B. summa cum laude at Harvard University (1923) and, while still an undergraduate, studied in France at Strasbourg and Paris and in Florence, Italy.
[1] Mattingly completed his PhD at Harvard in 1935, having developed a strong interest in the sixteenth century and coming under the influence of Roger B. Merriman, a specialist in the history of the Spanish Empire.
Aided by a Guggenheim Fellowship—of which he was a four-time winner—he spent the academic year 1937-1938 doing intensive research in European archives.
[1] Following the war Mattingly, disappointed in not attaining a Harvard appointment, found a position in the adult program of Cooper Union in New York City, where he "perfected his dramatic style of lecturing.
A friend, Leo Gershoy, recalled that Mattingly lectured with head "cocked, eyes sparkling, his smile benign, he talked in a flow of words, witty, gay, and serious, about poetry and drama and novels, about music he loved dearly, about tapestries and paintings he admired, about rich wines and fine food that few appreciated with equal discrimination.
He loved, too, to talk about explorers whose voyages he could so fully trace, and about sailing ships, how they were built and manned and how navigated.
Although his health had been poor for several previous years, Mattingly died unexpectedly of emphysema in 1962 while serving as George Eastman Visiting Professor at Oxford University.