Roisin Cossar

• HIST 2420 - The Medieval World

Roisin Cossar came to the University in Manitoba in 1999 to teach and research in medieval history. She is an archival historian who has worked in several sites in Northern Italy, including Venice, Florence, and smaller centres such as Ferrara. She is also a dedicated teacher and has a notable interest in pedagogy.

• PhD (History), University of Toronto, 1999
• MA (History), University of Toronto, 1993
• BA Honours (History), McGill University, 1989

Research interests

• Environmental history of premodern Europe
• Social history of the medieval Christian church
• Archives
• Gender
• Urban history

Research summary

Roisin Cossar's research focuses on the social history of the medieval Christian church, in particular the relationship between ecclesiastical culture and the secular world in the cities of late medieval Italy. She is also interested in critical archival studies and the use of digital tools in premodern scholarship. Her most recent publications include a 2017 monograph, Clerical Households in Late Medieval Italy (Harvard) and articles and essays on subjects ranging from the concept of the seasons in late medieval Italy, to the idea of home and domesticity and the social position of women who lived with clerics in northern Italy. 

• Roisin Cossar and Cecilia Hewlett, “Approaches to Seasonality in Premodern Italy,” Renaissance and Reformation 44, 2, 2021: 13-37
• Roisin Cossar, “The Culture of Home in the Middle Ages” in Katherine L. French, ed., A Cultural History of Home in the Medieval Age Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, 11-30.
• Roisin Cossar, “The marginality of clerical concubines: a reappraisal,” in Ann Zimo et al, eds. Rethinking Medieval Margins and Marginality Routledge, 2020, 129-145.
• Roisin Cossar, Clerical households in late medieval Italy. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, I Tatti Studies in the Renaissance, 2017.
• Roisin Cossar, “Venetian Notaries, Space, and Sociability in the Trecento,” I Tatti Studies in the Renaissance, 19,1, 2016: 23-39
• Roisin Cossar, “Defining Roles in the Clerical Household in Trecento Venice,” Viator, 45, 2, 2014, 237-254
• Roisin Cossar, “Clerical ‘Concubines’ in Northern Italy,” The Journal of Women's History, 23, 1, 2011, 111-132.
• Shona Kelly Wray and Roisin Cossar, “The Medieval Will,” in Joel Rosenthal, ed., Understanding Medieval Primary Sources: Using Historical Sources To Discover Medieval Europe. Routledge, 2011, 59-71.
• Roisin Cossar, The Transformation of the Laity in Bergamo, 1265-c.1400. Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill Academic Publishers, 2006.

• 2020 - Outstanding Professor, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba
• 2016 - Dr. and Mrs. H.H. Saunderson Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Manitoba
• 2011-12 - Deborah Loeb Brice Fellow, Villa I Tatti: The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence, Italy
• 2008  - Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research, Humanities category, The Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Ltd