Albrecht Diem

Albrecht Diem is a historian of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. His research focuses on the history of Western monasticism from its beginnings to the period of the Carolingian monastic reforms. He approaches the history of monasticism as a long-term experiment in creating perfect communities, to overcome the effects of human sinfulness and to achieve institutional continuity. This “monastic experiment” produced a wide variety of theological frameworks and institutional models that had a lasting impact not only on monastic institutions but also on medieval society at large.

Diem considers himself a historian of ideas and an archaeologist of concepts who contributes, for example, to the history of sex and love, silence, confession, discipline and control, bodies, space and boundaries. Diem’s various projects in digital humanities can be found on earlymedievalmonasticism.org. He is an associate project investigator of the project "Visions of Community: Comparative Approaches to Ethnicity, Region and Empire in Christianity, Islam and Buddhism (400-1600 CE)" of the Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna.

Spring 2019: Humanities Faculty Fellowship, Humanities Center, Syracuse University

2015-2016: Membership of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

2015-2016: Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies

2010-2011: Friedrich Solmsen Fellowship, Institute for Studies in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison

9/2001-6/2002: Mellon Fellowship at the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, Toronto

8/2002-11/2002: Ted Meijer Fellowship at the Dutch Institute in Rome.

ORCiD

Monographs

The Pursuit of Salvation. Community, Space, and Discipline in Early Medieval Monasticism , Turnhout: Brepols 2021 (open access).

With Matthieu van der Meer: Columbanische Klosterregeln: Regula cuiusdam patris, Regula cuiusdam ad virgines, Regelfragment De accedendo, St. Ottilien: EOS-editions 2016.

Das Monastische Experiment. Die Rolle der Keuschheit bei der Entstehung des westlichen Klosterwesens, Vita Regularis, vol. 24, Münster: LIT-Verlag 2005.

Edited Volume

with Mayke de Jong and Irene van Renswoude (eds.), Connecting People. Saints, Relics and Communities in the Early Medieval World – In Memory of Janneke Raaijmakers, Series: Renovatio – Studies in the Carolingian World, Budapest: Trivent Publishers 2024 (under review).

Articles and Book Chapters

‘Saints – warriors – slaves – disciples: Community and agency in sixth-century monastic rules from Gaul’, in: Albrecht Diem, Mayke de Jong, and Irene van Renswoulde (eds.), Connecting People. Saints, Relics and Communities in the Early Medieval World – In Memory of Janneke Raaijmakers, Renovatio – Studies in the Carolingian World, Budapest: Trivent Publishers 2024 (under review).

‘Regulierung des Lebens. Klosterregeln und Reform in der Reichenau in der Karolingerzeit’, in: Veit Gedigk (ed.), Die Klosterinsel Reichenau im Mittelalter Geschichte – Kunst – Architektur, Karlsruhe: Badische Landesbibliothek 2024 (accepted for publication).

with Matthieu van der Meer: ‘Disciplining Evil: The Devil in Early Medieval Monastic Rules’ in: Julia Winnebeck (ed.), In the Grip of the Supernatural: Dependencies above, within, and before us, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024 (accepted for publication).

with Matthieu van der Meer, ‘Vita Otmari – Life of Otmar’, in: Gordon Blennemann and Sebastian Scholz (eds.), Otmars Welten (accepted for publication).

‘Otmar on Trial’, in: Gordon Blennemann and Sebastian Scholz (eds.), Otmars Welten (accepted for publication).

‘Just little sisters? Female religious life and the emergence of medieval monasticism in the West’, in: Cristina Andenna (eds.), Mendikantische Genderdiskurse (accepted for publication).

‘Asceticism’, in: Routledge Resources Online – Medieval Studies, 2022 (4 pages) – doi: 10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO192-1.

‘Celibacy’, in: Routledge Resources Online – Medieval Studies, 2022 (4 pages) – doi: 10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO190-1.

‘Monasticism’, in: Routledge Resources Online – Medieval Studies, 2022 (7 pages) – doi: 10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO193-1.

‘Monastic Landscapes: a new approach to Columbanian monasticism’, in: SVMMA. Revista de Cultures Medievals 20 (2022), pp. 70-96. 

‘Choreography and confession. The Memoriale qualiter and Carolingian monasticism’, in: Rutger Kramer, Emilie Kurdziel, and Graeme Ward (eds.), Monastic Communities and Canonical Clergy in the Carolingian World. Categorizing the Church, Turnhout: Brepols 2022, pp. 59-97.

