​The Crusades Studies Forum was originally founded by a group of graduate students in the Department of History at Saint Louis University. The graduate program continues to be a leader in the field of Crusade Studies. Those interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in the history of the Crusades should visit the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies program website for more information.​

Crusade Studies Forum Executive Committee

Thomas Morin, PhD Candidate
Committee Co-Chair

Thomas Morin's academic research interests include conflict and cultural exchange in the medieval Mediterranean. Tom also has a keen interest in the martial material culture of the Middle Ages. For his dissertation, he is examining the conflict between Frederick II and the Ibelins (1229-1243) and its effects on cultural exchange in Latin Syria and the Italian peninsula. 

Samantha Cloud, PhD Candidate
Committee Co-Chair

Samantha Cloud’s primary interests involve economic exchange and material culture in medieval history. For her dissertation, she is examining the French Angevin period in Sicily in the late 13th century, looking particularly at how the change in crusading landscape may have affected commercial and cultural enterprises within the kingdom of Sicily.

George Summers, PhD Candidate
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George Summers' research interests include the crusades, the military orders, and the cultural and religious history of later medieval Italy. His dissertation focuses on the Knights Hospitaller in northern Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.  

Evan McAllister

Evan McAllister's primary interest is in the cultural and liturgical memory of the Latin East.  In previous research, he has focused on the liturgical engagement of images present at the Hospitaller church in Abu Ghosh. 

Thomas F. Madden

Faculty Advisor

Thomas F. Madden is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Saint Louis University.  As an author and historical consultant he has appeared in such venues as The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The History Channel. Awards for his scholarship include the Medieval Academy of America's Haskins Medal and the Medieval Institute's Otto Grundler Prize and the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award. He is a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Medieval Academy of America.