Fordham Series in Medieval Studies Published Volumes

Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past, ed. Andrew Albin, Mary C. Erler, Thomas O'Donnell, Nicholas L. Paul, and Nina Rowe (2019)

"This book is timely in a way that won’t get old. It has something for everyone, from professional educators seeking to enliven their classrooms to anyone curious about the origins of popular symbols and phrases. With a plethora of compelling case studies from contemporary culture, religion, art, and politics, there are vital lessons on almost every page. In example after example, the authors show how people shape the Middle Ages to reflect their fears and dreams for themselves and for society. The results range from the amusing to the horrifying, from video games to genocide. Whose Middle Ages? everyone’s, but not everyone’s in the same way." -Michelle R. Warren, author of Creole Medievalism: Colonial France and Joseph Bédier’s Middle Ages

"Whose Middle Ages? offers an ethical and accessible introduction to a historical period often implicated in racist narratives of nationalism and imperialism. A valuable teaching resource, Whose Middle Ages? will inspire necessary discussions about the politics of engaging the past in the present, as it also recovers a Middle Ages that is complex, messy, and belongs to us all." -Sierra Lomuto, Assistant Professor of English, Macalester College

"This is an important book, filled with brief, accessible essays by a who’s who of experts in medieval studies. As a whole, it demonstrates how scholars can open up their field to a wider audience and why those conversations matter, particularly in our own historical moment when history in general – and the medieval past in particular – is weaponized in the service of hate. Whose Middle Ages? should be on every medievalist’s bookshelf and on every class’ reading list." -Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech

"Cross-disciplinary, classroom-ready, and super-timely meditations on medievalisms in our midst, benign and malign, and on medieval self-understanding. Recommended." -David Wallace, Judith Rodin Professor, University of Pennsylvania

King Alfonso VIII of Castile: Government, Family, and War, ed. Miguel Gómez, Kyle C. Lincoln, and Damian J. Smith (2019)

"King Alfonso VIII of Castile brings together an impressive collection of top-notch papers that offer fresh perspectives on the reign of Alfonso VIII. This will be very useful not only to scholars of Iberian studies but to medievalists and royal studies scholars as well who are interested in the monarch and the wide variety of topics covered such as crusading, royal-church relations, religious practices in the period and queenship." -Elena Woodacre, University of Winchester

"The essays in this collection are of an impeccable scholarly standard; the book offers valuable contributions to the scholarship on twelfth-century Iberia, and on a reign that has received little attention in the Anglophone world." -Simon R. Doubleday, Hofstra University

Ecstasy in the Classroom: Trance, Self, and the Academic Profession in Medieval Paris, Ayelet Even-Ezra (2018)

"The intellectual pitch of Ecstasy in the Classroom will be evident from its title. Even-Ezra's fascinating and deeply learned book studies the intricate means by which the rationalism of scholastic inquiry comes to terms with ecstatic, inspired knowledge. The author's point of departure: scholastic philosophy's grappling with the phenomenon of St. Paul's transport into the 'third heaven' as the basis of his theology. The author also probes the psychology and ethics of inspired knowledge, and presents the mediating experiences of trance, ecstasy, prophetic vision as means not only of insight, but of 'transformation of the self.' Even-Ezra's work extends the focal point of mystical knowledge from individuals in isolation to the classroom." -C. Stephen Jaeger, University of Illinois

The French of Outremer: Communities and Communications in the Crusading Mediterranean, ed. Laura K. Morreale and Nicholas L. Paul (2018)

"An excellent and timely collection that makes an important intervention in the fields of Medieval Studies and Mediterranean Studies, highlighting the role of transnational French in the ‘sea of languages’ located at the meeting point of the three known continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa." -Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Center for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

"A truly interdisciplinary undertaking that connects Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Levant, the collection is supported by an orienting introduction by Morreale and Paul and by maps, notes, and color plates of reliquaries... Highly Recommended." -Choice

Europe after Wyclif, ed. Patrick Hornbeck and Michael van Dussen (2016)

". . . An essential contribution to the ongoing work on relationships between heresy and mainstream religious thinking, as well as on the relationships between England and the continent." -Kantik Ghosh, Trinity College, Oxford

Ecclesiastical Knights: The Military Orders in Castile, 1150-1339, Sam Zeno Conedera, SJ. (2014)

"Provides a valuable window into medieval Iberia...a seminal study that is strongly recommended for personal, community, seminary, and academic library collections." -Midwest Book Review, August 2015

"...concentration on the three Spanish orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcantara... existing ambiguously between the role of a spiritual monastic community...and acting as full-fledged knights in response to the needs of kings...[The book intends] to overturn and discard the terminology 'warrior monks' in favor of ...'ecclesiastical knights'....The book significantly undermines the pseudo-historical and mass-market approaches to the medieval orders that have been pervasive for some years....closely fulfilling the Rankean ideal of presenting history as it was...I highly recommend this book." -H-Net Reviews, January 2016

Eddic, Skaldic, and Beyond: Poetic Variety in Medieval Iceland and Norway, ed. Martin Chase (2014)

"The volume offers a stimulating rejection of traditional categories together with an eloquent plea for the re-examination of texts on or beyond the margins....This wide-ranging and innovative volume offers a welcome reminder that the study of Old Norse and Icelandic poetry has much to contribute to the field of medieval studies as a whole." - Speculum review, January 2016

Religious Women in Early Carolingian Francia: A Study of Manuscript Transmission and Monastic Culture, Felice Lifshitz (2014)

Shortlisted for the Canadian Historical Association Wallace Ferguson Prize.

"...presents new perspectives and scenarios on an ongoing debate...a provocative study...which undoubtedly will raise as many questions as it provides answers." -The Medieval Review, October 2015

"A fine and well-argued piece of scholarship that sets out, and successfully so, to push boundaries and force its readers to question long-established scholarly consensus....The book is informed by several decades of carefully conducted research...presented in a concise and well-structured narrative that makes for an enjoyable reading experience." -Institute of Historical Research, U. of London, Reviews in History, October 2015

Medieval Poetics and Social Practice: Responding to the Work of Penn R. Szittya, Seeta Chaganti (2012)

[Penn Szittya] argued that a symbolic readings of the friars...enabled English imaginative writers to envision their age as one of social and religious decay, marked by omens of the end. The essays in the collection certainly measure up to the cast of Szittya's work and take it in some unexpected directions." -Yearbook of Langland Studies review, 2013

Isaac on Jewsish and Christian Altars: Polemic and Exigesis in Rashi and the Glossa Ordinaria, Devorah Schoenfeld (2012)

"Having completed this exceptionally painstaking textual work, advanced an innovative approach to Rashi studies, and having bruited a highly suggestive theory for how Jewish and Christian twelfth century exegetical methods and products came to resemble each other, Schoenfeld has opened up rich prospects for further investigation." - The Medieval Review, 2014

"Schoenfeld is clearly adept in her knowledge of engagement with both the Jewish and Christian sources. Her work skillfully demonstrates the vitality of these exegetical texts and the traditions that produced them....a valuable contribution to the study of this fascinating period, its literary productions, and its intellectual landscape..." - H-net review, February 2014

Medieval Education, eds. Joseph Koterski and Ronald Begley (2005)

Poets of Divine Love: The Rhetoric of Franciscan Spiritual Poetry, Alessandro Vettori (2004)

Dante for the New Millennium, eds. Teodolinda Barolini and H. Wayne Storey (2003)

Medieval Cultures in Contact, ed. Richard Gyug (2002)