Cristian Bratu

Research/Teaching Interests

• French medieval history-writing
• Authorship and authority in the Antiquity and Middle Ages
• Memoirs, autobiographies, and literary self-portraits
• French literature, history, and cinema

Education

Ph.D., French, New York University

Master 2 (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies), French, Ecole Normale Supérieure & Université Lumière Lyon II, Lyon (France)

M.A. & B.A., French, Ecole Normale Supérieure & Université Lumière Lyon II, Lyon (France)

Courses Taught at Baylor

• Intermediate French (FRE 2310)
• Passport to the French-Speaking World (FRE 2320)
• Introduction to French Literature (FRE 3310)
• Introduction to French Cinema (FRE 3330)
• French Civilization (FRE 3337)
• Paris: A Cultural Overview (FRE 3340)
• Tour de France: Regions and Provinces (FRE 3341)
• A Moveable Feast: An Exploration of Paris and Its Culture (FRE 3348)
• Survey of French Cinema (FRE 4330)
• French Writers and Ideas I: From Roland to Revolution (FRE 4331)
• French Writers and Ideas II: From Romanticism to Post-Modernism (FRE 4332)
• French Capstone (FRE 43C0)
• French for Graduate Students I & II (FRE 5370 & 5371)

Selected Publications

Monographs

« Je, auteur de ce livre »: L’affirmation de soi chez les historiens, de l’Antiquité à la fin du Moyen Âge. Later Medieval Europe Series (vol. 20). Leiden: Brill, 2019. XII+830 pages. ISBN 978-90-04-39807-8.

• Reviewed by Joël Blanchard in Francia Recensio, 4 (2019).
• Reviewed by Coline Blaizeau in French Studies, 74.3 (2020), 457.
• Reviewed by Gerardo Larghi in Medioevo Europeo, 5.2 (2021), 328-333.
• Reviewed by Bernard Ribémont in Mediaevistik, 34.1 (2021), 283-286.
• Reviewed by Florence Tanniou in Perspectives médiévales: Revue d'épistémologie des langues et littératures du Moyen Âge, 42 (2021).

Herméneutiques. Iasi (Romania): Junimea Publishing House, 2000. 117 pages. ISBN 973-37-0534-9, foreword by Irina Mavrodin.

Co-Edited Journal Volumes/Issues

•  The Medieval Chronicle. Co-edited with Alison Williams Lewin. Volume 18: Issue 1 (March 2026): 104 pp.
• The Medieval Chronicle. Co-edited with Alison Williams Lewin. Volume 17: Issue 2 (October 2025).: 88 pp
• The Medieval Chronicle. Co-edited with Alison Williams Lewin. Volume 17: Issue 1 (May 2025): 124 pp.

Articles

• Co-authored with Alison Williams Lewin. "Editors' Introduction: Continuity and Change." The Medieval Chronicle 17.1 (2025): 3-4. ISSN 1567-2336/1879-5927.
• “Crónicas, viajes y el yo/ojo del historiador.” Calamus: Revista de la Sociedad Argentina de Estudios Medievales 8 (2024): 52-78. ISSN 2545-627X.
• “De la grande Histoire à l’histoire personnelle: l’émergence de l’écriture autobiographique chez les historiens français du Moyen Age (XIIIe-XVe siècles).” Mediaevistik 25 (2012): 85-117. ISSN 0934-7453.
• “Or vous dirai: La vocalité des récits historiques français du Moyen Âge (XIIe-XVe siècles).” Neophilologus 96.3 (2012): 333-347. ISSN 0028-2677.
• “Revisiting Guillaume de Villeneuve’s Viatique.” The Explicator 68.4 (2010): 207-211. ISSN 0014-4940.
• “Denis Sauvage: The Editing of Medieval Chronicles in Sixteenth-Century France.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History. 3rd series, vol. 7 (2010): 255-278. ISSN 0-404-64557-7/ISBN 978-0-404-64557-1.

Book Chapters

• “Authorship in Medieval Breton Chronicles.” In The Medieval Chronicle XV. Essays in Honour of Erik Kooper. Sjoerd Levelt and Graeme Dunphy, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 2023): 15-25. ISBN 978-90-04-54590-8.

• “Autorité spirituelle et pouvoir royal chez Wace: Pour une relecture du Roman de Rou. In The Medieval Chronicle XIII. Erik Kooper and Sjoerd Levelt, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 2020): 33-58. ISBN 978-90-04-42761-7.

