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Faculty List
Department of History
Boston University
226 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
617-353-8303
E-mail: cbackman@bu.edu
FAX: 617-353-2556
Born: 23 July 1957 in Duluth, Minnesota.
Ph.D. in History, UCLA, 1989.
Dissertation:
The Government of Sicily in the Reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337.
M.A. in History, UCLA, 1985.
Thesis:
Three Studies in Mediterranean History.
M.A. in History, University of
Minnesota, 1983.
Thesis:
Private Law in Fourteenth-Century Montpellier: The Notarial Register
of Guillaume Nogaret, 1305-1327.
B.A. in History, University of
Minnesota, 1980.
Specialized Field: Mediterranean society in the late Middle Ages, with
emphasis on the Crown of Aragon territories.
Languages: Catalan, French, German, classical Greek, Italian, Latin, Spanish.
Doctoral Examination Committee:
Robert I. Burns, S.J. (Medieval
Mediterranean History)
Robert L. Benson (Medieval Constitutional
History)
Speros Vryonis (Byzantine History)
Ronald Mellor (Roman History)
Bengt T. Löfstedt (Medieval
Latin)
Andrew Dyck (Classical Greek)
Associate Professor of History,
Boston University, 1995-present.
Assistant Professor of History,
Boston University, 1989-1995.
Research Assistant, Center for
Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA, 1988-1989.
Research Assistant and Archival
Assistant for Medieval Manuscripts, J. Paul Getty Center for the History
of Art and the Humanities, 1985-1988.
Teaching Associate, UCLA, 1984-1986.
Teaching Assistant, University
of Minnesota, 1980-1983.
American Historical Association.
Medieval Academy of America.
Society for Italian Historical
Studies.
Society for the Study of the
Crusades and the Latin East.
American Academy of Research
Historians of Medieval Spain.
American Philosophical Society,
1995.
Humanities Foundation Junior
Fellowship, Boston University, 1992.
National Endowment for the Humanities,
Summer Stipend, 1991.
Boston University Seed Grant,
1990.
Graduate Fellowship, UCLA, 1988.
Comité Conjunto Grant,
from the Government of Spain, 1986.
Del Amo Foundation Dissertation
Fellowship, 1986.
Del Amo Foundation Graduate Fellowship,
1983.
HI 101: Western Civilization,
part I.
HI 102: Western Civilization,
part II.
HI 203: History of Medieval Europe.
HI 301: Critical Reading in History.
HI 308: History of the Crusades.
HI 318: Medieval England, 407-1485.
HI 406: Monks, Friars, and Saints.
HI 491: Directed Study in Medieval
History.
HI 714: Historical Thought in
the Middle Ages.
HI 719: Trends in European Historiography.
HI 808: History of the Crusades.
HI 818: Medieval England, 407-1485.
HI 902: Directed Study in Medieval
History.
(* = chairmanship)
1996-1997
Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Departmental
Curriculum Committee (*).
Editor,
Newsletter of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval
Spain.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1995-1996 [On
leave, Fall 1995.]
Search
Committee for Medievalist, Art History Department.
Editor,
Newsletter of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval
Spain.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1994-1995
Director
of Graduate Studies.
Departmental
Curriculum Committee.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1993-1994
Academic
Policy Committee (Secretary).
Search
Committee for Chairman of Art History Department.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1992-1993
Academic
Policy Committee.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1991-1992
Social
Science Curriculum Committee.
Academic
Policy Committee.
Presidential
University Fellowship Committee.
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1990-1991
Social
Science Curriculum Committee (*).
Presidential
University Fellowship Committee.
Undergraduate
Prize Committee (*).
Departmental
Library Coordinator.
1989-1990
Social
Science Curriculum Committee.
Presidential
University Fellowship Committee.
1. "The Compleat Angevin Noble: Girois de Beaupréau."
18th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University,
1983.
2. "The Legal Background of Notarial Acts." 20th International
Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 1985.
3. "Personal Relations between James II of Aragon and Frederick III
of Sicily." 100th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association,
New York, 1985.
4. "Women in Catalan Sicily." 23rd International Congress on
Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 1988.
5. "Frederick III of Sicily and the Franciscan Spirituals." American
Association of Research Historians of Medieval Spain, held at 103rd Annual
Meeting of the American Historical Association, Cincinnati, 1988.
6. "The Reception of Arnau de Vilanova's Religious Ideas." NEH-sponsored
conference on "Christendom and its Discontents: Exclusion, Persecution,
and Rebellion, 1000-1500," UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance
Studies, Los Angeles, 24-26 January 1991.
7. "The Sicilian Slave Trade ca. 1300." Festschrift conference
on "Medieval Spain in the Western Mediterranean: A Conference in Honor
of Robert I. Burns, S.J.," UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance
Studies, Los Angeles, 25-26 October 1991.
8. "Piracy and the Kingdom of Sicily." Conference on "European
Expansion before Columbus: 1250-1492," Fordham University, 27-28 March
1992.
9. Response to paper. "Predatory Friendship: Evidence from Medieval
Norman Histories," by Emily Hanawalt. Boston University Institute
for Philosophy and Religion, 14 April 1993.
10. Response to papers, and Session Chair. "Muslim Sicily between
Cross Cultural Encounter and Conflict," by William Granara (Harvard
University); "Frederick II and the Sicilian Muslim Rebellion,"
by James M. Powell (Syracuse University); and "The Encounter of Venice
and Byzantium on the Island of Crete," by Maria Georgopoulou (Yale
University). At conference on "Dissonance and Diversity in Medieval
Cultures," Brown University, 5-6 October 1996.
