Beth Plummer Website

Beth Plummer

Assistant Professor of History

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About Me

EDUCATION

1996	Ph.D. in European History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Primary Fields: Early Modern Europe, Renaissance and Reformation, Social History Secondary Field: Medieval Europe Dissertation: “Reforming the Family: Marriage, Gender and the Lutheran Household in Early Modern Germany, 1500-1620” Advisor: H. C. Erik Midelfort Committee: Carlos Eire, Duane Osheim, Lawrence Goedde
1988	M.A. in European History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Master’s Thesis: “‘Vera Famiglia’: Familial Images in the Letters of Catherine of Siena” Advisor: Duane J. Osheim
1985	B.A. in History and English, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY Cum laude with Highest Distinction in History Honors Thesis: “Across the Round Table: A Vision of Kingship in the Middle Ages”

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2009-present	Associate Professor, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY
2003-2009	Assistant Professor, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY
1997-2002	Assistant Professor, University of Maryland University College, Schwäbisch Gmünd (Germany)—University closed on June 30, 2002
1997	Assistant Professor, Wingate University, Wingate, NC
1993-1996	Visiting Assistant Professor, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC

TEACHING FIELDS

Western and World Civilization
Medieval Europe
Renaissance/Reformation
Early Modern Europe
History of Germany, 1450-1648
Early Modern Cultural and Social History
History of Women in Pre-Modern Europe
Family, Sex and Marriage in Early Modern Europe
Early Modern Crime and Punishment

PUBLICATIONS

Articles and Books

Editor (with Robin Barnes), Ideas and Cultural Margins: Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort. Aldershot, Hambleton: Ashgate Publishing, 2009.

“‘The Much Married Michael Kramer’: Evangelical Clergy and Bigamy in Ernestine Saxony, 1522-1542.” In Ideas and Cultural Margins: Essays in Honor of H.C. Erik Midelfort, edited by Marjorie E. Plummer and Robin Barnes.Aldershot, Hambleton: Ashgate Publishing, 2009.

“‘Partner in his Calamities’: Pastors’ Wives, Married Nuns and the Experience of Clerical Marriage in the Early German Reformation,” Gender & History 20.2 (2008), 207-227.

“Clerical Marriage and Territorial Reformation in Ernestine Saxony and the Diocese of Merseburg in 1522-1524,” Archive for Reformation History 98 (2007): 45-70.

Reviews and Encyclopedia Entries

Review of Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early Modern German Culture: Order and Creativity, 1550-1750, edited by Randolph Head and Daniel Christensen. In Renaissance Quarterly 62.2 (2009): 589-90.

Review of Klosteraustritte in der frühen Reformation by Antje Rüttgardt. In H-German, April 2009.

Review of Noble Strategies: Marriage and Sexuality in the Zimmern Chronicle, by Judith J. Hurwich. In H-German, July 2008.

Review of Sodomy in Reformation Germany and Switzerland, 1400-1600. By Helmut Puff. Catholic Historical Review 93.2 (2007): 410-411.

Review of Luther on Women: A Sourcebook, edited and translated by Susan Karant-Nunn and Merry Wiesner Hanks. In H-German, November 2004.

“Augsburg,” in Europe 1450-1789: An Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Vol. 1. Jonathan Dewald, ed. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, November 2003.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2009	"Nothing More than Common Whores and Knaves": Married Monks and Nuns in the Early German Reformation," German Studies Association Conference, Washington, DC, Ocober 8-11, 2009.
2009	“‘No Better than a Brothel’: Convents and the Attack on Celibacy in the Early German Reformation,” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, May 27-30, 2009.
2008	“‘The Much Married Michael Kramer’: Evangelical Clergy and Bigamy in Ernestine Saxony, 1522-1542,” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, October 23-26, 2008.
2007	“Fathers and Daughters: Parental Rights, Church Discipline and Disputed Engagements in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, 1568-1634,” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Minneapolis, October 25-28, 2007.
2006	"'What Words Were Said?': Broken Promises, Disputed Engagements and Enforced Marriage in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, 1568-1624" German Studies Conference, Pittsburgh, 28 September-1 October 2006.
2006	“Defining Marriage: Disputed Engagements, Secret Marriage, and Seduction in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, 1569-1624,” Herzog August Bibliothek, June 26, 2006.
2003	“Getting Away with It: Bishops, Cities and Clerical Sexual Misconduct in early Sixteenth Century Germany.” Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Pittsburgh, 30 October-2 November 2003.
2001	"'Devilish Concubines' and 'Whorish Wives': Married Clergy between Margraval Policy and Local Resistance in the Parish of Feuchtwangen, 1525-1545." Paper presented at the American Society of Church History Session during American Historical Association Meeting, Boston, 4-7 January 2001.
2000	"The Politics of Priestly Marriage and Clerical Concubinage in Brandenburg-Ansbach, 1524-1545." Herzog August Bibliothek, July 2000.
1999	“Celibacy, Clerical Misconduct, and Clerical Marriage between Official Policy and Popular Opinion in Early Sixteenth-Century Germany.” Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, 22-25 October 1999.
1998	"From Priest's Whore to Pastor's Wife: Women and Clerical Marriage in the Early Reformation." Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Atlanta, 23-26 October 1998.
1997	“Dangerous Choices: Nuns, Concubines and Widows Confront the Debate over Clerical Marriage in the Early German Reformation.” Paper presented at the “Gendering the Culture and Society in Early Modern Europe” Conference, Roanoke, VA, 21-23 March 1997.
1996	“Clerical Concubinage, Secret Marriage and Public Order in Reformation Sermons.” Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Saint Louis, 24-27 October 1996.
1995	“‘Lest two stomachs suffer want’: The Debate over Clerical Marriage in Germany, 1521-1525.” Paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, San Francisco, 26-28 October 1995. Paper awarded the Carl Meyer Prize.

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS

2008, 2007, 2005	Faculty Summer Research Grant, Western Kentucky University
2006	Hans und Helga Eckensberger-Stiftung, Herzog August Bibliothek (6 months)
2006	Regular Faculty Research Grant, Western Kentucky University
2005	D.A.A.D. Reinvitation Grant (2 Months)
2003-2004	Junior Faculty Research Grant, Western Kentucky University
2002-2003	Post-doctoral Fellowship, Herzog August Bibliothek (8 Months)
2001-2002	Favorite Professor, Student Choice Awards, UMUC-SG
2000- 2001	Faculty of the Year Recognition Award, Leadership Awards, UMUC-SG
2000	Post-doctoral Fellowship, Herzog August Bibliothek (3 months)
1997-98	Post-doctoral Fellowship, Institut für europäische Geschichte in Mainz (6 months)
1996	Carl Meyer Prize for Best Paper presented by Graduate Student or Recent Ph.D., Sixteenth Century Studies Conference
1996	D.A.A.D. Short Term Research Fellowship (6 Months)
1996	Center for Reformation Research, Paleography Institute (Declined)
1992	Dr. Günther Findel-Stiftung Stipend, Herzog August Bibliothek (5 Months)
1990-91	D.A.A.D. Dissertation Research Fellowship (14 Months)

Beth

Schwäbisch Gmünd