• “Chroniken im mittelalterlichen Italien. Ein Überblick.” In Handbuch Chroniken des Mittelalters. Gerhard Wolf and Norbert Ott, eds. (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2016): 707-742. ISBN 978-3-11-020627-2.

• “Literature.” In Handbook of Medieval Culture: Fundamental Aspects and Conditions of the European Middle Ages. Ed. Albrecht Classen. 3 vols. (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2015): vol. II, 864-900. ISBN 978-3-11-037760-6.

• “Patrons, Arts, and Audiences.” In Handbook of Medieval Culture: Fundamental Aspects and Conditions of the European Middle Ages. Ed. Albrecht Classen. 3 vols. (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2015): vol. II, 1381-1403. ISBN 978-3-11-037760-6.

• “Effet de parlé and Effet d’écrit: The Authorial Strategies of Medieval French Historians.” In Telling the Story in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honor of Evelyn Birge Vitz. Kathryn A. Duys, Elizabeth Emery, and Laurie Postlewate, eds. Rochester, NY: Boydell and Brewer, 2015. 93-110. ISBN 9781843843917.

• “Je, aucteur de ce livre: Authorial Persona and Authority in French Medieval Histories and Chronicles.” In Authorities in the Middle Ages: Influence, Legitimacy and Power in Medieval Society. Sini Kangas, Mia Korpiola, and Tuija Ainonen, eds. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2013. 183-204. ISBN 9783110294491.

• “Translatio, autorité et affirmation de soi chez Gaimar, Wace et Benoît de Sainte-Maure.” In The Medieval Chronicle VIII. Erik Kooper and Sjoerd Levelt, eds. (Leiden: Brill, 2013): 135-164. ISBN 978-90-420-3736-6.

• “Clerc, Chevalier, Aucteur: The Authorial Personae of French Medieval Historians from the 12^th to the 15^th Centuries.” In Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles. Juliana Dresvina and Nicholas Sparks, eds. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012): 231-259. ISBN 978-1-4438-4145-0.

• “Mirrors for Princes.” In Handbook of Medieval Studies: Concepts, Methods, Historical Developments, and Current Trends in Medieval Studies. Ed. Albrecht Classen. 3 vols. (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2010): vol. III, 1921-1949. ISBN 978-3110184099.

• “L’esthétique des chroniqueurs de la quatrième croisade et l’épistémè gothico-scolastique.” In The Medieval Chronicle V. Ed. Erik Kooper (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008): 61-76. ISBN 978-90-04-68626-7.

Invited Chapters and Articles

• “Seeing is Believing: Making History Personal.” Medieval World: Culture & Conflict (Theme: Recording the Past) 21 (2026): 34-37.
• “Prologues as Locus Auctoris in Historical Narratives: An Overview from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.” Mediaevistik 28 (2015): 47-65.
• “Political Violence and/as Evil: Sartre’s Dirty Hands.” Evil in Contemporary French and Francophone Literature. Ed. Scott M. Powers (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011): 12-37. ISBN 978-1-4438-2587-0.

