Marie-Thérèse Champagne, Ph.D.

Dr. Marie-Thérèse Champagne, associate professor, teaches European history in the areas of the Renaissance, the Reformation, ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Vikings, and women in the Middle Ages.

Champagne was looking for a new direction in her professional life when she took a trip to Europe in the ‘90s. While she was in Rome, she was fascinated by history and art, and found her passion in life.

Over the years, her work has explored the history of interactions between Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages, including the evidence contained in 12th century handwritten texts. Her article, “Both Text and Sub-Text: The Circulation and Preservation of Two Manuscripts of Nicolaus Maniacutius in Twelfth-Century Europe,” was published in Textual Cultures: Text, Context, and Interpretation. She also co-wrote, “Walking in the Shadows of the Past: The Jewish Experience of Rome in The Twelfth Century,” which was published in Medieval Encounters: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Cultures in Confluence and Dialogue.

Champagne’s current research project, “A Christian Hebraist in Twelfth-Century Rome: The Life and Work of Nicolaus Maniacutius,” is the result of 10 years of ongoing research. The eventual product, a monograph, will provide an in-depth study of the life and work of Maniacutius, a Christian monk scholar and Hebraist from medieval Rome, who was tasked with correcting mistakes in the Old Testament and consulted Jewish scholars in that endeavor.

During the past five years, she has been involved in an interdisciplinary effort between the UWF history and English departments, the anthropology and archaeology divisions, and the Pensacola Jewish Federation, to bring national and international speakers to the University. In addition to this work, she and her students have produced an interactive and authentic medieval event on campus, The Labyrinth, several times.

Champagne received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Southeastern Louisiana University, a master’s degree in art history from Louisiana State University, and a doctorate in European history to 1650 from Louisiana State University.