​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 Chair

Tom's research centers on the role of the crusades in shaping memory and civic identity in the Italian peninsula during the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. His dissertation uses diplomatic and chronicle records to examine how Mediterranean communities connected themselves to the foundation of the Crusader states after the First Crusade (1095–1099). It also explores how these memories were instrumental in shaping identity and contesting key spaces during this period. Prior to academia, Thomas served in the US Army, achieving the rank of Captain.

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Evan S. McAllister, PhD Candidate

Evan is interested in the cultural memory, historical narratives, and liturgy of the twelfth century. His dissertation is titled "The Past, Present, and Future of Jerusalem: Liturgy and the Psalms in William of Tyre's Historia Ierosolimitana." 

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.