Associate Dean for Planning and Resources
Carol A. Ammon College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Professor
History
Office
Willard-DiLoreto Hall
303-01
Education
Areas of Expertise
My research examines how medieval writings on feuds and other conflicts imputed anger to disputants in such a way as to characterize and evaluate the conduct of nobles implicated in acts of violence. Anger served to reflect and reinforce ideal aristocratic social expectations and relationships in medieval Northern France and Anglo-Norman territories in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. By investigating the boundaries around honorable and shameful displays of anger in these texts, my research hopes to expand on contemporary debates about the nature of chivalry by arguing that anger functioned as an important cultural ‘script’ to regulate ideal relations between nobles and their dependents.
Publications, Research & Presentations
Royal Rage and the Construction of Anglo-Norman Authority, c.1000 – c. 1250. Palgrave History of Emotions Series, 2019.
“Jezebel’s: Sex and Marriage in Early Christian Theology.” In The Handmaid’s Tale: Teaching Dystopia, Feminism, and Resistance across Disciplines and Borders. Edited by Karen Ritzenhoff and Janis Goldie. 31-42. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781498589147
“Pain, Trauma, and the Miraculous in the Liber miraculorum sancta Fidis.” In Trauma in Medieval Society. Edited by Wendy Turner and Christina Lee, 237-256. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
“Peasant Anger and Violence in the Writings of Orderic Vitalis” Cerae 1 (2014): 90-116.
“The ‘Zeal of God’: The Representation of Anger in the Latin Crusade Accounts of the 1096 Rhineland Massacres.” In Jews in Medieval Christendom: Slay Them Not. Edited by Merrall Price and Kris Utterback, 25-44. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
“For a Mother’s Love: The Role of Maternal Affection in the Regulation of Aristocratic Anger.” In Love, Friendship, Marriage: 32nd Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum at Plymouth State University (April 15-16, 2011), vol. 1. Edited by Raffaele Florio and Aniesha Andrews, 97-101. Weston, MA: Public Heritage Institute Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781470091132.
“English Jews as Outcasts: The Ritual Murder of Little St. Hugh of Lincoln in Matthew Paris’ Chronica Majora.” In British Outlaws of Literature and History: Essays on Medieval and Early Modern Figures from Robin Hood to Twm Shon Catty. Edited by Alex Kaufman, 11-27. Jefferson: McFarland, 2011. ISBN: 9780786458776.
“Royal Madness and the Law: The Role of Anger in Representations of Royal Authority in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Texts.” In Madness in Medieval Law and Custom. Edited by Wendy Turner, 123-146. Leiden: Brill, 2010. ISBN: 9789004187498.
“The Politics of Chivalry: The Function of Anger and Shame in Eleventh-and Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Historical Narratives.” In Feud, Violence and Practice: Essays in Honor of Stephen D. White. Edited by Belle Tuten and Tracey Billado, 55-69. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010.
Awards & Grants
Board of Regents Teaching Award – CCSU, 2014
National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, 2010 – Oxford, UK
Memberships & Affiliations
Secretary, New England Medieval Consortium
Board, Connecticut Council for the Social Studies
Courses Taught
I taught courses in medieval history, world history, social studies secondary education, and women, gender, and sexuality studies. I also used Reacting to the Past in my courses.