illness till death relieved him from pain and suffering.
Janos M. Bak