‘Regulating Passions: Emotional Discipline in Early Medieval Monastic Rules’, in: Pakistan Journal of Historical Studies 5 (2020), pp. 11-40.

‘Merovingian Monasticism: Voices of Dissent’, in: Bonnie Effros and Isabel Moreira (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020, pp. 320-343. 

with Claudia Rapp, ‘The Monastic Laboratory: Perspectives of Research in Late Antique and Early Medieval Monasticism’, in: Alison Beach and Isabelle Cochelin (eds.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2020, pp. 19-39.

with Philip Rousseau, ‘Monastic Rules (Fourth to Ninth Century)’, in: Alison Beach and Isabelle Cochelin (eds.), The Cambridge History of Medieval Monasticism in the Latin West, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2020, pp. 162-194. 

‘Vita vel Regula: Multifunctional Hagiography in the Early Middle Ages’, in: Samantha Herrick (ed.), Hagiography and the History of Latin Christendom, 500-1500, Leiden: Brill 2020, pp. 123-142.

‘Antony the Great’, in: David Hunter, Paul van Geest and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (eds.), Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity online, Leiden: Brill 2019. 

‘Monastic Rules’, in: Philip L. Reynolds (ed.), Great Christian Jurists and Legal Collections in the First Millennium, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019, pp. 214-236. 

‘The Limitations of Asceticism’, in: Medieval Worlds 9 (2019), pp. 112-138.

‘Exclusion and the rhetoric of accessibility in the late antique and early medieval monasticism’. in: Sylvie Joye, Cristina La Rocca, and Stéphane Gioanni (ed.), La construction sociale du sujet exclu (IVe-XIe siècle). Discours, lieux et individus, Turnhout: Brepols 2019 (Collection Haut Moyen Âge, vol. 33), pp. 123-147.

‘Disputing Columbanus’s Heritage: The Regula cuiusdam patris (with a Translation of the Rule)’, in: Alexander O’Hara (ed.), Columbanus and the Peoples of Post-Roman Europe (Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2018, pp. 259-306.

‘Teaching sodomy. Carolingian monasteries and queer anxieties. A study of Walahfrid Strabo’s and Heito’s Visio Wettini’, in: German History 34 (2016), pp. 385-401.

‘The stolen glove: On the hierarchy and power of objects in Columbanian monasteries’, in: Krijn Pansters, and Abraham Plunkett-Latimer (eds.), Shaping Stability The Normation and Formation of Religious Life in the Middle Ages, Turnhout: Brepols 2016 (Disciplina Monastica, vol. 11), pp. 51-67.

‘Columbanian monastic rules: dissent and experiment’, in: Roy Flechner and Sven Meeder (eds.), The Irish in Europe in the Middle Ages: Identity, Culture, and Religion, London: Palgrave Macmillan 2016, pp. 68-85 and 248-249.

‘The Carolingians and the Regula Benedicti ’, in: Dorine van Espelo, Bram van den Hoven van Genderen, Rob Meens, Janneke Raaijmakers, Irene van Renswoude, and Carine van Rhijn (eds.), Religious Franks Religion and power in the Frankish Kingdoms: Studies in honour of Mayke de Jong, Manchester: Manchester University Press 2016, pp. 243-261.

'Die «Regula Columbani» und die «Regula Sancti Galli» Überlegungen zu den Gallusviten in ihrem karolingischen Kontext,' in: Franziska Schnoor, Karl Schmuki, Ernst Tremp, Peter Erhart, Jakob Kuratli Hüeblin (eds.), Gallus und seine Zeit. Leben, Wirken, Nachleben (Monasterium Sancti Galli, vol. 7), St. Gallen: Verlag am Klosterhof 2015, pp. 65-97.

'L'espace, la grâce et la discipline dans les règles monastiques du haut Moyen Âge', in: Isabelle Heullant-Donat, Julie Claustre, Élisabeth Lusset, and Falk Bretschneider (eds.), Enfermements II: Règles et dérèglements en milieu clos (VI^e-XIX^e siècle), Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne 2015, pp. 215-238.

'Gregory's Chess Board: Monastic Conflict and Competition in Early Medieval Gaul', in: Philippe Depreux, François Bougard, and Régine Le Jan (eds.), Compétition et sacré au haut Moyen Âge : entre médiation et exclusion, Turnhout: Brepols 2015, pp. 165-191.

' ...ut si professus fuerit se omnia impleturum, tunc excipiatur.  Observations on the Rules for Monks and Nuns of Caesarius and Aurelianus of Arles', in: Victoria Zimmerl-Panagl, Lukas J. Dorfbauer and Clemens Weidmann (eds.), Edition und Erforschung lateinischer patristischer Texte. 150 Jahre CSEL. Festschrift für Kurt Smolak zum 70. Geburtstag, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2014. pp. 191-224.

