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Constance Hoffman Berman

Constance Hoffman Berman is an American medievalist. A 2004 Guggenheim Fellow, she has authored and edited several books, including Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians (1986), The Cistercian Evolution (2000), Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe (2002), Medieval Religion: New Approaches (2006), and Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions (2014). She is a professor emeritus of the University of Iowa.

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Constance Hoffman Berman
Born (1948-08-17) August 17, 1948
Canton, Ohio
OccupationMedievalist
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2004)
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisThe Cistercians in the County of Toulouse: 1132-1249, the Order's Foundations and Land Acquisition (1978)
Academic work
DisciplineMedieval studies
Sub-discipline
  • Medieval religion
  • medieval economics
  • medieval women
InstitutionsUniversity of Iowa

Constance Hoffman Berman (born August 17, 1948) is an American medievalist. A 2004 Guggenheim Fellow, she has authored and edited several books, including Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians (1986), The Cistercian Evolution (2000), Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe (2002), Medieval Religion: New Approaches (2006), and Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions (2014). She is a professor emeritus of the University of Iowa.

Biography

Constance Hoffman Berman was born on August 17, 1948, in Canton, Ohio.1 She attended Carleton College, where she became interested in medieval history2 and obtained a BА in 1970, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she obtained an MA in 1972 and a PhD in 1978.1 Her doctoral dissertation was titled The Cistercians in the County of Toulouse: 1132-1249, the Order's Foundations and Land Acquisition.3

After working as an adjunct assistant professor of history at the Catholic University of America (1981-1983) and as a visiting assistant professor of history in Georgetown University (1983-1984) and Bard College (1984-1985), she joined the University of Iowa in 1988 as an assistant professor of history.1 She was promoted to associate professor in 1991 and full professor in 1994.1 She eventually retired as professor emerita.2

She has published several authored books and edited volumes in fields like medieval religion, medieval economics, and medieval women, including Medieval Agriculture (1986) and The Cistercian Evolution (2000), Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe (2002), Medieval Religion: New Approaches (2005), and The White Nuns: Cistercian Abbeys for Women in Medieval France (2018).2 In 2004,4 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for "a study of women's work and European economic expansion, 1050-1250".1

She was a 1981 American Philosophical Society Fellow, a 1983 American Council of Learned Societies Fellow in 1983, and a 1988 and 2003 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.1 She was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge (1994-1995), before becoming a life member in 1995.1 She was a 2000 May Brodbeck Humanities Fellow at UI.1

Works

  • (ed. with Charles W. Connell and Judith Rice Rothschild) The Worlds of Medieval Women: Creativity, Influence, and Imagination (1985)5
  • Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-three Monasteries (1986)a
  • The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe (2000)b
  • (ed.) Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe: Sisters and Patrons of the Cistercian Reform (2002)c
  • (ed.) Medieval Religion: New Approaches (2006)21
  • (ed. with Alison Beach and Lisa M. Bitel; written by June L. Mecham) Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions: Gender, Material Culture, and Monasticism in Late Medieval Germany (2014)d
Notes

Notes

  1. Reviews of this book: 67891011
  2. Reviews of this book: 12131415161718
  3. Reviews of this book: 1920
  4. Reviews of this book: 222324
References

References

  1. Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 2004. p. 45.
  2. "Constance H. Berman". history.uiowa.edu. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  3. Berman, Constance Hoffman (1978). The Cistercians in the County of Toulouse: 1132-1249, the Order's Foundations and Land Acquisition (PhD thesis). University of Wisconsin–Madison. OCLC 81033330.
  4. "Constance H. Berman". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  5. Gravlee, Cynthia A. (1986). "Review of The Worlds of Medieval Women: Creativity, Influence, and Imagination. (Vol. 2, Literary and Historical Perspectives of the Middle Ages.)". Quondam et Futurus. 6 (3): 2–5. ISSN 8755-3627. JSTOR 27869909.
  6. Callahan, Daniel F. (1992). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians. A Study of Forty-Three Monasteries; Holy Entrepreneurs: Cistercians, Knights, and Economic Exchange in Twelfth-Century Burgundy". The Catholic Historical Review. 78 (4): 636–640. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 25023891.
  7. Carpe, William D. (1988). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, The Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-Three Monasteries". Church History. 57 (3): 358–359. doi:10.2307/3166583. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3166583.
  8. Cheyette, Fredric L. (1988). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-Three Monasteries". Speculum. 63 (2): 362–364. doi:10.2307/2853233. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2853233.
  9. Hilton, R. H. (1990). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians. A Study of Forty-Three Monasteries". The English Historical Review. 105 (414): 160–162. ISSN 0013-8266. JSTOR 570508.
  10. Hoffmann, Richard C. (1988). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians: A Study of Forty-three Monasteries". The American Historical Review. 93 (4): 1034–1034. doi:10.2307/1863569. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 1863569.
  11. Pitz, Ernst (1989). "Review of Medieval Agriculture, the Southern French Countryside, and the Early Cistercians. A Study of Forty-three Monasteries (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 76 Part 5)". Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung. 16 (4): 507–507. ISSN 0340-0174. JSTOR 43567994.
  12. Bouchard, Constance B. (2001). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century France". The Journal of Religion. 81 (1): 119–120. ISSN 0022-4189. JSTOR 1206949.
  13. Constable, Giles (2000). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". The English Historical Review. 115 (464): 1267–1268. ISSN 0013-8266. JSTOR 578962.
  14. Newman, Martha G. (2001). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". The Catholic Historical Review. 87 (2): 315–316. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 25025939.
  15. Nichols, John A. (2001). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". The American Historical Review. 106 (2): 630–631. doi:10.2307/2651729. ISSN 0002-8762. JSTOR 2651729.
  16. Sommerfeldt, John R. (2001). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". Church History. 70 (4): 786–788. doi:10.2307/3654560. ISSN 0009-6407. JSTOR 3654560.
  17. Van Engen, John (2004). "Review of The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". Speculum. 79 (2): 452–455. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 20462899.
  18. "The Cistercian Evolution: The Invention of a Religious Order in Twelfth-Century Europe". H-France Review. Vol. 2, no. 121. November 2002. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  19. Beach, Alison I. (2004). "Review of Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe: Sisters and Patrons of the Cistercian Reform". Speculum. 79 (4): 1034–1035. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 20463075.
  20. Elkins, Sharon (2005). "Review of Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe: Sisters and Patrons of the Cistercian Reform". The Catholic Historical Review. 91 (4): 784–785. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 25026945.
  21. Zamir, Rizwan (2005). "Review of Medieval Religion: New Approaches". The Virginia Quarterly Review. 81 (4): 286–287. ISSN 0042-675X. JSTOR 26444690.
  22. Mattern, Tanja (2016). "Review of Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions. Gender, Material Culture, and Monasticism in Late Medieval Germany, (Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 29)". Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung. 43 (3): 542–544. ISSN 0340-0174. JSTOR 24899989.
  23. Schleif, Corine (2015). "Review of Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions: Gender, Material Culture, and Monasticism in Late Medieval Germany. [Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, vol. 29]". The Catholic Historical Review. 101 (4): 919–921. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 43898886.
  24. Stoudt, Debra L. (2016). "Review of Sacred Communities, Shared Devotions: Gender, Material Culture, and Monasticism in Late Medieval Germany, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 29". Mediaevistik. 29: 527–529. ISSN 0934-7453. JSTOR 44163893.