ABOUT ME
I’m a Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario, where I have taught courses on medieval, renaissance and early modern Europe since 1997. Since July 2022 I have also held a status-only faculty position at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto.
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My graduate studies were pursued at the University of Toronto, where I received my MA in History in 1990 and my PhD in History in 1996. I also hold a dual BA in History and Medieval Studies (highest honors) from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1988). As an intellectual and cultural historian, my research focuses on medieval Latin literature, including sermons and preachers’ aids, especially the collections of authoritative quotations known as florilegia.
Visiting the transi tomb effigy of Richard Foxe, Bp. of Winchester (d.1528), at Winchester Cathedral in 2013. (That's me on the right!)
EDUCATION
RESEARCH INTERESTS
1990-96
University of Toronto
PhD in History
Early Italian Humanism
1989-90
University of Toronto
MA in History
1985-88
University of California, Santa Barbara
BA in History and Medieval Studies
Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Intellectual and Ecclesiastical History
focusing on Latin florilegia (collections of quotations).
Conciliar Sermons and Ecclesiastical Politics
especially eulogies.
Rhetorical Theory and Practice
as it relates to the construction of self and delimitation of audience.
Pastoral Reform in Response to Heresy
Digital Humanities
especially the publication of Open Access critical editions of historical texts.
1982-85
Santa Barbara City College
AA degrees in English, Political Science, and
History
Scribal Agency in Manuscript Traditions and Editorial Agency in Early Print Traditions
The Transmission of Greek Patristic Texts in Medieval and Renaissance Latin Translation