Philip Daileader

Bio

Born in Queens, New York, Philip Daileader specializes in the history of medieval Europe and in historiography. He received his BA degree from The Johns Hopkins University in 1990 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1996.  He is the author of three books: True Citizens: Violence, Memory, and Identity in Medieval Perpignan, 1162-1397 (Brill, 2000; French translation, 2004); Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016; Catalan and Spanish translations, 2019), which won the 2018 La corónica International Book Award “for the best monograph published on Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures;” and Time and Governance in Fifteenth-Century Perpignan (Cambridge University Press, 2025). He is also the coeditor of French Historians, 1900-2000: New Historical Writing in Twentieth-century France (Wiley Blackwell, 2010). His articles have appeared in journals such as Speculum, Annales du Midi, Imago temporis: medium aevum, and Archivum Historiae Pontificiae. He has contributed chapters to A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) and Histoire et archéologie en Pays catalan. Mélanges offerts à Aymat Catafau. 

Philip Daileader has received several teaching awards at William & Mary, most recently The Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr., Award for Sustained Teaching Excellence (2016). He regularly offers various undergraduate courses, including Medieval Europe, The Crusades, Global History since 1500, and a first-year seminar on The Family in Premodern Europe, as well as a graduate seminar on historiography called The Historian’s Craft.

He has a keen interest in communicating with audiences beyond the academy. In conjunction with The Teaching Company, he has released five lecture courses available in video and audio formats: The High Middle Ages (2001), The Early Middle Ages (2004), The Late Middle Ages (2007), Charlemagne: Father of Europe (2022), and How the Crusades Changed History (audio only version, 2013; updated video version, 2023).  He has appeared on The History Channel (The Dark Ages, 2007) and twice on National Public Radio’s Planet Money program to discuss medieval economics. In print, he recently figured in the May 6, 2023 issue of The Economist (“The emperor’s new abode”).

Daileader held various administrative and service positions at William & Mary, including Department Chair (2008-2011), Director of the Program in Medieval & Renaissance Studies, and two stints as Ombudsperson for the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.