Dr. Melanie C. Maddox
Associate Professor
Dr. Melanie Maddox is an historian of early medieval Ireland and Britain, who works on the ideal of the Insular civitas, c. 500-1050. She earned two B.A. degrees from the University of California, Riverside and her Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Her research primarily focuses on Anglo-Saxon and Irish ecclesiastics’ understanding of what a civitas was and how they used the Latin term along with their vernacular languages. She is also interested in the relationships between monasteries and secular authorities, as well as women and their use of secular authority. Maddox serves as the Book Review Editor for the academic journal Eolas, which is part of the American Society for Irish Medieval Studies.
Maddox’s undergraduate courses include The Romans, Medieval Ireland, The Vikings, Honors History I and the core classes for Western Civilization. Some of her previously taught courses include Celtic Culture & History, the History of Ireland, Medieval Travelers & their Accounts, Tudor England, and Anglo-Saxon England.
Her papers include, ‘Re-Conceptualizing the Irish Monastic Town,‘ Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries Ireland 146 (forthcoming for 2016), “Queen or Puppet Lady?: Æthelflaed’s role in the Politics, Economics and Identity of Mercia,” Quaestiones Medii Aevi Novae 19 (2014 published in 2015) and “Finding the City of God in the Lives of St Coemgen: Glendalough and the History of the Irish Celestial Civitas,” Glendalough: City of God, ed. Charles Doherty, Linda Doran and Mary Kelly (Four Courts Press, 2011).
Classroom Connections Award/Athlete: Mel Mikoy
South Carolina Historical Association
- Vice-President 2020
- Board Member, 2019-2020
- Treasurer, 2016-August 2019
Southeastern Medieval Association
- Executive Council Member 2017-2020
Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies
- Book Reviews Editor 2019-Present
Degrees
Ph.D. Medieval History (University of St Andrews)
B.A. History (University of California, Riverside)
B.A. Art History (University of California, Riverside)
Research Interests: Medieval Europe, Pre-modern Ireland