About Us
Steven Bednarski
Steven Bednarski
Professor
Department of History

PhD, Université du Québec à Montréal

MA, University of Toronto

BA Honours, Glendon College, York University

519-884-8111 

28276
stevenb@uwaterloo.ca

Office

SJ1 2003
Image of Steven Bednarski
BIOGRAPHY

I am a social historian of crime and gender specializing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. My geographic foci are Provence and the south of England. In Provence, I read criminal trials and notarial registers to see the plots and plans of ordinary townspeople. From them I extract lessons on wife assault, child abuse, adultery and illicit sexuality, gender norms, pedagogy, and women’s healthcare. In England, I contemplate changes to natural environment and their impact on lived human experiences, particularly in and around Herstmonceux manor, East Sussex.

 

For more information about the Herstmonceux Project and Steven's work, visit http://www.medieval-environment.com and
https://uwaterloo.ca/stories/waterloo-research-lost-medieval-village-hol...

PUBLICATIONS

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member’s work.

 

Books

A Poisoned Past: the Life and Times of Margarita de Portu, a Fourteenth-century Poisoner. University of Toronto Press, 2014. 202 pp. 

 

Curia: A Social History of a Court, Crime, and Conflict in a Late Medieval Town.Montpellier, PULM, 2013. 228 pp.

 

Articles

(Co-authored with A. Moore) “Medieval Climate Change and Land Use at Herstmonceux, East Sussex” (forthcoming.)

 

“Queering a Castle: Herbet Paul Latham and Government Condemnation of Homosexuality at Herstmonceux in the Second World War” (forthcoming).

 

(Co-authored with A. Moore) "Draining the Swamp: National and Local Regulation of Drainage in a 1396 English Sewer Commission Report," Speculum, 94:2 (2022), 322-348.

 

(Co-authored with A. Moore) “New Interdisciplinary Approaches to Life and Land at Herstmonceux,” Handbook of Medieval Rural Life, ed. Miriam Muller, Routledge History Handbook Series (Oxford: Routledge, April 2018).

 

“Changing Landscapes: A Call for Renewed Approaches to Social History, Natural Environment, and Historical Climate in Late Medieval Provence,” Memini. Travaux et Documents, Mélanges offerts à Michel Hébert, 19 – 20 (2015 – 2016): 423 – 457.

 

Sadly and With a Bitter Heart : What Caesarean Section Meant in the Middle Ages,” Florilegium. Essays in Honour of Margaret Wade Labarge, vol. 28 (2011) ed. Jacqueline Murray: ss-69. (Published April 2013).

 

Chapters

(Co-authored with C. McCarthy) “Margarida de Portu,” Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, History of Toxicology and Environmental Health Series, ed. Philip Wexler, National Library of Medicine (London: Academic Press, 2017): 141 – 147.

 

“Autour du corps de Catherine Fabri : un document relatif à une césarienne post-mortem en Provence au XVe siècle” in Autour de la médicalisation. Perspectives historique, pratique et re-présentations des soignants et des soignés, XVE-XX siècle, ed. Joceline Chabot, Daniel Hickey, and Martin Pâquet (Presses universitaires Laval, 2012): 27-43.

 

“Autour du corps de Catherine Fabri : un document relatif à une césarienne post-mortem en Provence au XVe siècle” in Autour de la médicalisation. Perspectives historiques, pratiques et re-présentations des soignants et des soignés, XVe-XX
siècles, ed. Joceline Chabot, Daniel Hickey, and Martin Pâquet (Lavel University Press) forthcoming 2012.

GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS

Grants

SSHRC Connection Grant (2016-2018)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2016)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2015)

SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (2014-2018)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2014-2015)

SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2011-2013)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2011-2012)

University of Waterloo SSHRC Seed Grant (2009-2010)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2009-2010)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2008-2009)

St. Jerome's University-Faculty Research Grant (2007-2008)

OGS, Masters Level (1995-1996)

 

Fellowships

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2002-2004)

SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (1998-2001)

 

Awards
STLHE - D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning (2017) See the University of Waterloo's Daily Bulletin and University of Waterloo Medieval Studies

University of Waterloo/SSHRC 4A Award (2013)

University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award (2011)

New Faculty Member Award for Grad. Stud. Support (2006)

COURSES TAUGHT

HIST 115: Crusading in the Middle Ages

HIST 260: Europe, 410 – 1303

HIST 304: Heresy & Religious Crises in the Later Middle Ages

HIST 317 History of Sexuality, Premodern

HIST 402A & B: Medieval Europe Seminars

HIST 422: Special Topics in History [Topic: Medieval History]

HIST 422: Special Topics in History [Topic: Microhistory and Storytelling]

HIST 422: Special Topics in History [Topic: Microhistory and Lost People of Europe]

HIST 491: Independent Study in Special Topics [Topic: War and Society]

HIST 622: Microhistory & the Lost Peoples of Europe

HIST 624: Environmental & Climate History, Premodern

 

ARTS 140: Information and Analysis [Topic: Debunk Alt-Facts: Info Literacy]

ARTS 490: Fourth-Year Topics in Arts [Topic: History Mapping & GIS]

PROFESSIONAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

The content that follows may only represent a portion of the Faculty member’s work.

 

Professional

Judge, Fonds de Recherche du Québec, Société et Culture (2014-2015)

External Online Course Reviewer, University of Nipissing (2013)

Reviewer, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (2011)

Chair, Canadian Historical Ass. Wallace K. Ferguson Book Prize (2010, 2011)

Humanities Judge, Canadian Bureau for International Education (2010)

Judge, Canadian Historical Ass. Wallace K. Ferguson Book Prize (2009)

Member, Tri-University OCGS Medieval History Major Field Committee (2008, 2009)

 

Administrative

St Jerome’s University

Co-Director, Medieval Studies (2007-2012; July 1-December 31, 2013; 2014-2018; 2019-2024)
Member, Search Committee, Department of Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies (2014-2015)

Research Officer, Elected (2011-2012/2014)

Member, Steering Committee of College Council (2010-2011)

Member, Committee on Research & Scholarship (2010)

Member, Search Committee, Department of Mathematics (2009)

Member, Headley Essay Prize committee (2008, 2009)

Member,Website Committee (2008-2009)

Member, Search Committee, Library (2007)

 

University of Waterloo

Member, History Department Curriculum Reform Committee (2008-2010)

Member, Senate Undergraduate Council (2008-2009)

Chair, Doctoral Examination Committee (2010-2011)

Faculty Representative, Arts Endowment Fund (2007-2008)

Provost’s Representative, Search Committee (Department of Classical Studies, Chair Search) (2008)

Member, Newberry Library Consortium (2006-Ongoing)

 

Community

Local Coordinator, Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine, Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences (2012)

Member, Selection Committee, Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences (2012)

External Referee, University of Ghent (2007)

Member, Search Committee, University of Waterloo History Department (2006-2007)

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