John Van Engen

Class of Fall 2011

Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History

University of Notre Dame

Indiana

Europe's Twelfth-Century "Turn," Narrative of Medieval History

During his fellowship, Van Engen worked on a new synthetic history of the cultural and social dynamics at work in twelfth-century Europe, which focuses on a select number of forces cutting across all sectors of society and culture and seeks to re-interpret the larger European narrative. The twelfth century, he argues, is a teleological hinge-point that exposes the longer narrative of medieval Europe and the development of local cultures into an increasingly pan-European culture. It fueled innovations in communication across social and cultural divides, and introduced dynamic forces that shaped the century: reason and revolt, reading and romance.

John Van Engen, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, is an noted scholar of the cultural, intellectual, and religious history of the European Middle Ages. For twelve years (1986-98) Van Engen served as director of Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute. He was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton in 1993-94 (and again in the fall of 1998), a fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center at Princeton University in 1999-2000, and, in the fall of 2002, a visiting professor at Harvard University. Van Engen is also a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, a corresponding member of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, and, in 2007-08, served as president of the American Society of Church History. His work may be divided broadly into three areas: cultural and intellectual renewal during the twelfth century, religious movements in the later Middle Ages, and notions of “Christianization” in Medieval European history. His books and essays deal with monasticism, women’s writing, schools and universities, inquisition, canon law, notions of reform, and medieval religious culture generally. Beyond editing scholarly symposia, he translates medieval texts from Latin and Middle Dutch, and is currently working on a large edition of core historical materials from a movement called the Devotio Moderna. His book Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life (University of Pennsylvania, 2008) has been awarded three major prizes.