A Multicultural Case for the Study of the Early Middle Ages (Powell & Maldonado)

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How might the study of multiculturalism in the Middle Ages differ across historical period and academic specialization? In this episode, Fordham University master’s students Kristian Powell and Sean Maldonado discuss their experiences studying the early medieval period. They reflect on conversations from their coursework, the importance of professorial/institutional support, and what excites them most about the diversity of the early medieval period.

Kristian Powell is a second-year master’s student at Fordham University. An early medievalist, he is writing his thesis on altars in Merovingian Gaul and their religious, cultural and archaeological context. After graduating in May, Kristian will be staying in the Bronx on a one-year teaching fellowship serving underprivileged children. 

Sean Maldonado is a first-year master’s student studying at Fordham University in New York City. His interests are in the Early Middle Ages. In particular, he studies Visigothic history with a focus on the Isidorian intellectual legacy and Isidore’s reception in the later Middle Ages. Sean also studies Augustine, specifically his political theology, as well as monasticism more broadly.

For further reading:

• East & West in the Early Middle Ages: the Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective. Edited by Stefan Esders, Yitzhak Hen, Yaniv Fox, and Lauri Sarti.

• Economou, Andrew. Byzantine Rome & the Greek Popes: Eastern Influences on Rome & the Papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias (590-752).

• Maskarinec, Maya. City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages.

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