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Melodie H. Eichbauer

Assistant Professor of Medieval History
Phone: (239) 590-1245
E-Mail: meichbauer@fgcu.edu
Office: Modular 1 - # 29

Education Ph.D., History, The Catholic University of America, 2010M.A., History, The Catholic University of America, 2004

M.A., Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 2000
B.A., History, Western Michigan University, 1998

 

Research and Teaching Interests 
Medieval Europe: legal history (the Ius commune, canon law, Roman law, secular law); ecclesiastical history (history of the papacy, history of Christianity, ecclesiology, Crusades, and Inquisition); religious culture (orthodoxy, saints, monasticism, heresy, and witchcraft); political culture (feudalism and the rise of the territorial state in England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire); Late Antiquity: Germanic Kingdoms; Early Modern Europe: Renaissance and Reformation.


Courses Offered
  • EUH 2021 Medieval European History 
  • EUH 3142 Renaissance and Reformation 
  • HIS 3064 Theories and Methods in History
  • HIS 3930 Barbarians and the End of Antiquity 
  • HIS 3930 Women, Sex and Gender in the Middle Ages
  • HIS 4920 Roman Law in the Middle Ages
  • HIS 4920 Heresy, Witchcraft, and Inquistion
  • HIS 6915 Academic Writing and Editing
  • EUH 6939 Readings in Medieval History
  • HIS 4920 Heresy, Witchcraft and Inquisition
  • EUH 6920 Seminar in European History (Readings in Medieval History)
  • IDH 1930 (Honors Reading): Literature & Medieval Social Values
  • ISS 2011 (Honors): Medieval Heresy, Witchcraft, and Inquisition

 
Current Research Project (tentative title): Fidelity, Obedience, and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy: Gratian's Decretum and the Eleventh-Century Reform Movement
         Within this intellectual milieu of the Reform Movement lies Gratian's Decretum, a canonical collection situated between the reform generation of Calixtus II, Paschal II, and Ivo of Chartres—heirs to the generation of Hildebrand and Anselm of Lucca—and the generation of Bernhard of Clairvaux and Haimeric.  Dating from possibly the 1130s, the Decretum was one of the first collections compiled in the wake of the Concordat of Worms (1122).  Whereas the collections chronologically closest to the Decretum, the Collectio Caesaraugustana (post 1120) and the Collectio 3 librorum (1118–1123), are best characterized as reform collections, the Decretum was a teaching text.  Armed with the changes in our understanding of the Decretum, I wish to (re)explore Gratian's understanding of the eleventh-century Reform Movement with regards to ecclesiastical offices.  I suggest that the intellectual and social changes reflected in the law and literature of the period shaped Gratian's treatment of the function and jurisdiction of ecclesiastical offices.  Gratian was concerned with practical and concrete aspects of the law and not necessarily in expounding and promoting a particular agenda.
         Throughout the Decretum Gratian relied on tracts as an organizational tool.  Gratian created a tractatus de fidelitate et obedientia ecclesiastica (tract concerning ecclesiastical fidelity and obedience) with Causa 22–Causa 26, whereby he utilized social conventions to navigate the intellectual milieu of the Reform Movement in order to address the crisis of obedience.  Essentially, he taught how the oath applied to practical situations thereby creating a well-structured and well-ordered ecclesiastical hierarchy where each understood his duties.  Using themes such as a perjurous bishop and disobedient archdeacon, just war, heretical bishops, and divination as a means to an end—a way to parachute into the primary issue of concern—Causa 22–Causa 26 sought to teach: a secular bishop's simultaneous obedience to papal and secular lords, a bishop's obedience to the pope (potentially undermining the metropolitan), the pope's obedience to institutional norms, a priest's obedience to the bishop, and the laity's obedience to the priest.  Gratian neither limited himself to a particular point in the movement nor to a particular agenda.  He did not compile the Decretum with an intention of wading into political waters, but rather co-opted the principles that grounded social norms and applied them to ecclesiastical structures in order to reorient the vertical and horizontal relationships.
          Gratian's thoughts on obedience must not only be placed within the context of the Reform Movement but also within the context of the time and the stage of compilation.  Canon law was a handmaiden of social and intellectual changes and must be viewed as a part of broader social movement.  His understanding of obedience and order, his conceptualization of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, therefore must be placed within a social context; only then can he be situated within the overall Reform Movement.  Did Gratian in fact recognize a generational divide between Calixtus II, Paschal II, and Ivo of Chartres, on the one hand, and Hildebrand and Anselm of Lucca, on the other hand, and if so how did he navigate it?  Gratian's understanding of obedience and order also must be juxtaposed to the generation of Bernhard of Clairvaux and Haimeric.  The patchwork that earmarks the Decretum's textual history serves as witness to the progressive manner in which Gratian engaged with the juxtaposition between obedience and social convention.  The Exserpta (i.e. text found in Sg) contains only Causa 22 and Causa 23 while omitting Causa 24 through Causa 26.  While the first recension was developed for Gratian's use as a teacher in the classroom—thus possibly reflecting pragmatism and social reality—the second recension is less pedagogical, more comprehensive and cumbersome, and experienced a wider dissemination as it became a standard text for teaching law.  One must question in what way the conceptualization of vertical and horizontal relationships changed as the Decretum evolved.