'My cell is my castle. Variaties op kloosterlijke huiselijkheid, 5de-9de eeuw', in: Holland, Historisch Tijdschrift 46:1 (2014), pp. 23-30.

'Einleitung zur Übersetzung der Regula Donati', in: Donatus of Besançon, Nonnenregel, transl. by Katharina Hauschild, St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag 2014. pp.7-25.

'Who is Allowed to Pray for the King? Saint-Maurice d'Agaune and the Creation of a Burgundian Identity', in: Gerda Heydemann and Walter Pohl (eds), Post-RomanTransitions. Christian and Barbarian Identities in the Early Medieval West, Turnhout: Brepols 2013 (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages vol. 14), pp. 47-88.

'The Gender of the Religious: Wo/Men and the Invention of Monasticism', in: Judith Bennett and Ruth Marzo-Karras (eds), The Oxford Companion on Women and Gender inthe Middle Ages, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013, pp. 432-446.

'Die Wüste im Kopf. Askese und Sexualität in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter', in: Regina Ammicht Quinn (ed.), "Guter" Sex: Moral, Moderne und die katholische Kirche, Paderborn: Schöningh 2013, pp. 31-42.

'New ideas expressed in old words: the Regula Donati on female monastic life and monastic spirituality', in: Viator 43:1 (2012), pp. 1-38. 

' Columbans gestohlener Handschuh - ein (Anti-)Fetisch? ', in: Christina Antenhofer (ed.), Fetisch als heuristische Kategorie. Geschichte - Rezeption - Interpretation, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag 2011, pp. 145-165.

'Das Ende des monastischen Experiments. Liebe, Beichte und Schweigen in der Regula cuiusdam ad virgines (mit einer Übersetzung im Anhang)', in: Gert Melville and Anne Müller (eds), Female vita religiosa between Late Antiquity and the High Middle Ages. Structures, developments and spatial contexts. Münster/Berlin: LIT-Verlag 2011 (Vita Regularis, Abhandlungen, vol. 47), pp. 81-136.

'Disimpassioned Monks and Flying Nuns. Emotion Management in Early Medieval Rules', in: Christina Lutter (ed.), Funktionsräume, Wahrnehmungsräume, Gefühlsräume. Mittelalterliche Lebensformen zwischen Kloster und Hof, Vienna/Munich: Oldenbourg/Böhlau 2011 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, vol. 59), pp. 17-39.

'Inventing the Holy Rule: some observations on the history of monastic normative observance in the Early Medieval West', in: Hendrik Dey and Elizabeth Fentress (eds), Western Monasticism ante litteram. The Spaces of Monastic Observance in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Turnhout: Brepols 2011 (Disciplina Monastica, vol. 7), pp. 53-84.

'Vita, Regula, Sermo: Eine unbekannte lateinische Vita Pacomii als Lehrtext für ungebildete Mönche und als Traktat über das Sprechen' (with an edition produced in cooperation with Hildegund Müller Univ. of Notre Dame), in: Richard Corradini, Max Diesenberger and Meta Niederkorn-Bruck (eds), Zwischen Niederschrift und Wiederschrift. Frühmittelalterliche Hagiographie und Historiographie im Spannungsfeld von Kompendienüberlieferung und Editionstechnik, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2010 (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters, vol. 18), pp. 223-272.

'On opening and closing the body: Techniques of discipline in early monasticism', in: Kordula Schnegg and Elisabeth Grabner-Nie (ed.), Körper er-fassen: Körpererfahrungen, Körpervorstellungen, Körperkonzepte, Innsbruck/Vienna/Munich: StudienVerlag 2010, pp. 89-112.

'Nu suln ouch wir gesellen sîn - Über Schönheit, Freundschaft und mann-männliche Liebe im Tristan Gottfrieds von Straßburg', in: "Die sünde, der sich der tuivel schamet in der helle". Homosexualität in der Kultur des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, Stuttgart: Thorbecke Verlag 2009, pp. 91-121 (revised version, originally published in Tristania - A Journal Devoted to Tristan Studies 19 [1999], pp. 45-90).

'A Classicising Friar at Work: John of Wales' Breviloquium de virtutibus', in: Alasdair A. MacDonald, Zweder von Martels and Jan Veenstra (eds.), Christian Humanism. Essays in Honor of Arjo Vanderjagt, Leiden: Brill Publishers 2009, pp. 75-102.

