Eric John was a reader in history at the University of Manchester and a specialist in Anglo–Saxon history. He was described by James Campbell as “one of the most distinguished and provocative of Anglo–Saxonists” D.H. Farmer described his studies of the English Benedictine Reform, mainly in pages 154–264 of Orbis Britanniae, as “both stimulating and provocative; even those who cannot assent to all his conclusions recognise that he has brought a new dimension to the study of the reform“.