The Illuminating Manuscript

An Occasional Newsletter about the Medievalist Graduate Students

of Loyola’s History Department

Fall, 2006

Kirsten DeVries (PhD Candidate) states: "2005-2006 was a good year, mostly because I defended my dissertation proposal in November 2005 and wrote a draft for a chapter of the dissertation during Spring Semester 2006. I continued to teach at Loyola, this time Global History since 1500, two sections in the Fall and one in the Spring. I then taught reading classes over the summer to kids and adults of all ages with the Institute of Reading Development. I also finished a project for Bedford/St. Martins where I wrote descriptions for five books in their series, A Brief History with Documents. These descriptions will be available on the Bedford/St. Martin's website. I won a Schmitt Dissertation Fellowship for 2006-2007, and over Labor Day weekend I moved to Washburn, Wisconsin to continue writing my dissertation by the shores of Lake Superior."

Andrew Donnelly (PhD Student) writes: "I found 2005-2006 an enjoyable and busy second year in Loyola's History program. In the fall I gave the paper 'Coinage and the Roman Perception of the German' at the Annual Graduate Student Medieval Studies Conference at Yale University. In the spring I presented 'Tetrarchic Mint Control' at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI, and chaired the medieval panel at the Loyola History Department Graduate Conference. I also edited and expanded the glossary of one of the volumes of the textbook The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. A series of courses with Professor Leslie Dossey led me to what I hope will be the focus of my dissertation: the examination of dietary practice and land and water use in Late Antique and early Medieval Italy and the relation of these topics to the study of barbarian ethnicity and identity. Last summer I worked as a research assistant for Professor Allen Frantzen of Loyola's English Department. This work included creating a Cultural Index for the Anglo-Saxon Penitentials and excavating with Dr. Christopher Loveluck of the University of Nottingham. This year also looks exciting: in addition to concluding my coursework and preparing for my examinations, I am teaching several classes and am chair of Vagantes 2007, the traveling medieval graduate student conference that Loyola will host March 1-4."

Thomas Greene (PhD Student) reports that "Several things of note occurred in the past year. In January 2006, I took and passed my minor field comprehensive exam (early modern Europe). I presented two papers, 'Penance and Emotional Expression in the Early Ninth Century' at Kalamazoo in May and 'If not Afraid of the Jews then of Whom? Fear and Social Conflict in Agobard of Lyon' at Leeds in July. In addition to teaching Hist 104: World History 1500-present this semester, I am currently working through the reading list for my major field comprehensive exam, to be taken in late November.

Frances Mitilineos (PhD Candidate) writes: "After defending my dissertation proposal in April 2006, I spent three weeks in England visiting sites important to the history of the Jews in medieval England. Visiting Norwich, Lincoln, York, London, and Bristol was both fascinating and enlightening but equally exciting was meeting with historians who are active in my field. Each of them was encouraging and helpful. While in England, I presented a paper entitled 'Jews and Christians in the 13th-Century English Courtroom' at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds. Currently I am an adjunct instructor at Oakton Community College where I've been asked to give a series of three lectures on the Jews in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages to AVIV, a newly-formed association that explores Jewish history and traditions. I am also contributing an article on 'The Jew as Other' to the ABC-Clio World History Encyclopedia, edited by Alfred J. Andrea and scheduled for publication in 2007. Progress on my dissertation has been slow, but I'm trying to improve.

Daniel O'Gorman (Ph.D. student) writes: "I presented a paper, 'Enhancing Edmund: Growth and Mutation of an Anglo-Saxon Cult in the Twelfth Century,' at the Vagantes conference in Berkeley last March. It covered one aspect of my Master's Essay, which I completed in May of this year. I hope to publish a revised version of this essay, and to this end spent a productive week doing MS work at the University of Manchester at the end of the summer. In October, I presented '"Except in Treachery against his Lord": The Evolution of Legislative and Literary Treatments of Regicide in Later Anglo-Saxon England' at the SEMA conference in Oxford, Mississippi. I will further investigate the question of royal murder in a paper I will be presenting at Kalamazoo next spring. I am currently in my second semester of PhD coursework.

Jilana Ordman (PhD Student) presented a conference paper entitled "The Impact of Crusader Spirituality on Crusader Emotional Expression, 900-1300," at Crusades: Medieval Worlds in Conflict, an international symposium on the crusades held at St. Louis University in February 2006. This paper was a preliminary investigation of her intended dissertation topic. She is currently preparing her dissertation proposal on the relationship between the development of the crusade movement and emotional expression by crusaders to the East.

Alan G. Zola (Ph.D. Candidate) writes: "I am currently working on my dissertation, which addresses the monastic ideals of Paschasius Radbertus, a ninth-century monk and abbot of Corbie. In February 2006, I delivered a paper entitled 'Brides of Christ at Ninth-Century Corbie: Paschasius Radbertus's Use of the Song of Songs,' at the Newberry Library's Medieval Intellectual History Colloquium. During the summer of 2006, as Dr. Leslie Dossey's research assistant, I helped her edit the manuscript for her forthcoming book. I am currently working as an adjunct faculty member at the College of DuPage, in Glen Ellyn, teaching both halves of western civilization.