Department of History
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Dr Damien Kempf
Research Associate
Office: G.78
15 Woodland Rd
Tel: 0117 928 9124
Email: damien.kempf@bristol.ac.uk
Research Interests
I specialize in European medieval History (400-1200) with an emphasis on the following fields: historical writing in the Middle Ages, manuscript transmission, Modern reception of medieval texts, as well as literary theory. I am interested in the history of texts, not only the historical contexts of their production, but also the material and social conditions of their transmission and reception.
My current works focuses on two main areas:
Robert the Monk’s Historia Hierosolymitana and the impact of the First Crusade on Western European culture
As part of an AHRC-funded project led by Professor Marcus Bull, I am investigating the cultural significance of this best-selling account of the First Crusade, and its long-term legacy and reception in Medieval Western Europe, through a careful examination of its manuscript tradition.
Paul the Deacon’s Book of the Bishops of Metz and the rise of the Early Carolingians
I am completing a new edition and the first English translation of Paul the Deacon’s Liber de episcopis Mettensibus (forthcoming, 2009) that reconsiders the text in relation to the rise of the Carolingians and the role of Metz within the Frankish kingdom.
Publications
- Paul the Deacon, 'Liber de episcopis Mettensibus'. New edition, Translation and Commentary (Peeters: Leuven, forthcoming)
- "From East to West: Translating the Acts of John by Prochorus in Metz in the Thirteenth Century," in Translatio, or the Transmission of Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Laura H. Hollengreen (ed.), Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance 13 (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming 2009)
- "Der mittelalterliche Text zwischen Theorie und Praxis," in Theorie in der Geschichtswissenchaft, Jens Hacke and Matthias Pohlig (eds.) (Frankfurt and New York: Campus, 2008)
- "Patiens," in Miracles, Vies et réécritures dans l'Occident médiéval, Martin Heinzelmann and Monique Goullet (eds.), Beihefte der Francia 65 (Ostfildern: Thorbecke, 2006)
- In collaboration. La mémoire des Carolingiens à Metz au Moyen Âge: Le Petit Cartulaire de Saint-Arnoul de Metz, Introduction, édition, traduction et notes, Michèle Gaillard (ed.) (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2006)
- In collaboration. "La Vie de l'évêque de Metz Adalbéron II, par Constantin de Saint-Symphorien," Lotharingia 13 (2006), pp. 5-41
- "Arnulf," "Chrodegang," "Angilram," in International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages-Online, Patrick Geary (ed.)
- "Paul the Deacon's Liber de episcopis Mettensibus and the Role of Metz in the Carolingian Realm," Journal of Medieval History 30 (2004), pp. 279-299