Kelly Gibson grew up in Raleigh, NC and received her PhD from Harvard. While working on her PhD, she spent a year in Paris on a Fulbright fellowship researching early medieval manuscripts. She enjoys participating in archaeological excavations and applying interdisciplinary approaches to her research and teaching. Her most recent work has utilized saints' lives to uncover ideas about doctrine, emotions, kingship, and monastic practice. Her current projects are 1) a statistical study of the factors affecting the distances traveled by ninth-century pilgrims and 2) a critical edition of the commentaries of Genesis and Leviticus by Claudius of Turin. Dr. Gibson is also the Co-editor of the Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations series.
EDUCATION
PhD, Harvard University
A.M., Harvard University
B.A., University of Virginia
RECENT COURSES
HIS 2301 Western Civilization I
HIS 2302 Western Civilization II
HIS 3307 Medieval Europe I
HIS 3308 Medieval Europe II
HIS 3309 ST/Medieval Islamic Civilization
HIS 3309 Vengeance: Law, Government & Emotion
HIS 3321 Early Medieval England
HIS 3381 Barbarians and the Fall of Rome
HIS 3382 The Carolingian World
HIS 3386 Culture of the Central Middle Ages
HIS 3387 The Crusades
HUM 6326 Great Works of the Middle Ages
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Claudius of Turin's Insane Fury: The Rhetoric of Emotions and Community," Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern
Europe [formerly The Heroic Age] 20 (2021).
"The Carolingian World through Hagiography," History Compass 13 (2015): 630–645.
"La vie monastique dans les Vies de saint Gall recrites au IXe siecle." In Normes et hagiographie dans l'Occident latin (Ve-XVIe siecles). Actes du colloque
international de Lyon, 46 octobre 2010, edited by Marie-Celine Isaia and Thomas Granier.
Hagiologia. Brepols: Turnhout, 2014."
"Rewriting History: Carolingian Reform and Controversy in Biographies of Saints." PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, 2011.
Vengeance in Medieval Europe: A Reader. Edited with Daniel Lord Smail. Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures 13. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilization, edited by Michael McCormick, Guoping Huang, Kelly Gibson, et al.
PRESENTATIONS
“Disability and Emotions in Ninth-Century Miracle Collections,” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 9–11, 2024.
“Mapping Pilgrims: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Factors Affecting Pilgrimage Distance in Carolingian Miracle Collections,” at the Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting, University of Notre Dame, March 14–16, 2024. Co-authored with Aida Ramos, Economics Department, University of Dallas.
“Support Networks for Travelers with Disabilities in the Carolingian Empire.” International Medieval Congress hosted by the University of Leeds, July 2023.
“The Bounds of Saints’ Power: Where Miracles Happened in the Carolingian World.” International Medieval Congress hosted by the University of Leeds, July 2022.
“Travelers and Travel Conditions in the Carolingian World.” Virtual International Medieval Congress hosted by the University of Leeds, July 2021.
“Imaginary Borders: Pilgrimage Distances in the Carolingian World,” at the Virtual International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds in July 2020.
“Carolingian Reform in the Revised Life of Saint Balthild,” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 9–12, 2019.
“Social Status of Miracle Recipients in Carolingian Hagiography,” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 10–13, 2018.
“Rulership in Ninth-Century Breton Hagiography” at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds in July 2017.
“Heretical and Orthodox Emotions according to Claudius of Turin and Jonas of Orléans” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 11-14, 2017.
“First Conflicts: Understanding the Conflicts in Genesis in the Carolingian Age” at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May 12-15, 2016.
“Episcopal Ideals in Alcuin’s Revised Saints’ Lives” at the International Conference of the Haskins Society, Carleton College, Nov. 6-8, 2015.