Michele CAMPOPIANO
Michele Campopiano is a professor of medieval history. He studied at the Scuola Normale Superiore and the University of Pisa. Between 2014 and 2024, he was Associate Professor at the University of York, UK.
Michele Campopiano is the author of around one hundred publications, including books, articles, book chapters, and reviews. His research covers the cultural, environmental, social, political, and economic history of Western Europe and the Middle East from late antiquity to the early modern period.
He co-directed the Dutch Research Council (NWO) project Cultural Memory and Identity in the Late Middle Ages: The Franciscans of Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the Representation of the Holy Land (1333–1516). He received a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung for experienced researchers. He was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers for a project on the history of water resource management in the Po Valley and the Rhine basin. Among his publications in this field is the edited volume Conflicts over Water Management and Water Rights from the End of Antiquity to Industrialisation, co-edited with G. J. Schenk (Conflicts over Water Management and Water Rights from the End of Antiquity to Industrialisation | Franz Steiner Verlag).
In 2020, he obtained the National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor in the competitive sector 10/E1 (Medieval Latin and Romance Philology and Literature). In 2022, he was also awarded the National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor in the competitive sector 11/A1 (Medieval History).
One of his monographs, Writing the Holy Land: The Franciscans of Mount Zion and the Construction of a Cultural Memory, 1300–1550 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020: Writing the Holy Land: The Franciscans of Mount Zion and the Construction of a Cultural Memory, 1300–1550 | Springer Nature Link), received the 2021 “San Francesco” Award from the Pontifical Antonianum University.
He has also written on the theory and history of Italian historiography between the 19th and 20th centuries, including a new critical edition of Carlo Cattaneo’s masterpiece La città considerata come principio ideale delle istorie italiane (The City Considered as the Ideal Principle of Italian History).
Michele Campopiano is also the author of a work on environmental history and the relationship between society, culture, and nature in the Middle Ages: Storia dell’ambiente nel Medioevo. Natura, società, cultura (History of the Environment in the Middle Ages: Nature, Society, Culture), published by Carocci: Storia dell'ambiente nel Medioevo - Carocci editore
He has also recently published the monograph An Italy Made of Cities: Carlo Cattaneo and the Role of Municipalities in History and Politics, published by Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura (Un'Italia fatta di città - Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura), and, together with Daniele Solvi, The Earth Saint: Francis of Assisi and Nature between the Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries, published by Viella (The Earth Saint).
He was also awarded a Gutenberg Chair at the University of Strasbourg
Academic Appointments
2011–2024
Associate Professor in Medieval Latin Literature (Lecturer until 2014), Department of English and Related Literature, University of York.
2018–2020
Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow (Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers), Technical University of Darmstadt.
2010–2011
Lecturer in History, Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University (1 September 2010 – 14 October 2011).
2007–2010
Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Institute for History and Culture and Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University (15 October 2007 – 31 August 2010).
2007
Member of the Editorial Board of the Compendium Auctorum Latinorum Medii Aevi (S.I.S.M.E.L., Florence), a biographical and bibliographical reference work on medieval authors.
2006
Research Fellow, Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino (S.I.S.M.E.L., Florence), specialising in Medieval Latin Philology and the History of Medieval Latin Literature.
Awards and Honours
2025
Recipient of the Nunzio De Pinto Prize, awarded for the “ability to make accessible the lessons transmitted by history so that the same mistakes may not be repeated”.
2021
Recipient of the San Francesco Prize for the monograph Writing the Holy Land. The Franciscans of Mount Zion and the Construction of a Cultural Memory, 1300–1550 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
2021
Special issue of the journal Reti Medievali-Rivista, edited by Roberto Delle Donne, devoted to the monograph Writing the Holy Land. The Franciscans of Mount Zion and the Construction of a Cultural Memory, 1300–1550.
Academic Qualifications
2022
National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for Full Professorship in Medieval History.
2020
National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for Full Professorship in Medieval Latin and Romance Philology and Literature.
2014
Promotion to Associate Professor in Medieval Latin Literature, University of York.
2011
Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO), Dutch university teaching accreditation.
2010
Qualification for appointment as Maître de conférences in France (Section 21: History, Civilisation, Archaeology and Art of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds).
2006
PhD in History and Palaeography, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa. Dissertation: Il Liber Guidonis compositus de variis historiis: studio ed edizione critica dei testi inediti. Supervisor: Professor Armando Petrucci.
