James Gilmer

(he/him)

Overview

I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the StoryPharm project. My research project -- "Byzantine Imperial Women in Narratives of Illness and Healing" -- focuses upon the association between Byzantine empresses, princesses, and imperial women with medicine and suffering during the middle Byzantine period. As part of my research, I will be examining the interrelationships between genres of written works with the goal of demonstrating the gendered aspects of suffering and the healing process. 

I am particularly interested in the intersections between traditional Hippocratic medicine in Byzantium, medical miracles presented in hagiography, and the use of amulets and other forms of magic in the healing process. Likewise, I am particularly interested in the role of gender in the protrayal of suffering, the methods of healing chosen, and the methods in which imperial Byzantine men and women engaged with the healthcare system during the middle Byzantine period. My research will engage with contemporary historiography and hagiography in an effort to examine the nuances of these disparate forms of healing and their representation in contemporary literature.