Vice, Tyranny, Violence, and the Usurpation of Flanders (1071) in Flemish Historiography from 1093 to 1294
The earliest sources of the history of medieval Flanders do not agree on the origins of the counts. The earliest source, the so-called “Genealogy of Arnold [I],” credibly traces the counts’ origin to Baldwin I “Iron Arm,”…
Latin Grammar in the Cathedral School: Fulbert of Chartres, Bonipert of Pécs, and the Way of a Lost Priscian Manuscript
The starting point of the classical tradition in medieval Hungary is marked by a letter written by Bishop Fulbert of Chartres in Northern France to Bishop Bonipert of Pécs in Southern Hungary.
‘Hag of the Castle:’ Women, Family, and Community in Later Medieval Ireland
In a letter written as part of his work for the Irish Department of the Ordnance Survey in 1840, Thomas O’Conor recorded his reaction to a “Sheela- na-gig” sculpture—the image of a naked woman shown exposing her genitalia (fig. 1)—that he saw on the old church at Kiltinane, Co. Tipperary.
CONFERENCES: The Stellinga, the Saxon Elite, and Carolingian Politics
This is my summary of a paper presented at the Institute of Historical Research on the causes of the Stellinga uprising in the Carolingian period.
What Remains: Women, Relics and Remembrance in the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade
After the fall of Constantinople to the Latin Crusaders in 1204 hundreds of relics were carried into the West as diplomatic gifts, memorabilia and tokens of victory. Yet many relics were alsosent privately between male crusaders and their spouses and female kin.
The Heraldic Casket of Saint Louis in the Louvre
The Casket of Saint Louis invokes political and social networks and events relating to the Capetian dynasty in the years before Louis IX reached his majority.
Places to See: Notre Dame – Part I
Part I of my initial visit to stunning Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.
Labyrinths in medieval churches: An investigation of form and function
This thesis analyzed the designs of a select group of labyrinths set into the pavements of Gothic churches in northern France.
Picturing Maternal Anxiety in the Miracle of the Jew of Bourges
During the middle ages, one of the most popular and most frequently illustrated Miracles of the Virgin Mary was the Miracle of the Jew of Bourges. According to the text of the miracle, the Virgin saves a young Jewish boy after his father throws him into a fiery oven upon learning he attended a Christian mass.
King’s sister, queen of dissent: Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549) and her evangelical network
This study reconstructs the previously unknown history of the most important dissident group within France before the French Reformed Church formed during the 1550s.
Working women in thirteenth-century Paris
This thesis examines the role of women in the Parisian economy in the late thirteenth century.
Places to See: Sainte Chapelle
Travelling to Paris ? Add this beautiful thirteenth century Capetian chapel to your MUST-SEE list for your next visit!
716: A Crucial Year For Charles Martel
The early years of Charles Martel’s life are all but obscured from the historian’s view.
Crafting the witch: Gendering magic in medieval and early modern England
This project documents and analyzes the gendered transformation of magical figures occurring in Arthurian romance in England from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
Of dead kings, dukes and constables: the historical context of the Danse Macabre in late medieval Paris
Why did the danse macabre rise to fame only when incorporated in a mural scheme that was created in a period of major political upheaval?
The Importance of Parks in Fifteenth-Century Society
In this paper, my aim is to consider the role of parks in the fifteenth century.
Materiality in the Queenship of Isabeau of Bavaria
This thesis revisits the origins of Isabeau of Bavaria’s notorious reputation – her ‘Black Legend’.
Bleeding flowers and waning moons: a history of menstruation in France, c. 1495-1761
This thesis explores early modem perceptions of menstrual bleeding, demonstrating that attempts to understand menstrual bleeding extended beyond the early modem medical world
The Grant Atour of Metz (1405): denouncing the past, shaping the future
In the late middle ages, the Imperial free city of Metz is firmly in the hands of the patricians: they control its entire government through associations called paraiges – and as the wealth of the city has been relying heavily on their rural possessions since the decline of the commercial role of the city, their leadership is not seriously at risk.
‘Shame on him who allows them to live’: The Jacquerie of 1358
In the eyes of the chroniclers, the Jacquerie of 1358 was the most important peasant revolt in late medieval France.
The Lit de Justice: Semantics, Ceremonial, and the Parlement of Paris, 1300–1600
The curious phrase lit de justice originated in the fourteenth century and by the first decade of the fifteenth century designated particularly important royal sessions of the Parlement of Paris.
Fiat Lux: Chartres Cathedral’s Representation of Medieval Culture Seen Through 21st Century Design
Chartres Cathedral in France exists as a time capsule of its culture, an exhibition of material, religious, and social values, and a testament to the expert craft guild that flourished in the city.
The Danes and the Marriage Break-up of Philip II of France
On 14 August 1193 the illustrious king Philip II of France repudiated his queen, Ingeborg, the daughter of the Danish king Valdemar I, during her coronation ceremony in Amiens cathedral. The events that followed, which merited twenty-four papal letters and the comment and speculation of several chroniclers across Europe.
Castle for Sale in France: Château de Corbère
Dating back to the 11th century, this castle is selling for about $9 million.
The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: the Albigensian Crusade and the Subjugation of the Languedoc
In March of 1208, Pope Innocent III preached the Albigensian Crusade. The crusade, which covered an area from Agen to Avignon and the Pyrenees to Cahors, initiated a new phase in the already strained relationship between the Catholic Church and the Languedoc.