Dr Carol Symes

Carol Symes is Professor of History and Director of the Program in Medieval Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has published widely on many different aspects of the medieval past, including the earliest chronicles of the First Crusade and the making of Domesday Book, the reception of ancient texts, and the intersection of oral, performative, and documentary cultures. She is the author of A Common Stage: Theatre and Public Life in Medieval Arras, co-author of a bestselling textbook, Western Civilizations, and editor of A Cultural History of Media in the Middle Ages,among other books. She is also the founding executive editor of The Medieval Globe, the first academic journal to promote global approaches to medieval studies, including the interconnected regions of the global North and the Mediterranean as an Afro-Eurasian contact zone. Her 36-lecture series on The Medieval Legacy for The Great Courses/Wondrium is also available on Audible and Amazon Prime.

“I regard understanding the medieval legacy—both its exemplary trends and their long shadows—as crucial to making sense of our own place in history.”