Dr. Paul Freedman

Biography

Professor Freedman specializes in medieval social history, history of Catalonia, comparative studies of peasantry, trade of luxury products, and the history of cuisine. His latest books include "Splendor and Opulence of the Past: Studying the Middle Ages and Enlightenment in Catalonia" (Cornell University Press, 2023) co-authored with Marc Aronson, and "Bite by Bite: American History Through Feasts, Food, and Side Dishes" (Simon & Schuster, 2024). He earned a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an MLS from the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also received his Ph.D. in History in 1978. His doctoral work focused on medieval Catalonia and the interaction of bishops and canons with powerful and weak elements in lay society in Vic, north of Barcelona, resulting in the publication of "Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia" (1983). Over his eighteen years at Vanderbilt University, he focused on the history of Catalan peasantry and papal correspondence in Catalonia, earning recognition such as the Nordhaus Teaching Prize in 1989. Following his appointment at Yale in 1997, he has served in various directorial roles and has published extensively on social history in the Middle Ages. He has been a visiting fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen and held an associated position at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.

Research Interests

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Awards