Madden, Thomas F. 1960–

PERSONAL:

Born June 10, 1960, in Phoenix, AZ; son of Thomas J. and Joyce L. Madden; married Page Ettle, October 15, 1994; children: Helena, Melinda. Education: University of New Mexico, B.A., 1986; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.A., 1990, Ph.D., 1993. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of History, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63108; fax: 314-977-1603. E-mail—maddentf@slu.edu.

CAREER:

St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, assistant professor, 1992-96, associate professor, 1996-2004, professor of history, 2004—, department chair, 1996-98, 2001-07, director of Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007—.

MEMBER:

Historical Society, Catholic Historical Association, Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, Midwest Medieval History Conference (president, 1999-2000).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Otto Gründler Award, Medieval Institute, 2005, and Haskins Medal, Medieval Academy of America, 2007, both for Enrico Dandolo the Rise of Venice.

WRITINGS:

(With Donald E. Queller) The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, 2nd edition, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

A Concise History of the Crusades, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1999, updated edition published as The New Concise History of the Crusades, 2005, updated student edition, 2006.

(Editor, with Ellen E. Kittell) Medieval and Renaissance Venice, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 1999.

(Editor) The Crusades: The Essential Readings, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 2003.

Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD), 2003.

(Editor) Crusades: The Illustrated History, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2004.

(Editor and contributor) The Fourth Crusade: Event, Aftermath, and Perceptions (conference proceedings), Ashgate Publishing (Burlington, VT), 2008.

Sound recordings of course materials for qualified students include From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church, Recorded Books (Prince Frederick, MD), 2005; and God Wills It: Understanding the Crusades, Recorded Books (Prince Frederick, MD), 2005. Contributor to journals, including International History Review, Renaissance Quarterly, and Mediterranean Historical Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Thomas F. Madden is the author of A Concise History of the Crusades, originally published in 1999. In a review for The Washington Post, critic James Reston, Jr., commented that, "as an introduction to the vast literature of the Crusades, this is a jewel of a book." Penny J. Cole wrote in Catholic Historical Review that although short histories of complex movements are often troubled, "Thomas Madden has hit just the right note in his sweeping but concise account of the Crusades…. His prose is lucid, and the broad sweep of his historical canvas is colored by the rare combination of enthusiasm and judicious criticism." Cole noted that Madden followed a clear and solidly constructed chronological framework that touched on all aspects of the Crusades and praised Madden's analysis of the Byzantine Empire during the Crusades.

With Donald E. Queller, Madden wrote The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, a revision of Queller's 1977 book. In a review for Historische Zeitschrift, Peter Schreiner predicted that the work would "remain the authoritative monograph on the Fourth Crusade." Peter Lock, writing in Nottingham Medieval Studies, also described The Fourth Crusade as "an excellent book, a welcome addition to [the Crusades] library and … an answer to any student's prayer when confronted by an essay on conspiracy and the Fourth Crusade."

Medieval and Renaissance Venice, edited by Madden and Ellen E. Kittell, is a tribute to Donald E. Queller, who died in 1995. The volume contains essays from Queller's colleagues, students, and friends. The thirteen articles focus on Venice from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. Kate Lowe wrote in the Times Literary Supplement that "the crop of American and British historians and topics represented here is the best, and the book in effect constitutes a declaration about the state of Anglo-Saxon research on Venice at the end of the twentieth century." Madden and Kittell, two of Queller's former students, provide the introductory article, which explains that the volume is arranged around Queller's major monographs, which are The Office of the Ambassador in the Middle Ages, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, 1201-1204, and The Venetian Patriciate: Reality vs. Myth. Queller was writing a history of Venetian families when he died. Lowe noted that "a subtitle of the introduction is ‘Venetian historiography and the life of Donald Queller.’ It represents a robust attempt to give intellectual coherence to an already interesting Festschrift." Louis Haas, writing in The Historian, called the organization "a stroke of genius." He concluded that "Queller would have loved reading this volume: pax tibi Donald."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Catholic Historical Review, October, 2000, Penny J. Cole, review of A Concise History of the Crusades, pp. 658-660.

Historian, spring, 2001, Louis Haas, review of Medieval and Renaissance Venice, pp. 453-454.

Historische Zeitschrift, 1999, Peter Schreiner, review of The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, pp. 463-464.

History, 1999, Michael Angold, review of The Fourth Crusade, p. 333.

International History Review, June, 1998, Jonathan Riley-Smith, review of The Fourth Crusade, pp. 403-405.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, summer, 2000, James S. Grubb, review of Medieval and Renaissance Venice, pp. 107-108.

Nottingham Medieval Studies, 1998, Peter Lock, review of The Fourth Crusade, pp. 250-252.

Times Literary Supplement, August 20, 1999, Kate Lowe, "Light on Venice," p. 25.

Washington Post Book World, June 4, 2000, James Reston, Jr., "Onward Christian Soldiers," pp. 3-4.