Student Pages

While the main website and blog are maintained by Susan, the pages in this specific section, “Student Pages,” were created by Susan’s students.  They are graduate and undergraduates in the English Department at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, USA. Their quirky enthusiasm helps make the pages fun as well as informative. But you should be sure to double check scholarly sources yourself before quoting their pages.

Not all the students are here. But many are! Back Row (l-r): Michael Vela-Rice, James Meador, Eric Chapelle, Anthony Russo, Laura Bright, Richard Turner, Elizabeth Cobb 3rd row back: Joseph Brownfield, Carolie Wolf,, Mallory Thrasher, Brittany Baker 2nd row: Daniel Karner, Kristyne Baran, Sarah Pollok, Bernice Barrera, KT Marroquin, Jennifer Stark front row: Ashley Alvarado, Susan Morrison, Synthia Shurtleff, Leyla Rodriguez, Benjamin Maddish
Not all the students are here. But many are! Back Row (l-r): Michael Vela-Rice, James Meador, Eric Chapelle, Anthony Russo, Laura Bright, Richard Turner, Elizabeth Cobb
3rd row back: Joseph Brownfield, Carolie Wolf, Mallory Thrasher, Brittany Baker
2nd row: Daniel Karner, Kristyne Baran, Sarah Pollok, Bernice Barrera, KT Marroquin, Jennifer Stark
front row: Ashley Alvarado, Susan Morrison, Synthia Shurtleff, Leyla Rodriguez, Benjamin Maddish

In the spring of 2014, Susan taught two classes entitled Medieval Women of Action, courses exploring  women from Western Europe between c. 300-1500 CE.  These women of adventure and daring, who got out into the world in an active way—they created, marched, led, rode, fought, agitated, and made a difference. Doubly marginalized due to gender and the remoteness of the time period, medieval women’s accomplishments were explored. “Action” for a medieval woman might, at times, differ from the action of a post-medieval woman. That is, it may not seem like “action” to permit oneself to be walled up into a cell next to a church as an anchorite, but for medieval people such a spiritual guide would be considered a woman of action. Her action of praying was perceived as achieving something valuable, perhaps even more than conventional, physical forms of movement.

I (Susan) asked students to research different women and topics so they could learn more and get credit.  I also wanted them to work on these webpages because they are closer in age to young adults than I am.  I thought focusing on young adults for the audience of the website would be a fun and useful way for my students to make their pages informative as well as fun. While you can, of course, google a Wikipedia page, I thought my students could make their pages lively and accessible in a way I (or Wiki!) could never even imagine.

From Anthony Russo’s wickedly amusing take on Christina of Markyate to Melody Howard Verm’s fun activities for Brigid of Kildare, I hope you learn and enjoy these pages.  The students were also required to list sources, so you can find them here too.  Be sure to contact me if you have any ideas for these pages: corrections, additions, fun activities, books published especially appealing to an YA, college, or general audience, or anything else that might strike you.

The students creating these pages are, in alphabetical order:

Ashley Alvarado:  Brynhild and Gudrun, Legendary Germanic Women

Brittany Baker: Hildegard

Kristyne Baran:  Transvestite Saints

Bernice Barrera: Marie de France

Katherine Boyle: Mary Magdalene–Katie brought us Easter Eggs with treats inside–I never knew Mary Magdalene is legendarily said to have “invented” Easter eggs

Laura Bright:  Eleanor of Aquitaine

Joseph Brownfield:  Mary Magdalene

Eric Chapelle:  Hildegard von Bingen, focusing on her music (he’s a brilliant composer)

Stephanie Childress:  The Paston Letters–be sure to check out her medieval twitter!

William Clark:  Herrad of Landsberg

Elizabeth Cobb:  Marguerite de Porete

Alexandro Cortez:  Heloise

Allison Estrada-Carpenter:  Medieval Childhood and Adolescence

Sarah Howze: Saint Catherine of Siena

Daniel Karner:  Birgitta of Sweden

Benjamin Maddish:  Emma of Normandy

Kaitlin Marroquin:  Gudrun — KT is a fantastic creative writer and ingeniously decided to write a diary from Gudrun’s point of view

Whitney May:  Holy Anorexia

James Meador:  Teresa de Cartagena

Elissa Erin Myers:  Pope Joan

Matthew Parrott:  Hrotsvit of Gandersheim

Sarah Pollok: her work was on medieval medicine

Deanna Rodriguez:  Christine de Pizan

Leyla Rodriguez: Anna Komnene

Zachary Russell:  Beatrice of Nazareth

Anthony Russo:  Christina of Markyate — his hilarious piece is written in the voice of a disaffected teen

Allison Scott: Vibia Perpetua

Synthia Shurtleff:  Na Prous Boneta

Jennifer Stark:  Jenny made her own site and made cosmetics according to medieval recipes.  Be sure to check it out!

Mallory Thrasher:  St. Catherine of Siena

Richard Turner:  St. Mary of Egypt

Michael Vela-Rice: St. Clare of Assisi and St. Francis

Valerie Vera: WordPress genius and all around helper

Melody Howard Verm:  Brigid of Kildare–Melody really went to town on Brigid-even making adorable Brigid cookies we happily ate in class!

Carolie Wolf:  Joan of Arc