Jeffrey A. Bowman
Department of History (740) 427 - 5322
Kenyon College bowmanj@kenyon.edu
Gambier, OH, 43022
______________________________________________________________________________
Employment
2003 - John B. McCoy - Bank One Distinguished Teaching Professor
Associate Professor, Department of History, Kenyon College
1997 - 2003 Assistant Professor, Department of History, Kenyon College
1993 - 1995 Instructor and Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Yale University
Education
1997 Ph. D., Medieval Studies, Yale University
1994 M. Phil., Medieval Studies, Yale University
1992 M. A., Medieval Studies, Yale University
1988 B. A., English, Carleton College, cum laude
Research Interests
Iberia and the Mediterranean in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages
Law and conflict in medieval Europe
Sanctity, hagiography and the cult of saints
Book
Shifting Landmarks:
Property, Proof, and Dispute in Catalonia around the Year 1000
Cornell University Press, forthcoming 2003
[http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornellpress/cup3_catalog.taf?_function=detail&Title_ID=4044&_UserReference=578CDC8C17990AF1C32538AE]
This study examines the regional mechanisms for dispute settlement during a period of European history often characterized as lawless and violent. Using a rich body of charters describing disputes over property rights, I describe the system of courts and judges that processed such disputes, focusing on how disputants and judges constantly adapted, modified, and reshaped legal traditions. Written law was one possible strategy of legitimation within a legal environment which drew resourcefully on legal texts, custom, scripture, and ritual practice to resolve conflicts. Any full appreciation of the normative world of Europe during the Middle Ages must appreciate the relations among these different discourses.
Publications
AInfamy and Proof in Medieval Spain,@ in Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in the Middle Ages, ed Daniel Smail and Thelma Fenster (Cornell U. P., 2003), 95-117.
AThe Bishops Builds a Bridge: Sanctity and Power in the Medieval Pyrenees,@
The Catholic Historical Review 88 (2002), 1-16
AThe Martyrdom of Saint Pelagius,@ translation and introduction in Medieval Hagiography: A Sourcebook, ed. Thomas Head (Garland, New York, 2000)
ACouncils, Memory, and Mills: The Early Development of the Peace of God in Catalonia,@ Early Medieval Europe 8 (1999), 99-130.
ADo Neo-Romans Curse? Land, Law, and Ritual in the Midi, 900-1100,@ Viator 28 (1997), 1-32.
Reviews
Victor Saxer, Saint Vincent: diacre et martyr: culte et légendes avant l'an Mil in Speculum (forthcoming).
Jaume Vilaginés, El paisatge, la societat i l'alimentació al Vallès Oriental (segles X-XII) in Speculum (forthcoming)
Pierre Bonnassie, Les sociétés de l=an mil, in Speculum (forthcoming)
Adam Kosto, Making Agreements in Medieval Catalonia, in The American Journal of Legal History
Rachel Stocking, Bishops, Councils, and Consensus, in Speculum 78 (2003), 266-67.
Thomas N. Bisson, Tormented Voices, in Speculum 77 (2002), 473-75.
Marco Mostert, ed., New Approaches to Medieval Communication, in Speculum 76 (2001), 1084-85.
Dominique Barthélemy, L=an mil et paix de Dieu: La France chrétienne et féodale in Early Medieval Europe 10 (2001), 273-74.
Lyndal Roper, Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality, and Religion in Early Modern Europe, in The Journal of Social History 32 (1999), 740-42.