'Rewriting Benedict: The regula cuiusdam ad virgines and intertextuality as tool to construct a monastic identity', in: The Journal of Medieval Latin 17 (2007, published 2009), pp. 313-328.

'The rule of an Iro-Egyptian Monk in Gaul. Jonas of Bobbio's Vita Iohannis and the construction of a monastic identity', in: Revue Mabillon 80 (2008), pp. 5-50.

'Organisierte Keuschheit - organisierte Heiligkeit. Individuum und Institutionalisierung im frühen gallo-fränkischen Klosterwesen', in: Pavlina Rychterova, Stefan Seit and Raphalea Veit (eds.), Das Charisma. Funktionen und symbolische Repräsentation, Berlin: Akademie Verlag 2008, pp. 323-345.

'Monks, Kings, and the Transformation of Sanctity: Jonas of Bobbio and the End of the Holy Man', in: Speculum 82 (2007), pp. 521-559.

'Van liefde, vrees en zwijgen. Emoties en 'emotioneel beleid' in vroegmiddeleeuwse kloosters', in: Groniek. Historisch Tijdschrift 173 (2006), pp. 409-423.

'Virtus est via ad gloriam. John of Wales and Michele da Massa in disagreement', in: Franciscan Studies 63 (2005), pp. 219-273.

'Zielzorg met de zeven deugden. Thomas of Chobham, Robert Grosseteste en de rol van deugden in pastorale zorg', in: Millenium, Tijdschrift voor middeleeuwse studies 19 (2005), pp. 3-23.

'Waarom deugden interessanter dan zonden zijn. Een kleine speurtocht door de middeleeuwse cultuur en denkwereld', in: Madoc. Tijdschrift over de middeleeuwen 19.3 (2005), pp. 130-138.

'Encounters between monks and demons', in: A. Harbus, Tette Hofstra and Karin Olsen (eds), Miracles and the Miraculous in Medieval Latin and Germanic Literature, Germania Latina, vol. 5, Leuven: Peeters 2004, pp. 51-67.

'Virtues and vices in early texts on pastoral care', in: Franciscan Studies 62 (2004), pp. 193-223.

'Radboud was behalve bisschop ook nog eens een groot geleerde… De heilige Radbod van Deventer en zijn geleerdheid kritisch bekeken', in: ET VT (Nijmegen) 23 (2004), pp. 83-97.

'Was bedeutet Regula Columbani?', in: Max Diesenberger and Walter Pohl (eds), Integration und Herrschaft. Ethnische Identitäten und soziale Organisation im Frühmittelalter, Vienna 2002 (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters vol. 3), pp. 63-89.

'Was de eerste monnik een vrouw? Het ontstaan van het Westerse kloosterwezen als een unisex experiment', in: Groniek. Historisch Tijdschrift 158/159 (2002), pp. 63-78.

'Verbeeldingen van seksualiteit - een middeleeuws diptiek', in: Almanak van de historische Studentenvereniging Ubbo Emmius, Groningen 2002, pp. 41-47.

'Organisierte Keuschheit. Sexualprävention im Mönchtum der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters', in: Invertito. Jahrbuch für die Geschichte der Homosexualitäten 3 (2001), pp. 8-37.

'The Emergence of Monastic Schools. The Role of Alcuin', in: L.A.J.R. Houwen and Alasdair A. McDonald (eds), Alcuin of York. Scholar at the Carolingian Court, Groningen: Forsten 1998 (Germania Latina, vol. 3), pp. 27-44.

in cooperation with Jeroen Westerman, 'Lol in Geschiedenis. Interview met Piet Leupen', in: Madoc. Tijdschrift over de Middeleeuwen 11 (1997), pp. 20-26.

'Van ongewassen asceten en zuivere monniken. Het ontstaan van het kloosterwezen langs het water verteld', in: Ex tempore. Historisch tijdschrift KU Nijmegen 16 (1997), pp. 159-169.

'Een verstoorder van de ordo. Gottschalk van Orbais en zijn Leer van de Dubbele Predestinatie', in: Mayke de Jong, Marie-Thérèse Bos and Carine van Rhijn (eds), Macht en Gezag in de Negende Eeuw, Hilversum 1995 (Utrechtse Historische Cahiers 16.2/3), pp. 115-131.

