Amelia Kennedy

I am a Graduate School Alumni Postdoctoral Fellow and research the cultural and religious history of medieval Europe with particular interests in monasticism, old age, and the medical/health humanities. 

 

My dissertation, entitled “Growing Old in a Cistercian Monastery, c. 1100-1300,” examines how Cistercians defined old age and “graceful aging,” how monastic communities responded to the needs of older monks, and how the abbot’s role transformed with age. To complete this project, I have consulted a wide range of sources, including archival materials in Germany with the support of the Baden-Württemberg Stipendium. I have a journal article forthcoming on changing attitudes toward abbatial retirement during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

 

Before coming to Yale, I earned my B.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.