Encyclopedia Articles

• “Benoît de Sainte-Maure.” Routledge Resources Online – Medieval Studies, 2022.
• Entries “Oddo di Biagio,” “Antonio Pucci,” “Annales Mosellani,” “Annales Tiliani,” “Fragmentum annalium Chesnii,” “Elia Capsali,”  “Annales Petaviani,” “Annales Laubacenses,” “Annales Augienses,” “Annales Lugdunenses,” “Annales Weingartenses,” “William of Rubruck,” “Pero Vaz de Caminha,” “Relação do piloto anônimo.”  Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle, 2^nd edition. Graeme Dunphy and Cristian Bratu, eds. 2 vols. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2019. Published online, forthcoming in print.
• Entries “Jean-François Balmer” (34-36), “Jean Carmet” (102-103), “Coluche” (127-129), “Jean Dujardin” (181-183), and “Michel Galabru” (215-217). French Cinema in Close-Up/La vie d’un acteur pour moi. Illustrated Mini-Dictionary of Actors and Actresses of the French Cinema. Michaël Abecassis and Marcelline Block, eds. (Dublin: Phaeton Publishing, 2015). ISBN 978-1908420114.
• Entries “Bonamente Aliprandi” (I, 31), “Annales Rotomagenses” (I, 85), “Authorship” (I, 133-136), “François Bonivard” (I, 190-191), “Tristano Calco” (I, 239-240), “Chronicon anonymi a.o.c. usque ad annum 1161” (I, 294), “Chronique anonyme 814-1377” (I, 294), “Chronique anonyme a.o.c. usque ad a. 1380” (I, 294-295), “Chronique anonyme finissant en 1308” (I, 295), “Chronique anonyme finissant en 1380” (I, 295-296) “Chronique anonyme finissant en 1383″(I, 296), “Chroniques de l’hostal d’Armanyach” (I, 347), “Chronicle of Huru” (I, 350), “Cronaca Malatestiana” (I, 364-365), “Chronique du président Fauchet” (I, 398), “Chronique de Saint-Maixent” (co-authored with Régis Rech, I, 419), “Chronique Saintongeaise” (I, 422-423), “Pandolfo Collenuccio” (I, 479-480), “Dino Compagni” (I, 483-484), “Jean Creton” (I, 497), “Jean Dardel” (I, 510), “Gilbertus Romanus” (I, 706), “Guido de Bazochis” (I, 741), “Jean de Roye” (II, 911), “Landulf of Milan” (II, 994), “Landulf of San Paolo” (II, 994-995), “Le Canarien” (II, 1012), “Jean Maupoint” (II, 1096-1097), “Manuscript Patrons and Provenance” (II, 1070-1072), “Miroir historial abregié de France” (II, 1114), “Antonio Nerli” (II, 1140), “Readers and Listeners” (II, 1260-1264), “Bartolomea Riccoboni” (II, 1274-1275), “Lorenzo Valla” (II, 1467-1468), “Matteo Villani” (II, 1479), “Philippo Villani” (II, 1479-1480). Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle. Ed. Graeme Dunphy. 2 vols. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010. ISBN 978-90-04-18464-0.

Book Reviews

• Wace. Roman de Brut. Translated by Glyn S. Burgess, with an introduction and notes by Jean Blacker. (Oxford World’s Classics). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. French Studies 79.2 (2025): 288-289.
• Tales of a Minstrel of Reims in the Thirteenth Century. Translated by Samuel N. Rosenberg, introduction by William Chester Jordan, notes by Randall T. Pippenger. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. Le Moyen Âge 2.CXXX (2024): 656-657.
• Susanne Friede and Michael Schwarze, eds. Autorschaft und Autorität in den romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015. Mediävistik 33.1 (2020): 244-247.
• Glyn S. Burgess and Kelly Douglas. Translation. The Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Cambridge: D.S. Brower, 2017. Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 6.40/240bis (2017): 457-460.
• John Spence. Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles. York: York Medieval Press; Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2013. Mediaevistik 30 (2017): 390-392.
• Irit R. Kleiman. Philippe de Commynes: Memory, Betrayal, Text. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. Speculum 92/2 (April 2017): 542-543.
• Alberto Varvaro. La tragédie de l’histoire : la dernière œuvre de Froissart. Paris : Classiques Garnier, 2011. Mediaevistik 29 (2016): 578-579.
• Jeanette Beer. In Their Own Words: Practices of Quotation in Early Medieval History-Writing. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014. The Medieval Review, 2014.
• Stephen Partridge and Erik Kwakkel, eds. Author, Reader, Book: Medieval Authorship in Theory and Practice. Toronto/Buffalo/New York: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Mediaevistik 25 (2012): 459-463.
• Svetlana Loutchitsky and Marie-Christine Varol, eds. Homo Legens: Styles et pratiques de lecture: Analyses comparées des traditions orales et écrites au Moyen Âge/Styles and Practices of Reading: Comparative Analyses of Oral and Written Traditions in the Middle Ages. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010. Mediaevistik 25 (2012): 227-231.
• Andrew Brown and Graeme Small. Court and Civic Society in the Burgundian Low Countries c. 1420-1530. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007. Mediaevistik 24 (2011): 589-595.
• T. Jefferson Kline. Unraveling French Cinema: From L’Atalante to Caché. Chichester, U.K./Malden, MA.: Wiley-Balckwell, 2010. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 31.3 (2011), 421-423.
• Jean Froissart. Chroniques. Livre III: le manuscrit Saint-Vincent de Besançon. Eds. Ainsworth, P.F., and G. Croenen. Geneva: Droz, 2007. The Medieval Review, 2009.