Digital Publications/Digital Humanities Projects

https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-encyclopedia-of-early-christianity-online/*-SIM_00000191

The Hildemar Project (project coordinator)

Translation of Hildemar of Corbie, Expositio Regulae,

• chapter 1
• chapter 49 (in collaboration with Bruce Venarde)
• chapter 66 (in collaboration with Gregor Kallas)
• chapter 67 (in collaboration with Michael Martin and Matthieu van der Meer)
• chapter 69 (in collaboration with Justin Haar)           

Bibliography on Late Antique and Early Medieval Monasticism

Monastic Manuscript Project

Catalogue of Digital Manuscript Projects

Book reviews (selection)

Ulrich Köpf, Mönchtum als Lebensform: Gesammelte Aufsätze, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021, in: Review of Biblical Literature, no. 4 (2023).

Hornung, Christian, Monachus et sacerdos: Asketische Konzeptualisierungen des Klerus im antiken Christentum, Leiden: Brill 2020 (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 157), in: Church History 90:3 (2021), pp. 651-652 – doi: 10.1017/S0009640721002237.

Geuenich, Dieter and Uwe Ludwig, Die St. Galler Verbrüderungsbücher. MGH Libri Memoriales , Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2019, in: Theologische Revue 116 (2020)

Brother Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

Claudia Rapp, Brother Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, in: Journal of Early Christian Studies 26:2 (2018), pp. 342-344.

Felice Lifshitz, Religious Women in Early Carolingian Francia: A Study of Manuscript Transmission and Monastic Culture, New York: Fordham University Press 2014, in: The Catholic Historical Review 102:2 (2016), pp. 380-381.

Tremp, Ernst and the Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, eds. Der St. Galler Klosterplan: Faksimile, Begleittext, Beischriften und Übersetzung. St. Gallen: Verlag am Klosterhof, 2014, in: The Medieval Review.

Ruth Mazo Karras, Sexuality in Medieval Europe. Doing unto others, Second edition, London/New York: Routledge 2012, in Sehepunkte.Rezensionsjournal für die Geschichtswissenschaften 14:6 (2014).

Dieter Bauer, Klaus Herbers, Hedwig Röckelen, and Felicitas Schmieder (eds.), Heilige, Liturgie, Raum, Beiträge zur Hagiographie 8, Stuttgart 2010, in: Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 40:4 (2013), pp. 666-668.

Glenn Olsen, Of Sodomites, Effeminates, Hermaphrodites, and Androgynes, Toronto: PIMS 2011, in: Sehepunkte. Rezensionsjournal für die Geschichtswissenschaften 12:11 (2012). 

Lynda L. Coon, Dark Age Bodies: Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West, in: The Journal of Religion 92:2, pp. 286-287.

Röcke, Werner and Julia Weitbrecht (eds), Askese und identität in Spätantike, Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter 2010, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 137:2 (2012), cols 213-215. 

Jezierski, Wojtek, Total St Gall. Medieval Monastery as a Disciplinary Institution. Acta Universitatis Stockholmendis, Stockholm: Stockholm Universitet 2010, in: The Medieval Review.

Goodrich, Richard J., Contextualizing Cassian: Aristocrats, Asceticism, and Reformation in Fifth-Century Gaul (Oxford Early Christian Studies). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press 2007, in: The Journal of Religion 91:2 (2011), pp. 262-264.

Sabine vom Heusinger und Annette Kehnel (ed.), Generations in the Cloister/ Generationen im Kloster. Youth and Age in Medieval Religious Life/Jugend und Alter in der mittelalterlichen vita religiosa (Vita Regularis, Abhandlungen, Bd. 36), Münster: LIT-Verlag 2008, in: Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 118 (2010), pp. 285-287.

I Deug-Su, L'eloquenza del silenzio nelle fonti mediolatine. Il caso di Leoba «dilecta» di Bonifacio Vinfrido, Florence 2004, in: Revue d'Historire Ecclesiastique 102 (2007).

Marilyn Dunn, The Emergence of Medieval Monasticism, London 2000, in: History 89 (2004), pp. 449-450.

Klaus van Eickels, Vom inszenierten Konsens zum systematisierten Konflikt. Die englisch-französischen Beziehungen an der Wende vom Hoch- zum Spätmittelalter, Stuttgart 2002, in: Invertito. Jahrbuch für die Geschichte der Homosexualitäten 5 (2003), pp. 129-131.

Gerard Bartelink (transl.) and Frits van der Meer (introduction), Gregorius de Grote. Het leven van Benedictus en andere heiligen, Nijmegen 2001, in: Madoc. Tijdschrift over de Middeleeuwen 16 (2002), pp. 55-56.

Benedict van Aniane, Concordia regularum, ed. Pierre Bonnerue (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, vol. 168 and 168 A), Turnhout: Brepols 1999, in: Early Medieval Europe 10 (2001), pp. 402-403.

