About

Dr. Claussen is a medieval European historian.  His research deals with violence, religion, and chivalry in medieval Castile and its place in the wider Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds.  Dr. Claussen works to understand the ideas of knights and men-at-arms in the medieval world through an examination of traditional historical sources such as chronicles, treatises, and the records of central government, but also through literary and imaginative sources such as frontier ballads, poetry, and chivalric romance.  In a broader sense, Dr. Claussen is a historian of violence writ large, seeking to understand the human history of brutality and the way in which various peoples over time have embraced, rejected, reformed, and redirected the violent impulses of society.

Education

Ph.D., History - University of Rochester, 2015

         Research Field: Medieval Europe

         Teaching Fields: Modern China, Early Modern History of Science

M.A., Historical Studies - University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 2008

B.A., History and Political Science - Western State College of Colorado, 2006

Expertise

Medieval Europe

Spanish Empire

Knights and Chivalry

Violence

Lived Religion

Publications

Chivalry and Violence in Late Medieval Castile.  Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2020.

“Chivalric Deaths in Battle in Late Medieval Castile”, Nuova Antologia Militare, Anno 5, n. 17 (Feb., 2024): 383-407.

“Royal Punishment and Reconciliation in Trastámara Castile” in Treason: Medieval and Early Modern Treachery, Betrayal and Shame, ed. Larissa Tracy.  Leiden: Brill, 2019, 100-118.

“Chivalric Violence” with Peter Sposato in Companion to Chivalry, ed. Robert Jones and Peter Coss.  Woodbridge: Boydell, 2019, 99-117.

“Chivalric and Religious Valorization of Warfare in High Medieval France”, in Prowess, Piety, and Public Order in Medieval Society: Studies in Honor of Richard Kaeuper, ed. Craig Nakashian and Daniel Franke.  Leiden: Brill, 2017, 199-217.

Grant Funding

Lorraine Kochanske Stock Grant for Innovation in Medieval Studies - 2021

California Lutheran University's Faculty and Research and Creative Work Grant - 2016, 2022

Hewlett Grant for Academic Travel and Research - 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022-2024

Experiential Learning Through the History of Food (California Lutheran University) - 2017-2018