11. Response to papers, and Session Chair. "Chronological Eschatology
and the Rabbis," by Oded Irshai (Hebrew University); "Europe,
AD 1200-1233," by Gary Dickson (University of Edinburgh); "Europe,
AD 1500-1533," by Denis Crouzet (Université de Paris, Sorbonne);
and "Anti-Judaism and the Venetian Ghetto, 1510," by Elisabeth
Crouzet-Pavan (Université de Lille, III). At conference on "The
Apocalyptic Year 1000," Boston University, 3-5 November 1996.
12. "The Italies and the Inquisitions." Public lecture at Boston
University, sponsored by the Program for Interdisciplinary Italian Studies.
6 November 1996.
A. Book.
1. The Decline and Fall of Medieval Sicily: Politics, Religion, and
Economy in the Reign of Frederick III, 1296-1337 (Cambridge Univ.,
1995). Pp. xxiii, 347.
B. Chapter-in-Book.
1. "The Reception of Arnau de Vilanova's Religious Ideas," in
Christendom and Its Discontents: Persecution, Exclusion, and Rebellion,
1000-1500, ed. Scott L. Waugh and Peter D. Diehl (Cambridge Univ.,
1995) pp. 112-131.
C. Journal Articles.
1. "Mudejars in the Criminal Laws of the 'Furs de Valéncia'
under Jaume I," Sharq al-Andalus: estudios árabes 4
(1987), 93-99.
2. "Arnau de Vilanova and the Franciscan Spirituals in Sicily,"
Franciscan Studies 50 (1990), 3-29.
3. "The Papacy, the Sicilian Church, and King Frederick III, 1302-1321,"
Viator 22 (1991), 229-249.
D. Book Reviews.
1. Review of Book Illumination in the Middle Ages, by Otto Pächt,
in Visual Resources 5 (1988), 343-346.
2. Review of The Muslims of Valencia in the Age of Fernando and Isabel:
Between Crusade and Coexistence, by Mark Meyerson, in Al-Masaq:
Studia arabo-islamica mediterranea 5 (1991), 82-83.
3. Review of Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, by Jean Richard,
in Journal of Interdisciplinary History 25 (1994), 123-126.
4. Review of A Mediterranean Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca,
by David Abulafia, in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History
15 (1995), 263-265.
5. Review of Consent and Coercion to Sex and Marriage in Ancient and
Medieval Societies, ed. Angeliki Laiou, in Journal of the History
of Sexuality 6 (1995), 322-324.
E. Miscellaneous.
1. "The Crusades" and "The Albigensian Crusade," in
Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, ed. William W. Kibler and Grover
A. Zinn (New York, 1995).
Works in Press:
1. "Sicily," seventeen-hundred word article in the Encyclopedia
of Medieval Iberia, in press at Garland Publishers. Scheduled for 1996
release.
2. Sicilian Society in the Early Catalan Period: Selected Acts from
Barcelona and Palermo. Edition of archival records from Catalonia and
Sicily; submitted for publication..
Works in Progress:
1. A biography of James II, ruler of the confederated Crown of Aragon territories
from 1291 to 1327. Remembered as "the wily Catalan" and the most
fully European of the Aragonese rulers, James, curiously, has never received
full-length treatment. His reign marks the high-point of Catalonia-Aragon's
political, economic, and cultural development--the time when the Crown
emerged as the dominant state in the western Mediterranean. In planning
stages.
2. An article, "The Admiral of the Church and the Scourge of God."
Examines the diplomatic relations between the Crown of Aragon and the Mongol
Khan in the early fourteenth century through the study of a recently-discovered
caché of letters written between the rulers of the two states. In
drafting stages, with documentary appendix.
3. An article, "St. Peter Damian and the Two Redactions of His Liber
Gratissimus." The second version of this work by Peter Damian
(a position-paper commissioned by the Church as an aid in resolving the
issue of the legitimacy of simoniacal sacraments) appeared after the passage
of the papal legislation of 1060. Scholars have long assumed that the changes
Damian made (omitting seven chapters and appending a new conclusion) resulted
from the need to put his book in accord with the new decrees on simony.
Close attention to the changes, however, reveals a very different motive,
one that necessitates a reconsideration of Damian's entire relationship
with the Holy See. Initial draft complete.
4. A monograph on The Religious Thought of Arnau de Vilanova. This
will be the first full-length analysis of the reformist-cum-apocalyptical
religious program put forth by the famous Catalan visionary and physician.
As personal physician to a succession of popes beginning with Boniface
VIII, Arnau was very much in the center of the religious currents of his
age, and his life and work present a unique case-study of the extent to
which tolerance for dissenting ideas was or was not characteristic of late
medieval society.
5. An article, "Arnau de Vilanova and the End of the World."
Examines an overlooked aspect of Arnau's eschatological thought: not, as
usual, his calculations for the approach of the End but rather his understanding
of what precisely will happen on that day. Will the dead be bodily resurrected?
Will youth be returned to the aged? To be published in a collection of
essays edited by Paul Freedman and Caroline Walker Bynum.
6. A review of Family Power in Southern Italy: The Duchy of Gaeta and
Its Neighbours, 850-1139, by Patricia Skinner, for Speculum.
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