Medica Book Series

Rachael Vause is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Kennesaw State University. She specialises in early medieval material culture, specifically jewellery and other ornamentation of the British Isles (5th–10th c. CE). Her research explores the bodily relationship between objects and their makers and users. As a scholar and an artist, she is deeply invested in the ways in which visual and material culture shapes ways of knowing, and she approaches objects as sites for the formation of collective and individual identity. Her dissertation, “Power Embodied: Pectoral Crosses in Early England and their Pre-Christian Background,” attempts to reconcile the duality between human and material culture as well as the division between the humanities and the sciences. By considering the cognitive impulses that have prompted the creation and use of material culture, as well as their subsequent psychological and bodily effects, her interdisciplinary approach provides new perspectives in interpreting cultural changes, as well as new ground for engaging in considerations of the lived experience of past peoples.

Her recent publications include: “Grasping the Cross: Transforming the Body and Mind in Early Medieval England.” In Transmissions and Translations in Medieval Literary and Material Culture. Edited by Amanda Doviak and Megan Henvey with Jane Hawkes. Leiden: Brill, 2021 and “Bearing Crosses: Interpretations in English and Frankish Adornment.” In Insular Art at the Crossroads: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Insular Art. Oxford: Oxbow Books, forthcoming.

Erin Connelly is an Assistant Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick supported by a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship to explore questions of ethnopharmacology and the antimicrobial efficacy of ingredients from historical or traditional medical sources. The research involves an interdisciplinary approach to quantitative analyses of historical recipes in surviving medical books, and empirical tests of the antimicrobial activity of ingredients inspired by historical combinations. 

Winston Black holds the Gatto Chair of Christian Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a scholar of the history of religion and medicine in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, specializing in medieval herbalism, Christian healing practices, and the editing of Latin medical texts. He is the author or editor of five books, including Henry of Huntingdon. Anglicanus Ortus: A Verse Herbal of the Twelfth Century (2012), Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents (2020), and, most recently, Beyond Cadfael: Medieval Medicine and Medical Medievalism (2023), edited with Lucy Barnhouse.

Dianne Burke Moneypenny is a Professor of World Languages and Cultures at Indiana University East who specialises in Medieval Iberian Literature. She also serves as Director of the Honors Program and Student Research. Dr. Moneypenny's current relevant research includes co-editing a volume on Medieval Mediterranean women and food.