Fellowships and Awards
2001 Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Summer Research Support Grant
2000- Stanford Humanities Laboratory, Collaborative Grant, AThe Medieval Spains@
2000-2001 Solmsen Fellowship, Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin
2000 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend
1999 Medieval Academy of America, Van Courtlandt-Elliott Prize
1997-98, 98-99 Faculty Development Grant, Kenyon College
1996-97 Yale University Dissertation Fellowship
1995-96 Bourses Chateaubriand - Sciences Sociales et Humaines
1995-96 Whiting Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (declined)
1995 John F. Enders Fellowship
1993 American Historical Association Bernadotte E. Schmitt Research Grant
1993 Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spain=s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities Research Grant
1990-94 Yale University Fellowship
1990-92 Sterling Prize for Outstanding Entering Graduate Students, Yale University
Papers Delivered
July 2004 "Bishops and Litigation in Early Medieval Spain"
International Medieval Congress, Leeds, England
May 2004 "The Caliph's Touch: Hagiography and Difference in Umayyad Córdoba"
International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI
May 2002 "The Interplay of Oral and Written Proofs in Medieval Courts"
International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI
January 2002 ATrue Crime: Murder and Mayhem in Tenth- and Eleventh-century Charters@
American Historical Association, San Francisco, CA
October 2001 AThe Smoldering Hand: Varieties of Proof in Medieval Spain@
OSU Legal History Workshop, Columbus, OH
September 2001 AProfiling: A Typology of Killing in the Central Middle Ages@
Midwest Medieval History Conference, UW-Madison
February 2001 ABlood, Sweat, and Bones: The Cult of Martyrs in Early Medieval Spain@
Institute for Research in the Humanities, UW-Madison
September 2000 AInfamy and Proof in Medieval Spain@
Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in Medieval Europe
Fordham University, New York, NY
January 2000 AAuthority and Phantom Proofs: Using Lost Evidence in Medieval Courts@
American Historical Association, Chicago, IL
October 1999 ABridges, Sanctity, and Power: An 11th-Cent. Bishop in the Spanish Pyrenees@
The Image of the Bishop around the Year 1000, University of Chicago
October 1998 ACouncils, Curses, and Mills: The Early Peace in Catalonia@
Midwest Medieval History Conference, South Bend, IN
July 1998 AThe Development of the Peace of God in Catalonia@
International Medieval Congress, Leeds
December 1995 ALe Rituel, la politique et les reliques de Saint-Hilaire@
Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Paris
May 1995 ANew Uses for Old Rules: Authority and Written Law in Medieval Catalonia@
30th Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI
March 1995 ARituals and Rules in the Narbonnais around the Year 1000"
Society for French Historical Studies, Atlanta, GA
April 1994 ARoyal Governments, Small Worlds, and Good Stories:
Charters in the Historiography of France@
Medieval Studies Conference, University of Connecticut
April 1994 AViolence and a Rhetoric of Resolution in Medieval Catalonia@
Fordham Medieval Conference, Fordham University
March 1993 AThe Poetics and Politics of Feasting in Valois Burgundy@
Public lecture, College of the Holy Cross
Selected Courses Taught
The Medieval Spains: Antiquity to the New World
The History of Spain, Pliny to the Guggenheim
Cockfights, Cat Massacres, and Charivaris
Curses, Codes, and Cattleraids: Peace and Violence in the Middle Ages
Crusaders, Pilgrims, Merchants, and Conquistadors: Medieval Travelers and Their Tales
The Living and the Dead in the Middle Ages
Plagues and People / Microbes and Metaphors
Ethnographers in the Archives: The New Cultural History and Its Discontents
The History of the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 300-1100
The History of the Later Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 1100-1500
Deviance, Desire, and Domesticity: The Private Lives of Medieval People
Membership in Professional Organizations
American Historical Association
The Medieval Academy of America
American Association of Research Historians of Medieval Spain
Collegiate Citizenship
Committee on Academic Standards 2001-2002, 02-03
History Department Chair Search 1999-2000
Ashford Prize Committee 1999-2000
Faculty Advisor, The Kenyon Voice 1999-2000, 2001-02
Co-Chair, The Kenyon Seminar 1999-2000
Committee on Awards and Postgrad Opportunities 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 02-03
History Department Curriculum committee 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2002-03
English Department Early Modern Search 1998-99
Course Evaluation Committee 1998-99
Chair, Baker Prize Committee 1997-98, 1998-99, 2001-02, 02-03