Medieval Studies at UCSB

Current and Recently Completed Dissertations

The following is a list of titles of current and recently completed dissertation topics at UCSB involving the Middle Ages:

Death So Sublime: Death and Dying in Medieval England (Donna Beth Ellard, Advisor: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg )
Monikers in Stone: Decoding Masonic Marks and Discovering Master Masons in Twelfth Century Provencal Architecture (Christine M. Bolli, Adsvisor: C. Edson Armi)
Jewish Women in Medieval Perugia (Karen Frank, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Towards a New Medieval Subjectivity: Rogier van der Weyden and the Art of the Carthusians (Jennifer Hammerschmidt , Advisor: Mark Meadow)
Religious Life in Fourteenth-Century Piedmont (John Scholl, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Jewish Converts to Christianity in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Northern France (Jessica Elliott, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
(Liberty Stanavage, Advisor: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg )
The Heart of a Man and of a Lion: Northern French Noblewomen as Medieval Military Commanders (Katrin Sjursen, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)

A Kind of Marriage: Marriage in Dispute in Medieval Lucca (1341-1361) (Corinne Wieben, 2010, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Convent as Classroom: The Education of Women in Fifteenth-Century Italy (Jessica Weiss, 2010, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Healing Heart, Mind and Soul: Emotional Distress in Fourteenth-Century Provence (Nicole Archambeau, 2009, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Now She is Martha, Now She is Mary: Beguine Communities in Medieval Paris (1250-1470) (Tanya Stabler, 2007, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
The Pistoia Choirbooks: An Introduction to the Sources and Repertory (James Vincent Maiello, 2007, Advisors: Alejandro E. Planchart, William F. Prizer)
Caring for the Blind in Medieval Paris: Life at the Quinze-Vingts, 1250-1500 (Mark O'Tool, 2007, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Sicilian Counterpoint: Power and Pluralism in Norman Sicily (Joshua C. Birk, 2006, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Alliterative Revivalism: Oppositional Poetics in Late Medieval Britain (Randy Schiff, Advisors: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg; Carol Braun Pasternack)
Consuming Passion: Poetics of the Eucharist in Late Medieval England (Zia Isola, 2005 Advisors: L.O. Aranye Fradenburg and Michael O'Connell)
Survival and Profit: Witnessing Groups in Post-Vespers Palermo (Mary Lampe, 2007, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Risking Desire: Chaucerian Representations of Erotic Love and the Pagan Past (Alexandra Cook, 2006, Advisors: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg and Carol Pasternack)
The Editions and Content of the Crónica Troyana in Late Medieval and Early Modern Iberia (Erin Marisa Rebhan, 2006, Advisor: Harry L. Sharrer)
For the Sake of the University of Paris: Jean Gerson, Theological Reform and Secular-Mendicant Conflict (1384-1429) (Nancy McLoughlin, 2005, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Medieval Notaries: Family, Profession and Popular Politics in Thirteenth-Century Bologna (Brian Carniello, 2005, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Carpe Ecclesiam: Households, Identity and Violent Communication Church and State Under Edward I) (Andrew Miller, 2003, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
"Modor of Mercy/Empress of Helle": The Ambivalence of the Virgin in Late Medieval England (Katherine Koppelman, 2002, Advisor: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg)
Soldiers and Settlers: The Knights Templar in Portugal, 1128-1319 (Jose Valente, 2002, Advisor: Francis Dutra)
Woman as Heretic: Gender and Lay Religion in Late Medieval Bologna (Susan Snyder, 2002, Advisor: Carol Lansing)
Dis-Orientation: Master-narratives and Counter-reading of Medieval Writings about Alterity (Eileen Fung, 2001, Advisor: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg)
The Ecclesiastica Construction of Illegitimacy in the Middle Ages (Laura Wertheimer, 2000, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Adolescence in Medieval Culture: The High Medieval Transformation (Fiona Harris Stoertz, 1999, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Angels on the Edge of the World: Alterity and Identity from Aelfric to Chaucer (Kathy Lavezzo, 1999, Advisor: L. O. Aranye Fradenburg)
The Reproductive Unconscious in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (Jennifer Hellwarth, 1999, Advisor: Carol Braun Pasternack)
Shaping the Crown of Gold: Constructions of Royal Identity in the First Kingdom of Jerusalem (Deborah Gerish, 1999, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
Constructing Authorship in the Late Middle Ages: A Study of the Books of Guillaume de Machaut, Christine de Pizan and Jean Lemaire de Belges (Deborah McGrady, 1997, Advisor: Cynthia J. Brown)
Power and Lordship in Maine, c. 890-1110 (Richard Barton, 1997, Advisor: Sharon Farmer)
War, Gender, and Religion in Tenth-Century England: Struggles for Identity in Anglo-Saxon Texts (Janice Grossman, 1996, Advisor: Carol Braun Pasternack)