Medieval History

Drawing on her perspective as a historian of medieval religion and society and her specialization in medieval France, Anne Elisabeth Lester, Visitor in the School of Historical Studies, recounts the devastating fire that engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in April 2019, and the subsequent efforts to rebuild it, for the American Historical Association's newsmagazine  Perspectives on History.

A new study of ancient DNA by a team of international researchers, including Patrick Geary, Professor Emeritus in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Historical Studies, provides insight into the development of and social structures within European rural communities following the fall of the Roman Empire. Some of these communities, about the formation of which little was previously known, would eventually become the basis for many modern European countries.

Christopher Bonura, current Member in the School of Historical Studies, is one of 36 artists and scholars to be awarded a Rome Prize for 2023–24 by the American Academy in Rome (AAR).

A cross-discipline analysis of ancient genomes by a team of geneticists, archaeologists, and historians from institutions across Europe, Asia, and North America—with Professor Emeritus Patrick Geary as one of four principal investigators—has answered questions about the mysterious Avar population whose origins have remained enigmatic for 1,400 years. 

Aaron Michael Butts, past Member (2019–20) and Visitor (2020–21) in the School of Historical Studies, has been awarded a consolidator grant by the European Research Council for his project entitled "Beyond Influence (BeInf): The Connected Histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity."

Aaron Michael Butts, past Member (2019–20) and Visitor (2020–21) in the School of Historical Studies, has been named Andrew W. Mellon Chair of Early Christian Studies at his home institution, The Catholic University of America, where he is an associate professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures. 

"In this and other tales from the period, the color of the sultan’s skin has a deeper meaning: His black skin is a metaphor for his non-Christian soul, according to Cord Whitaker, associate professor of English at Wellesley College, a [M]ember of the Institute for Advanced Study, and one of the founding members of the Princeton collaboration."

Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, has been elected to the Medieval Academy of America’s Fellows Class of 2022. The highest honor granted by the academy, it is bestowed upon scholars “who have made notable lifelong contributions to Medieval Studies through their scholarship, teaching, and service.”

"Doing history is always more engaging than reading history, and by involving the reader in the process, King and Emperor takes on the compelling suspense of good detective work as well as good history."

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Patrick J...