Catherine Perl

My research focuses primarily on the Iberian peninsula in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, during which the region became divided into many Islamic and Christian kingdoms. My dissertation asks how and why certain individuals and institutions in both cultures chose to sponsor intellectual and artistic work, and what the products of that patronage illuminate about constructions of historical narratives, political theology, and relationships between creative work and power. My interests also extend beyond Iberia to the wider medieval Mediterranean including all sites of cultural encounter between the Islamic and Christian worlds, and I co-organize the Medieval Institute working group on Religion and Pluralism in the Medieval Mediterranean.