2002
MA (Laurea) in History, University of Pisa and Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, awarded with highest honours (110/110 cum laude). Dissertation: Conoscenze geografiche e rappresentazione dello spazio nella cultura pisana e genovese nei secoli XI e XII: ricerche introduttive. Supervisor: Professor Marco Tangheroni.
Research Funding and Collaborations
2​026
Holder of a Gutenberg Professorship at the University of Strasbourg for the project Society, Culture and River Landscapes: Strasbourg and its Region in Comparison with England (1300–1618).
Faculty of Arts Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).
2024–
Funding awarded for the translation (with David Broder) of Antonio Labriola’s Del materialismo storico. Dilucidazione preliminare, supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2021–2024
Publication grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for Konflikte um Wasserwirtschaft und Wasserrechte. Vom Ende der Antike bis zur Industrialisierung (with G. J. Schenk).
2021–2023
Research grant from the Past & Present Society for the project Before Capitalist Hegemony. Essays on Modes of Production and Social Formations, 300–1300 CE, with Lorenzo Bondioli and Paolo Tedesco.
Participant in the ERC Advanced Grant project AGRELITA (The Reception of Ancient Greece in Pre-Modern French Literature and Illustrations of Manuscripts and Printed Books, 1320–1550), Principal Investigator: Professor Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas.
2018–2020
Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers for the project Cities and Rivers in the Middle Ages: Water Management in the Rhine and Po Regions in Comparative Perspective (c.1300–1550).
2009–2019
Member of the international research project La création d’un mythe d’Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (XIe–début XVIe siècle), funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche and the Institut Universitaire de France.
2016–2018
Member of the research network Pilgrim Libraries: Books and Reading on the Medieval Routes to Jerusalem & Rome, directed by Anthony Bale and funded through a Leverhulme International Network Grant.
2017
Visiting Professor, Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies, Department of History, Ghent University.
2013–2015
Principal Investigator of the project Finding Your Place in History and Politics: The Life of Universal Chronicles in the High Middle Ages, funded by the British Academy.
Participant in the project Imagining Jerusalem, 1099 to the Present Day, with H. Smith, A. Bernard and J. Watt, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
2012–2016
Principal Investigator of the project Cultural Memory and Identity in the Late Middle Ages: The Franciscans of Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the Representation of the Holy Land (1333–1516), in collaboration with Guy Geltner (University of Amsterdam), funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Member of the Excellence Network of the Centre for Medieval Literature (University of York and University of Southern Denmark), funded by the Danish National Research Foundation.
2011–2012
Member of the research network Remembered Places and Invented Traditions: Thinking about the Holy Land in the Late Medieval West, directed by Anthony Bale and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
2009
Visiting Research Fellow, Ghent University, conducting research on water management, towns and rural communities in the Po Valley and Flanders (October–November 2009).
2006
Research Fellow, Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino (S.I.S.M.E.L., Florence).
Visiting Research Fellow, Warburg Institute, London (January–March 2006), researching Guido da Pisa and medieval historical and geographical culture.
2004
Research Fellow at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, supported by the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (March–July 2004), for research on the manuscript tradition and sources of the Liber Guidonis compositus de variis historiis.
Research Evaluation and Service on Scientific Committees
Research Assessment and Review Activities
2023
Peer Reviewer for the European Research Council (ERC).
2021
Reviewer for the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
2020
Reviewer for Fondazione Cariplo (Italy).
2019
Reviewer for the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation).
Since 2017
Reviewer for the Czech Science Foundation.
2017
Participant in the Ladenburger Diskurs of the Daimler and Benz Foundation on Katastrophen im Spannungsfeld von Kultur, Umwelt und Technik: Hitze, Hunger, Durst – Dürrekatastrophen im mediterranen Raum.
2016–2018
Peer Reviewer for the European Research Council (ERC).
2016–2020
Member of the Peer Review College (PRC) of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Training
2018
Equality & Diversity.
2018
Unconscious Bias Awareness.
Editorial Boards and Scientific Committees
Since 2025
Co-Director, together with G. Brunazzi, of the book series Transizioni. Storie e storiografie del mutamento sociale (Milan).
Member of the Scientific Committee of Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval.
Member of the Scientific Committee of the book series Storie e Visioni (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura).
