Education
1997 - Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
1992 - M.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison
1990 - B.A., Rutgers University
My research initially investigated the fiscal negotiations between the Castilian Crown and the Assembly of the Clergy in the early modern period. I was particularly interested in the tensions between these two institutions and their impact on state-building in the early modern period. My research suggested that representative institutions retained considerably more autonomy and control over financial matters than previously thought. This finding illuminates a relatively neglected aspect of Spanish historiography and adds new information to our understanding of the state-building process as discussed in English-language historiography.
I am a participant in two spatial history research projects. The first project examined royal finances and tax collection in the early 1500s. We sought to analyze quantitatively and spatially the growth of ecclesiastical and secular taxes in Castile and how those taxes were collected. I did research on the payment of ecclesiastical contributions. The second project is building a virtual city to help students to learn about the past in an interactive format and to facilitate the study of intercultural relations between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the city of Plasencia, Spain, over nearly two hundred years. Learn more about the project.
I also have an ongoing Atlantic history project on the Spanish consular service in the Early American Republic. I am interested in the role of the consuls as agents for transatlantic integration, and how Spanish consuls in the United Sates responded to the rapidly changing political and commercial configuration of the Atlantic world.
- "Mapping the Collection of the Ecclesiastical Subsidy in Castile, 1530-1558" in Politics, Gender, and Belief: The Long-Term Impact of the Reformation. Essays in Memory of Robert Kingdon. Eds. Amy Nelson Burnett, Kathleen Comerford, and Karin Maag (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2014).
- "Spanish Consuls and Trade Networks between Spain and the USA, 1795-1820." Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies 38:1 (December 2013).
- "Carlos V, sus banqueros, y las contribuciones eclesiásticas. Un análisis preliminar de los años 1540-1554." Tiempos Modernos:Revista electronica de Historia Moderna 7 (2013).
- 101: Origins of Europe
- History 105: World History, 1500-present
- History 317: Medieval Spain
- History 225: Early Modern Europe
- History 349: Special Topics: Imperial Spain
- History 375: Latin American History I
- History 376: Latin American History II
- History 381: Atlantic World, 1492-1825
- History 481: Seminar in History Research
- History 489: Directed Reading Seminar: Pirates and the Law of Nations