July 13, 2023, ‘Wendepunkte in der Geschichte des spätantiken und frühmittelalterlichen Klosterwesens’, Friedrich Meinecke Institut, Freie Universität Berlin (invited lecture)

July 4, 2023, ‘Gregory’s Holy Trouble Makers’, International Medieval Congress, Leeds (conference lecture).

June 9, 2023, ‘Regulating and educating in Early Latin Monasticism’, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, University of Lund (invited conference lecture)

May 23, 2023, ‘The pursuit of early medieval monastic studies’, Jerusalem Institute for Advanced Studies (invited lecture).

April 6, 2023 ‘Was the First Medieval Monk a Woman? – Reconsidered’, 12th Annual International Graduate Workshop The Quotidian and the Divine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (conference keynote lecture). 

March 29, 2023, ‘Early Medieval Monasticism, An Archaeology of Emotions’, lecture series of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University (invited lecture).

March 24, 2023, ‘Experimentelle Gemeinschaften im frühen Mittelalter’, Universität Wien (invited lecture).

March 2, 2023, ‘Regulierung des Lebens. Klosterregeln und Reform in Kloster Rei-chenau in der Karolingerzeit’, Die Klosterinsel Reichenau im Mittelalter. Geschichte – Kunst – Architektur, Reichenau, conference organized by the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe (invited conference lecture).

November 18, 2022 ‘Fachdidaktik im Frühmittelalter’, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (invited lecture).

July 12, 2022 ‘Hagiographie und kollektive Heiligkeit’, Freie Universität Berlin, Department of History and Cultural Studies (invited lecture). 

July 5, 2022 ‘The Regula Benedicti and Carolingian Monastic Reform’, International Medieval Congress, Leeds (conference presentation).

June 9, 2022 ‘Zusammen heilig - zusammen glücklich. Monastische Gemeinschaftsexperimente des sechsten Jahrhunderts’, Institute for Historical Research/Institute for Biblical Studies and Historical Theology, University of Innsbruck (guest lecture).

June 8, 2022 ‘How to create a holy community: normative and narrative strategies’, Institute for Medieval Research, School of Advanced Studies of the University of London (invited lecture).

May 13, 2022 ‘Audiatur et altera pars: hagiographic narratives told from the perspective of the villain’, workshop Pasados alternativos: ucronías, contrafctuales y otros modos de pensar el pasado en la Antigüedad, University of Granada (invited conference lecture).

May 6, 2022 ‘Die Rolle des Klosterwesens in den Konzilsentscheidungen des 5.-8. Jahrhunderts’, conference Der bischöfliche Impetus  Individueller und kollektiver Gestaltungswille in Gesellschaft, Kultur und Wirtschaft vom 6. bis 8. Jahrhundert, University of Kiel (invited conference lecture).

April 28, 2022 ‘Collective Sanctity and Early Medieval Hagiography’, Department of History, University of Zagreb (invited lecture).

March 26, 2022 ‘Monastic Identities’, conference Golden years for the Dark Ages: The Transformation of Early Medieval Studies since 1980, Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (invited conference lecture).

March 7, 2022 ‘Purity in Early Medieval Monastic Rules’, conference Purity and Pollution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem (invited conference lecture).

March 4, 2022 ‘Monastic Studies – New Developments’, colloquium of the Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (invited lecture).

December 5, 2021 ‘Regulating Emotions in Early Medieval Monasteries’, virtual conference Emotions and the Subject of Modern History, Institute of History of the Government College, University of Lahore. Link (invited conference lecture).

November 4, 2021 ‘A farewell to Iro-Frankish monasticism’, conference Primitive Monastic Landscapes in the West, Universitat de Barcelona (invited conference lecture).

October 21, 2021 ‘Basil, Benedict and Beyond. Understanding Regular Observance’, Ewa Wipszycka's Late Antique Seminar, University of Warsaw (invited lecture).

September 29, 2021 ‘Disciplining Evil: The Devil in Early Medieval Monastic Rules’, conference In the Grip of the Supernatural: Dependencies above, within, and before us, University of Bonn (invited conference lecture).

July 5, 2021: ‘The dangers of purity’, International Medieval Conference, Leeds, UK.

May 12, 2021: ‘Monks without Bones’, International Medieval Congress, Kalamazoo, MI.

July 2, 2019: ‘Spilled Beer and Broken Vessels: On Negligence and Domestic Accidents’, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK

June 21, 2019: ‘Der Einfluss monastischer Ideale und Lebenspraktiken auf die nicht monastische Welt’, conference Otmars Welten: St.Gallen und das europäische Mönchtum im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert, Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen (invited lecture).

