Dr Melanie Brunner
- Position: Lecturer in Medieval Studies
- Areas of expertise: medieval ecclesiastical history; history of the papacy; mendicant orders; medieval political culture
- Email: M.Brunner@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 3615
- Location: 1.03 Parkinson Building
- Website: ORCID
Profile
I am a historian of late medieval religion and the church, focusing on the period of the Avignon papacy. I am particularly interested in the interactions of theology, (canon) law and papal administration; the history of the mendicant orders, particularly the Franciscans; and ideals of voluntary poverty and religious reform. Additionally, I’m currently exploring the political culture and processes of decision-making at the papal court in Avignon (1305-1378).
In the last few years, I have been involved with the DFG-Netzwerk Stilus Curiae: Spielregeln der Konflikt- und Verhandlungsführung am Papsthof des Mittelalters (12.-15. Jahrhundert), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and chaired by Dr Jessika Nowak (Universität Basel) and Dr Georg Strack (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München).
Since October 2024, I have been Editorial Director of the International Medieval Bibliography.
Some recent publications:
‘The Power of the Cardinals: Decision-Making at the Papal Curia in Avignon’, in Authority and Power in the Medieval Church, c. 1000 – c. 1500, ed. by Thomas W. Smith (Turnhout: Brepols, 2020), pp. 355-369 [DOI: 10.1484/M.ES-EB.5.118975]
‘Good and Bad Friars: Polemical Patterns and Strategies between Franciscans in the Early Fourteenth Century’, medieval worlds, 7 (2018), pp. 80-97 [DOI: 10.1553/medievalworlds_no7_2018s80]
‘Rom in Avignon: Imitation und Adaption im Papstpalast’, in Nachahmen im Mittelalter: Dimensionen - Mechanismen - Funktionen, ed. by Andreas Büttner and others, Beihefte zum Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, 82 (Vienna: Böhlau, 2018), pp. 135-152 [DOI: 10.7788/9783412510459.135]
Responsibilities
- Editorial Director, International Medieval Bibliography
Qualifications
- PhD Medieval Studies (University of Leeds)
- MA History and English (Universität Augsburg)
Professional memberships
- Ecclesiastical History Society
- Mediävistenverband
Student education
Research Supervision
I would particularly welcome doctoral projects in the following areas:
- medieval ecclesiastical history
- history of the papacy
- history of the mendicant orders
- late medieval political culture
- canon law
Current PhD students
- Lauren Hanson, ‘Symbols and society in the Gesta Romanorum’ [co-supervision with Dr Catherine Batt]
- James Rhodes, ‘Richard Rolle in Practice: The Textual Afterlife of a Medieval English Mystic (c.1350-1500)’ [co-supervision with Dr Marta Cobb. Funded by a School of History/IMS scholarship]
Completed theses:
- René Hernández Vera (2015), ‘Franciscan manuscripts in Padua from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century: following the traces of a conception of the book’ [co-supervision with Prof. Brian Richardson]
- Matthew Beckmann (2015), ‘Franciscan soteriology at the University of Paris to 1300’ [co-supervision with Dr William Flynn]
- Kirsty Day (2016), ‘Constructing dynastic Franciscan identities in Bohemia and the Polish Duchies’ [co-supervision with Prof. Emilia Jamroziak]
- James Hill (2017), ‘The papacy and the Eastern Mediterranean 1305-1362’ [co-supervision with Prof. Graham Loud]
- Vanessa Wright (2020), ‘The textual and visual uses of the literary motif of cross-dressing in medieval French literature, 1200-1500’ [co-supervision with Prof. Ros Brown-Grant and Dr Catherine Batt]
- Kaan Gorman (2022), ‘'The wilderness and the world: encounters between the Carthusians of late medieval England and the secular world' [co-supervision with Prof. Emilia Jamroziak]
- Pawel Cholewicki (2023), 'The emergence of the Franciscan Observance and the disintegration of the Bosnian vicariate, from the reforms of James of the Marches until the fall of the Bosnian- Dalmatian Union (1432-69)' [co-supervision with Prof. Emilia Jamroziak]
- Andrea Mancini (2023), 'Preaching and penance. The role of Niccolò da Osimo in the observant reform of the Friars Minor (1382-1455)' [co-supervision with Prof. Emilia Jamroziak]
- Yinwen Mai (2023), ‘Bishop Gilbert Foliot and his administration in dioceses of Hereford and London’ [co-supervision with Prof. Julia Barrow]
Research groups and institutes
- Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums
- Politics, Diplomacy, and International History