JOËLLE ROLLO-KOSTER, a history professor at the University of Rhode Island and renowned medieval scholar, was recently honored by the French government with the designation of Chevalier (or knight) of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. The designation, created by Napoleon I in 1808, recognizes extensive research in French history.
How do you foster an interest in history among your students at URI?
How do you keep interest for things of the past with students who have a short attention span for what seems irrelevant? You make it relevant. I discuss ideas and cultural “reactions.” For example, since the Middle Ages, most heroes are young and beautiful because the Middle Ages conditioned us to somewhat see moral virtue associated with physical virtue. So, virtuous equals young, male and beautiful. On the other hand, old men are wise and old women are witches … because the Middle Ages did not like women much. They were fountains of sin.
You are an expert in the social and cultural life of the late European Middle Ages. What are some common misconceptions about life during this time?
That people were so much different than us. We are all human. We may be “conditioned” differently because of our cultural environment, but mostly, for me, at the bottom of it all, we are humans with emotions. So, while historians have argued, for example, that medieval folks did not comprehend or emote about childhood and the death of children, I would argue that this is wrong. We have evidence that people loved their kids and suffered at their death.
Much of your research is demographic in nature. Why should we study people, in addition to historic events? Would you label yourself a sociologist?
Absolutely. History is part of the social sciences. We apply sociological and anthropological methods to our medieval sources, usually texts. What differentiates history from sociology is that we are working from data which is long gone, but, with the exception of “dead” data, the methodology is the same. •
