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Stefan Visnjevac BA (Hons), MA, PhD, FHEA

Dr Stefan Visnjevac

(he/him)

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, FHEA

Lecturer in Medieval History

Users
Available for postgraduate supervision
School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Overview

I am primarily a historian of late medieval and early Renaissance Italy, specialising in the history of mendicant preaching and the relationships of preachers with their wider communities. More recently, I have focused on employment and teaching careers at fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian universities. My PhD research examined the role of preaching in the promotion of ruling authorities and their policies in a number of fifteenth-century Italian cities, while my postdoctoral research investigated the works of the fifteenth-century Dominican preacher Leonardo Mattei da Udine (1399-1469) and broader cultural and religious life in his native Friuli. My current work has moved away from preaching to instead consider (often precarious!) teaching careers at medieval universities, with a focus on appointments, salaries, and financial penalties incurred by teachers at the university at Bologna c. 1400-c. 1520.

Key Research Interests:

  • Late Medieval/Early Renaissance Italy.
  • Medieval Preaching and Sermon Studies.
  • Religion and Governance.
  • The Medieval University.
  • The Black Death.
  • Urban History.
  • The History of the Video Game Industry.

Research

Competition, Careers, and Control at Bologna University

Originally a project which I began together with Professor Peter Denley at QMUL, this seeks to shed further light on the experiences of teachers and the shaping of careers at the late medieval university. During this period, cities fiercely competed amongst each other to poach high-profile teachers, using attractive salaries and other benefits as incentives. But what was the reality for the majority of university teachers? A combined study of three types of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century records suggests that the real competition was more often between the teachers themselves, that huge disparities in pay and treatment existed, and room for career advancement, at least at Bologna, was limited. 

One of the major outputs of the project is a database of teachers, their salaries, and the financial penalties which they incurred for a whole host of alleged misdemeanours. This has been created through pulling and combining data from three bodies of archival sources: the rotoli (annual lists of teachers and subjects taughts), the quartironi degli stipendi (salary lists), and the appuntazioni dei lettori (records of fines incurred). The database covers the period c. 1430 - c. 1530. This is intended to be made open-access for future researchers, and in the future to have some level of interoperability with similar projects focused on other European universities under the umbrella of Heloise - European Network on Digital Academic History.  

Analysis of this data reveals both broader trends and shifts in recruitment and employment practices, and gives fascinating insights into the careers of individual teachers and their careers at Bologna - both their advances and their setbacks - and about whom nothing would otherwise be known.   

Teaching

BA Teaching:

  • A History of the Supernatural
  • Debating History
  • Global Histories
  • History in Practice I: Questions, Frameworks, and Audiences
  • History in Practice II: Sources, Evidence, and Argument
  • Medieval Worlds
  • Reading History

MA Teaching:

  • Medieval Empires

Biography

Education and Qualifications:

2003-2006: BA (Hons.) History, University College London

2006-2007: MA Medieval Studies, University College London

2008-2012: PhD in Medieval History, University of St Andrews

Honours and awards

2013-2016: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Roehampton

Professional memberships

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy/Advance HE.
  • Member of Heloise - European Network on Digital Academic History.
  • Member of the International Medieval Sermon Studies Society (IMSSS). 

Academic positions

  • 2020-2023: Teaching Fellow, Queen Mary University of London
  • 2016-2019: Teaching Associate, Queen Mary University of London
  • 2013-2016: Lecturer and Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Roehampton

Supervisions

  • Medieval Italy
  • History of the University
  • The Black Death
  • Medieval Urban History
  • Medieval Preaching
  • Religion and Governance

Contact Details

Email VisnjevacS@cardiff.ac.uk

Campuses John Percival Building, Room 4.27, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Late Medieval Italy
  • Preaching and Sermon Studies
  • Early Renaissance
  • History of the University