 

Books 
  • Edited with: Kenneth Pennington, Law as Profession and Practice in Medieval Europe: Essays Dedicated to James Brundage (Burlington: Ashgate, 2011).

 

Articles and Essays
  • “Gratian's Decretum and the Changing Historiographical Landscape,” History Compass (2013), under contract
  • “Medieval Canon Law as a Profession and in Practice,” History Compass (2013), accepted with revisions
  • "The Bishop with Two Hats: Reconciling Episcopal and Military Obligations in Gratian's Decretum," in Nicola Foote and Nadya Popov (eds.), Proceedings of the Civilians and Warfare in World History: An International Conference (Leiden: Brill, 2013), under review
  • Review of The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500, edited by Wilfried Hartmann and Kenneth Pennington, The Medieval Review (2012), https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/14706
  • “From the First to the Second Recension: The Progressive Evolution of the Decretum,” Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, vol. 29 (2012), pp. 119-167. 
  • “Select Bibliography of Essays and Books for 2010-2011,” Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, vol. 29 (2012), pp. 251-268. 
  • “Introduction,” in Kenneth Pennington and Melodie H. Eichbauer, eds. Law as Profession and Practice in Medieval Europe: Essays Dedicated to James Brundage (Burlington: Variorum, 2011), pp. 1-7. 
  • “Bibliography of James A. Brundage’s Published Works,” in Kenneth Pennington and Melodie H. Eichbauer, eds., Law as Profession and Practice in Medieval Europe: Essays Dedicated to James Brundage (Burlington: Variorum, 2011), pp. 387-415.
  • “Select Bibliography of Essays and Books for 2007-2009,” Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, vol. 28 (2011), pp. 153-168.
  • “St. Gall Stiftsbibliothek 673 and the Early Redactions of Gratian’s Decretum,” Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, 27 (2007), pp. 105-139.
  • “Alphonsus Bonihominis’ Conversionary Letter from Rabbi Samuel to Rabbi Isaac,” Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest, 9 (2002), pp. 15-39.                                                 

 

Criticial Editions

  • Co-Editor, Lectiones Propriae in Codice Sangallensi 673 Repertae to the Decretum Gratiani: First Recension, ed. Anders Winroth.  Project supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Yale University, and the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law.

 

