Surprising facts and beliefs about eclipses during medieval and Renaissance times
Rochester experts offer historical insights into medieval society’s fascination with astronomical and astrological phenomena.
Laura Ackerman Smoller named a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America
The Rochester historian also wins a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to write her third book.
The Jupiter and Saturn conjunction, through medieval and Renaissance eyes
In medieval and Renaissance Europe and in the Arab world, it was widely believed that “when Saturn and Jupiter are found in the same area of the zodiac—in other words when they are in conjunction—there are profound effects on Earth,” says historian Laura Ackerman Smoller.
Looking at urban history as a fight for space, power
Chicago and Delhi. Rome and Rochester. The students in the 100-level course “The City: Contested Spaces” take a virtual tour of them all, while pondering an overarching question—can people’s lives be reshaped by redesigning urban spaces?
Laura Ackerman Smoller wins La Corónica International Book Award
The professor of history was honored by the largest gathering of medievalist scholars in North America for her book The Saint and the Chopped-Up Baby: The Cult of Vincent Ferrer in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.