Member of the Scientific Committee of FINXIT: Dialoghi tra arte e scrittura dal tardo Medioevo alla prima Età moderna.
Refereeing for Journals and Academic Publishers
2020
Referee for Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient.
2018
Referee for Cambridge University Press and University of Pittsburgh Press.
2016
Referee for Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies.
2015
Referee for Journal of Urban History.
2013
Referee for Stadsgeschiedenis.
2013
Referee for Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric.
Doctoral Supervision
2023–2024
Co-supervisor (with Mary Garrison, University of York) of Makayla Nicholis's doctoral project: “Shaping the Atlantic through Belief: Early Medieval Empire and the Limits of the Known World (c. sixth–eleventh centuries)”.
2021–2024
Member of the supervisory committee for Stefano Benenati's doctoral dissertation (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa – Université de Lille), supervised by Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas and co-supervised by Lino Leonardi.
Since 2016
Co-supervisor of Martina Albertini's doctoral dissertation: “Matteo Villani storico e scrittore: un caso di scrittura storiografica della metà del Trecento tra tradizione familiare e nuovi impulsi letterari”.
2014–2018
Co-supervisor of Eric Wolever (Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York), funded by a doctoral scholarship from the Centre for Medieval Studies. Dissertation title: “Cardinal Directions in Twelfth-Century Culture: Exegesis, Historiography and Encyclopaedic Works”. Successfully defended on 22 November 2018.
2012–2016
Co-supervisor (with Guy Geltner, University of Amsterdam) of Marianne Ritsema van Eck, funded through the NWO project “Cultural Memory and Identity in the Late Middle Ages: the Franciscans of Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the Representation of the Holy Land (1333–1516)”. Dissertation title: “Custodians of Sacred Space. Constructing the Franciscan Holy Land through Texts and Sacri Monti (ca. 1480–1650)”. Successfully defended on 28 June 2017.
2012–2016
Co-supervisor (with Guy Geltner, University of Amsterdam) of Valentina Covaci, funded through the same NWO project. Dissertation title: “Between Traditions: The Franciscans of Mount Sion and their Rituals (1330–1517)”. Successfully defended on 11 January 2017.
2012–2016
Co-supervisor (with Mary Garrison, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York) of Artur Costrino, funded by the Brazilian Government. Dissertation title: “Alcuin’s Disputatio de Rhetorica: A Critical Edition with Studies of Aspects of the Text, the Stemma Codicum, the Didactic Diagrams and a Reinterpretation of Sources for the Problem of the Duality of the Dialogue”. Successfully defended on 8 December 2016.
Academic Leadership and Administration
2022–2024
Co-Director of the Medieval Research School, University of York.
2020–2024
Director of the interdisciplinary BA programme in Politics and International Relations, University of York.
2012–2014
Study Abroad Administrator, Department of English and Related Literature, University of York.
2010–2011
Member of the Teaching Committee for the BA in History, Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University.
Michele Campopiano's research focuses on environmental history, medieval and modern political thought, and global history. His scholarly interests lie at the intersection of intellectual, social, and environmental history, with particular attention to the relationships between the production of knowledge, transformations in political and social structures, and the management of natural resources over the long term.
His academic career and research agenda are distinguished by a strongly international orientation. He has published the results of his research in five languages, contributing to scholarly debates across a range of academic and cultural contexts.
Over the course of his academic career, he has worked on a wide range of topics, including medieval historiography and the construction of cultural memory, the history of science in the Middle Ages, the history of representations of space and nature, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century historiographical and theoretical debates concerning the relationship between historical knowledge, politics, economics, and the environmental sciences.
His current research focuses on the history of water management and hydraulic infrastructures, particularly in the Po Valley and the Rhine basin, examined from a comparative and long-term perspective; on medieval political thought in its European, Mediterranean, and global dimensions, with particular attention to the interactions between political reflection, scientific knowledge, and representations of nature; and on conceptions and representations of the animal world in medieval culture.
At the same time, he continues to pursue research on the history of political thought and historiographical theory from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, concentrating on debates concerning the relationship between society and the environment, different forms of economic and social organisation, modes of production, and the processes through which political institutions emerge and evolve. In this perspective, his work seeks to foster a dialogue between historical inquiry and the social and environmental sciences, contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationships between environmental change, economic dynamics, and the development of political institutions over the long term.