Conference Presentations
  • “Navigating Murky Waters: Gratian’s Understanding of Reform Principles,” paper presented in the session “Letters and Law in the Long Twelfth Century: Correspondence and the Application of Church Law in Medieval Society” sponsored by the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 9–13 May 2013.
  • "'So Jesus was a Cracker?': Teaching Medieval Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy at a State University" in the session "Subversive Christianities in the 21st Century College Classroom" at the 28th Biennial Conference on Faith and History, Gordon College (MA), 4–6 October 2012.
  • “The Teaching of Substantive Law in Causae 22–26 of Gratian’s Decretum,” paper presented at the XIV International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Saint Michael's College in the University of Toronto, 5-11 August 2012.
  • “Reform Ideology and the Teaching of Substantive Law in Causae 22–26 of Gratian’s Decretum,” paper presented in the special session “Re-thinking Reform: Law and Change in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries” at the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 10-13 May 2012.
  • "The Bishop with Two Hats: Substantive Law and the Balancing of Episcopal versus Military Obligations in Gratian's  Decretum," paper presented at the Civilians and Warfare in World History Conference, FGCU, February 2012.
  • “Law and Marriage: Twelfth-Century Canon Law and Social Realities,” paper presented in the special session “Reading Legal Sources” at the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 12-15 May 2011.
  • “Oaths and Bonds of Obedience in the Canonical Jurisprudence of Gratian’s Decretum,” paper presented at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 10-13 May 2007.
  • “Gratian, Just War, and the Church: Causa 23, Questiones II & III of the Decretum,” paper presentedat the 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 6-9 May 2004.
  • “Agobard of Lyons and the Jews: A Reconsideration,” paper presented at the 38th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University, Michigan, 8-11 May 12-15.
  • “The Question of Authorship in the Epistle of Rabbi Samuel of Morocco,” paper presented at the 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 3-6 May 2001.
  • “Hugh of St. Victor’s Treatment of the Jews in his De Sacramentis,” paper presented at the 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 4-7 May 2000.

 

Grants and Awards
  • Heckman Stipend to conduct research on the monograph in progress “Gratian’s Oath Twelfth-Century Ecclesiology amid Changing Social Norms” at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota), May 2012.
  • Postdoctoral Stipendium, the Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), June 2011.
  • Doctoral Stipendium, the Max-Planck-Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte (Frankfurt am Main, Germany), 1 April – 30 June 2009.
  • Research Grant, to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze from the School of Theology and Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America, Oct 2007.
  • Travel Grant, to the International School of the Ius commune (Erice, Sicily) from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, 3-11 Oct. 2007.
  • Travel Grant, to the International School of the Ius commune from the School of Canon Law, The Catholic University of America, 5-11 Oct. 2006.
  • Travel Grant, to the International School of the Ius commune from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, 21-28 Oct. 2005.
  • Travel Grant, to the International School of the Ius commune from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, 2-8 Oct. 2003.
  • Cecily Angleton Scholar for Post-Graduate Study in Medieval History, The Catholic University of America, 2001-2003.
  • Research/Travel Grant (2 awards), to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France from Western Michigan University Graduate College, December 1999.

 

Service to the Profession
  • Editor, The Medieval Review, 2012-2014
  • Councilor, EPISCOPUS: Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages, 2012-2014.
  • Session Organizer, "'It Sounds Great, in Theory': Crusading, Inquisition, and the Juxtaposition of Academic Discussion and Legal Practice," sponsored by International Society of Medieval Canon Law, Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies. St. Louis University, 17–19 June 2013.
  • Session Organizer and Presider, “Law and Order: Legal Developments and their Political and Social Implications” sponsored by The Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 13 May 2010.
  • Financial Coordinator, XII International Congress of Medieval Canon Law organized by Uta-Renate Blumenthal and Kenneth Pennington, The Catholic University of America, 1-7 August 2004.
  • Assistant to the Director, Paul E. Szarmach, 35th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 4-7 May 2000.
  • Assistant to the Congress Coordinator, 34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, 6-9 May 1999.

 

Service to the University
  • College of Arts and Sciences representative on the University Graduate Curriculum Team, 2012-2015 AY
  • Member of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Leadership Team, 2012 - present
  • Honors Program Faculty, 2010 - present AY
  • Gender Studies Faculty, 2010- present AY
  • Member of the College of Arts and Sciences Reorganization Team, 2011-2012 AY
  • History Program Webmaster and History Program Facebook Group Administrator, 2011-present AY
  • Chair of Search Committee, History Instructor I, 2011-2012 AY
  • Member of Search Committee, Director of the Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies, 2011-2012 AY
  • Phi Alpha Theta Faculty Advisor, 2011-2012 AY
  • Member of Search Committee, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2010-2011 AY

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