May 3, 2019: ‘The Confessional Machine’, workshop Confession, Truth, and Power: A Conversation, organized by the Dept. of History, Syracuse University and the Humanities Center, Syracuse University.

April 1, 2019: ‘The Pursuit of Salvation in Early Medieval Monastic Rules’, Sewanee Medieval Colloquium, University of the South, Sewanee, TN.

April 1, 2019: ‘Hildemar’s Queer Anxieties. Carolingian Monastic Reform and Same-Sex Anxieties’, Program in Medieval Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (invited lecture).

Feb. 2, 2019: ‘Democratic Monasteries? On Hierarchy and Equality in Early Medieval Monastic Communities’, CHRONOS 2019 Undergraduate History.

Dec. 19, 2018: ‘The Second Ascetic Invasion: Lay Aristocrats and Columbanian Monasticism’ Conference: Religious Life, Elites, & Medieval Culture Tuscalosa, Alabama(invited lecture).

October 6, 2018: ‘Excavating Virgins: An Archaeology of Concepts’, 68th Annual Meeting of the New York State Association of European Historians Buffalo.

July 19, 2018: ‘Der Sinn des (klösterlichen) Lebens? Eine Antwort von Jonas von Bobbio’, Colloquium des Forschungsprojektes Visions of Community, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Austrian Academy of Science Vienna.

April 11, 2018: ‘Revealing one’s self. Some thoughts on the history of confession’, William P. Tolley University Faculty Forum, Syracuse University (invited lecture).

July 5, 2017: ‘Enclosure Re-Opened: Gender and Sacred Space in Early Medieval Monasticism’, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK.

June 30, 2017: ‘From regula sancta to monastic law: the long history of regular observance in the early middle ages’, Cultural Memory and the Rules for a Christian Life in the Early Medieval West, workshop organized by the project ‘Living the Law in the Early Medieval World: The Contribution of Canon Law to European Culture’, Radboud University, Nijmegen (invited lecture).

May 13, 2017: ‘Hildemar’s Queer Anxieties’, International Medieval Conference, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

May 7, 2017: ‘Enclosure Re-Opened: Gender and Sacred Space in Early Medieval Monasticism’, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK.

April 4, 2017: ‘Two nuns go to hell. Confession could have saved their lives’, Building Bridges. First Chronos Undergraduate Conference, Syracuse University.

February 25, 2017: ‘The dangers of purity. New approaches to the Carolingian monastic reforms’, keynote lecture, Devotional Bodies, Graduate Conference of the Medieval Studies Student Colloquium, Cornell University (invited lecture).

June 17, 2016: ‘Ein neuentdeckter Kommentar zur Regla Benedicti im Kontext der karolingischen Regelrezeption’ (with Matthieu van der Meer), Arbeitskreis zum christlichen Diskurs der Spätantike und des Frühmittelalters, University of Vienna. 

April 19, 2016: ‘Beyond Benedict: The Rule Between the Lines in Early Medieval Monasticism’ (with Matthieu van der Meer), Committee for the Study of Late Antiquity, Princeton University (invited lecture)

Feb. 4, 2016: 'Rule and Practice in Early Medieval Monasticism', Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

July 9, 2015: 'Nonnus and Monacha: How Gendered is Early Medieval Monasticism?', International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK.

June 26, 2015:  'Early Medieval Monasticism-s: Vita regularis as One Variant Among Many Others', International Colloquium Norm and Exercise: Forms and History of Christian Asceticism in Late Antiquity, University of Turin (invited lecture).

June 5, 2015:  'The Monastery as Surrogate Family in the Early Middle Ages', Conference Kinless Worlds. Familienlosigkeit und asketische Milieus von der Spätantike bis zum Spätmittelalter, University of Konstanz (invited lecture).

May 22, 2015: 'Columbanian Monasticism - does it exist?', Conference Making Europe: Columbanus and his legacy, organized by the National University of Ireland, Galway, held in Bangor, Northern Ireland (invited lecture).

Oct. 11, 2014:  '"No Fuss about Sex? Sodomy, Purity and the Restrained body in Hildemar's Commentary to the Rule of Benedict', Conference: Sex in the Margins. Commentaries and the History of Sex and Gender, University of California-Davis.

July 10, 2014: 'Hildemar's Body', International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK.

