Dr. Chris L. Nighman
Associate Professor
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Contact Information
Email: cnighman@wlu.caPhone: 519-884-0710 ext.3134
Office Location: DAWB 4-141
Office Hours: Winter 2013: Mondays 1:30-4 or by appointment (send email to arrange)
Academic Background
- BA in History and Medieval Studies, U.C. Santa Barbara (1988)
- MA in History, University of Toronto (1990)
- PhD in History, University of Toronto (1996)
Biography
Born in Ohio, grew up in California, emigrated to Canada in 1989 to attend graduate school, and acquired dual Canadian-US citizenship in 1995. Moved to Kitchener-Waterloo in 1999; married with one child.
Scholarly Interests
My research field is late medieval and early renaissance intellectual and ecclesiastical history, focusing on Latin florilegia (collections of quotations), early Italian humanism, conciliar sermons (especially eulogies) and ecclesiastical politics, rhetorical theory and practice as it relates to the construction of self and delimitation of audience, pastoral reform in response to heresy, scribal agency in manuscript traditions and editorial agency in early print traditions. I am also involved in the growing field known as digital humanities, especially the publication of online critical editions of historical texts.
Teaching
Over the past five years I have taught the following undergraduate courses in the History Department and the Medieval Studies Program:
Publications: Articles
"Citations of 'noster' John Pecham in Richard Fleming's sermon for Trinity Sunday: evidence for the political use of liturgical music at the Council of Constance," Medieval Sermon Studies 52 (2008), 31-41 Abstract
"A new bibliographical register of the sermons and other speeches delivered at the Council of Constance," Medieval Sermon Studies 50 (2006), 71-84 [co-authored with P. Stump] Abstract
"Commonplaces on preaching among commonplaces for preaching? The topic Predicacio in Thomas of Ireland's Manipulus florum," Medieval Sermon Studies 49 (2005), 37-57
"Confronting Heinrich Finke's 'Stettin MS 33': a contribution to conciliar sermon studies," Codices Manuscripti 36 (Sept. 2001), 13-30
"Hermann von der Hardt’s ‘MSCt Erfurtensis’, a major source for his editions of sermons from the Council of Constance," Medieval Sermon Studies 38.2 (1996), 38-45
Publications: Book Reviews
S. Wenzel, Preaching in the age of Chaucer, H-Albion (February 2009)
F. Logan, History of the church in the Middle Ages, Canadian Journal of History 39.3 (2004), 558-60
P. Grendler, Universities of the Italian Renaissance, Quaderni d’Italianistica 23.2 (2002), 64-6
J.H. Burns & T. Izbicki, Conciliarism and papalism, Sixteenth Century Journal 32.2 (2001), 487-8
A. Brown, Popular piety in the diocese of Salisbury, 1250-1550, Confraternitas 17.1 (1996), 19
Publications: Online Resources
The Electronic Manipulus florum Project
The Electronic Patres Graeci in Latine Project
Electronic Sources for the Council of Constance (with Phillip H. Stump)
A Bibliographical Register of Sermons Delivered at the Council of Constance (with Phillip H. Stump)
Additional Information
Virtual Tour of Renaissance Florence with period music
WLU Library Medieval Studies resources page
Purdue University's Chicago NB style sheet
Undergraduate Research Assistant Grant proposal links:
The Electronic Manipulus florum Project
The Electronic Patres Graeci in Latine Project
Auxiliary Resources page on the Electronic Manipulus florum Project website
Wikipedia links to John Chrysostom's online works
A blog on the earliest Latin translation of John Chrysostom's homilies on Matthew
