Many congratulations to our newest PhD in Medieval History, Dr Kristin Bourassa!
Kristin came to York after her MA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Ottawa and has been funded for her PhD by a prestigious Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) doctoral award.
Kristin has written her doctorate on Counselling Charles VI of France: Christine de Pizan, Honorat Bovet, Philippe de Mézières, and Pierre Salmon. This dissertation examines four vernacular books of advice given to King Charles VI of France (1380-1422): Philippe de Mézières’ Songe du vieil pelerin (1389), Honorat Bovet’s Arbre des batailles (1389), Christine de Pizan’s Chemin de long estude (1402-3) and Pierre Salmon’s Dialogues (1409, with a second version in 1412-15). As a study of political advice literature, often referred to as mirrors for princes, the doctorate looks at these particular texts and their surviving manuscript copies, asking questions about the political engagement of late-medieval French writers, the expectations of both rulers and their counsellors, the intended audience of these texts, and the reception of them in manuscript form.
Kristin is currently completing an article entitled “Reconfiguring Queen Truth in BnF Ms. fr. 22542 (Songe du vieil pelerin)”, to be published in the proceedings of a conference held in Orleáns in 2013, to which Kristin was an invited, funded speaker. She will shortly be taking up a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellowship at the University of York.
Medieval Studies at York 