Dr. Christine Senecal
Associate Professor of History
Degrees
- Ph.D., Boston College (Medieval History)
- MA, Boston College (Medieval History)
- BA, University of California, Santa Barbara (History)
Research Interests
- Website and Instagram “Weird History Sources”
- Religion and Science
- Politics and Power
- Gender and Sexuality
Courses Taught
- Honors 122: Historical Foundations of Global Cultures
- Honors 123: Thinking Historically in a Global Age
- Honors 113: University 101
- University 101: Shippensburg University First-Year Seminar
- History 105: Historical Foundation of Global Cultures
- History 106: Modern World History
- History 320: Early Medieval Europe
- History 321: Europe in the Central and Late Middle Ages
- History 337: The History of the Byzantine Empire
- History 348: The History of Ancient Rome
- History 379: History and Philosophy of Science
Major Publications
- Website, "Weird History Stories" www@chrissysenecal.com
- History Instagram Stories (Ongoing, 2019-), @chrissysenecal
- “Anxiety and Approbation in Twelfth-Century Chroniclers’ Writings on Queenly Leadership and Aggression: Urraca of León-Castile and Melisende of Jerusalem,” Medieval Leavings, forthcoming (Peer-Reviewed)
- Historically Themed Christmas Carols (in circulation)
- Co-Author, with Chandrika Paul and Catherine Clay, Envisioning Women in World History, Vol. I to 1500 C.E. (McGraw-Hill, 2009)
- “The construction of Aristocratic Lordships in Late Anglo-Saxon England,” in Anglo-Norman Studies XXIII (Summer, 2001)
- “Bishops as Contenders for Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England: the Bishopric of East Anglia and the Regional Aristocracy” in Secular and Ecclesiastical Power: Western Europe in the Central Middle Ages, ed. Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld (Brepols, 1999)
Profile
Hailing originally from California, Dr. Senecal got her Ph.D. in Medieval history from Boston College. For over twenty years she has been teaching Ancient Roman, Byzantine, and Medieval courses, as well as courses in women’s history and the history and philosophy of science. Dr. Senecal started to write her history Instagram posts in 2019, which are stories about the people, ideas, places, and events that have shaped the world we live in. She has an eye for the seemingly bizarre and strange — perhaps because the mental work needed to make the link between the foreign and the familiar really connects her with the human experience.