May 5, 2014: 'Hildemar Going Wild: A Commentary on Sodomy and Other Nuisances', International Medieval Conference, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Feb. 7, 2014: 'You are not welcome here. Exclusion from monastic entry'. Conference L'exclusion dans les sociétés du haut Moyen Âge, École française de Rome and Università degli studi di Padova, Padua, Italy (invited lecture).

Jan. 3, 2014: 'The Bishop on the Bucket. A case of Carolingian Slander'. Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Washington D.C.

Nov. 29, 2013: 'Gregory's Chessboard: Monastic Conflict and Competition in Early Medieval Gaul'. Workshop, Center for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto (invited lecture).

Sept. 27, 2013: 'A Saint Speaks Up: Angelic Texting in the Early Middle Ages', keynote lecture at the Conference: The Return of the Text. A conference on the cultural value of close reading, Le Moyne College/Syracuse University (invited lecture, video).

July 1, 2013: 'The Singing Barbarian', International Medieval Congress, Leeds UK.

June 6, 2013: 'Die Regula Aureliani', Studientag zu einem Editions-Projekt monastischer Texte, Institut für Benediktinische Studien, Salzburg (invited lecture).

Nov. 23, 2012: 'Hildemar's Library', First International Workshop, Center for Mediaeval Studies, Toronto.

Oct. 5, 2012: 'Organizing sanctity: discipline and theology in early medieval monasticism', Conference Règles et dérèglements en milieu clos (VIe-XIXe siècle), Clairvaux, France, organized by the project Enfermements. Histoire comparée des enfermements monastiques et carcéraux, Universities of Reims, Paris 1-Sorbonne, Paris Ouest - Nanterre-La Défense (invited lecture).

Sept. 6, 2012: 'Die Regula Columbani', Conference Gallus und seine Zeit. Leben, Wirken, Nachwirken, organized by the Stiftsarchiv and Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, Switzerland (invited lecture).

July 11, 2012: 'Nuns Don't Carry Knives: Discipline and Theology in Columbanian Monasticism', International Medieval Congress, Leeds UK 2012.

July 3, 2012: 'Reform and Conflict in Early Medieval Monasticism', Conference Compétition et sacré au haut Moyen Âge: entre médiation et exclusion, University of Limoges (invited lecture).

June 19, 2012: 'Views from outside. Conflict and Identity in Early Medieval Monasticism', Conference Ethnicity and Christian Discourse in the Early Middle Ages, organized by the Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Austrian Academy of Sciences (invited lecture).

May 12, 2012: 'Monks and Nuns from Afar: Outsiders' Perspectives on Early Medieval Monasticism', International Medieval Conference, Kalamazo MI.

February 2, 2012: 'Early Monastic Rules in the West', seminar of the Center for the Study of Early Christianity, Catholic University, Washington DC.

October 5, 2011: 'Die Wüste im Kopf: Askese und Sexualität im spätantiken Christentum', conference Let's think about sex, Frankfurt, oranized in collaboration with the Frankfurter Rudschau (invited lecture).

September 30, 2011: 'Emotion management in early monastic rules', conference Self among Selves, Emotions and the Common Life, Maxwell School of Citizenship, Syracuse University (invited lecture).

July 12, 2011: 'Monks writing (their) history: techniques of constructing a suitable past', International Medieval Congres, Leeds.

May 12, 2011: 'Negotiating the Past: Reform and Conflict in Early Medieval Monasticism', International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI. 

April 14, 2011: 'Gregory's Chessboard: Asceticism and Monastic Life in the Works of Gregory of Tours', Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Scottsdale (Phoenix), AZ.

March 29, 2011: 'Radegund and the singing barbarian. Christian amateurism in the 6th century', Center for Medieval Studies, University of Minnesota (invited lecture).

Feb. 28, 2011, 'Nuns don't carry knives. Everyday monastic life in the seventh century', Brown bag lecture, Medieval Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (invited lecture).

Dec. 9, 2010: 'Monastic identities - ethnic identities: competitive concepts of the past', Conference Ethnic Identities in Early Medieval Europe, Institute for Medieval Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna (invited lecture).

Oct. 25, 2010: 'The Invention of Monasticism', Seminar of the Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison (invited lecture).

March 15, 2010: 'Who is allowed to pray for the king? Monasticism and ethnical boundaries in the Early Middle Ages', Center for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto.

2005-2007: Research fellow at the Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna

2004-2005: Lecturer at the Department of History, University of Utrecht

2002-2004: Post doctoral researcher at the Catholic University of Nijmegen in a research project on the reception of the Cardinal Virtues in the Middle Ages

2000-2001: Lecturer at the Department of History, University of Groningen