Jay Rubenstein (born 1967) is an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

of the Middle Ages.

Life

Rubenstein grew up in

Cushing, Oklahoma Cushing ( sac, Koshineki, iow, Amína P^óp^oye Chína, ''meaning: "Soft-seat town"'') is a city in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,826 at the time of the 2010 census, a decline of 6.5% since 8,371 in 2000. Cushing ...

and attended

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowlin ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. ...

where he graduated with a B.A. in 1989. From 1989-1991 he studied at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

. In recognition of this achievement, his hometown of Cushing named a street after him. In 1991 he completed an M.Phil. from Oxford, writing a thesis on the veneration of saints' relics in England after the Norman Conquest. In 1997, he received a Ph.D. in history from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, working under the supervision of Professor Gerard Caspary. After leaving Berkeley he taught one year at

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = ...

, one year at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, and seven years at

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25, ...

. He is currently a history professor at USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Director of the USC Center for the Premodern World. His published scholarship has focused on medieval intellectual history, monastic life, and the early crusade movement.

Awards

* 2012

Ralph Waldo Emerson Award The Ralph Waldo Emerson Award is a non-fiction literary award given by the Phi Beta Kappa society, the oldest academic society of the United States, for books that have made the most significant contributions to the humanities. Albert William Levi w ...

from

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

for significant contributions to interpretations of the intellectual and cultural condition of humanity. * 2007

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

* 2007 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship * 2006 ACLS Burkhardt Fellowship * 2004 William Koren, Jr. Prize from the Society for French Historical Studies for the outstanding journal article published on any era of French history by a North American scholar * 2002 ACLS Fellowship

Works

* * * * "Cannibals and Crusaders," ''French Historical Studies 31'' (2008): 525-52 , url=http://fhs.dukejournals.org/content/31/4/525.abstract *
"What Is the Gesta Francorum, and Who Is Peter Tudebode?"
''Revue Mabillon 16'' (2005): 179-204. * "Biography and Autobiography in the Middle Ages," in ''Writing Medieval History: Theory and Practice for the Post-Traditional Middle Ages,'' ed. Nancy Partner. Arnold: London, 2005, pp. 53–69. * "Putting History to Use: Three Crusade Chronicles in Context," ''Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 35'' (2004): 131-68. * * * * "Liturgy Against History: The Competing Visions of Lanfranc and Eadmer of Canterbury." ''Speculum 74'' (1999): 271-301. *

References

External links

"Apocalypse Then: The First Crusade - A conversation with Jay Rubenstein"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013 1967 births 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers University of California, Berkeley alumni University of New Mexico faculty University of Tennessee faculty Alumni of the University of Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Living people MacArthur Fellows People from Cushing, Oklahoma Carleton College alumni American male non-fiction writers {{US-historian-stub