DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Lauren Cole is a historian of medicine and religion in medieval Europe. Her research examines networks of medical knowledge c. 1000-1500 through the writing of twelfth-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Lauren works directly with manuscripts from the eleventh to fifteenth centuries, as well as early printed books from the sixteenth century, in both Medieval Latin and Middle German. Through these sources, her research demonstrates how cross-cultural contact and religious frameworks shaped theories and practices of healing in medieval convents. By tracing Hildegard’s text across centuries, Lauren’s dissertation highlights the impact of women’s knowledge on the development of the medical discipline in the later Middle Ages. 

Lauren is also a public historian. Under her handle @MedievalLauren on the platforms TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, she publishes educational videos on medieval history and its connections with our present world to over 90,000 followers. In addition, she regularly appears on podcasts and interviews about the medieval past. As a first-generation student, Lauren is passionate about historical outreach and widening access to research and universities. 

Lauren's work is currently supported by a Presidential Fellowship. Her work has previously been supported by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, the Medieval Academy of America, and the Newberry Library, as well as Northwestern's Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Medieval Studies Cluster, Science in Human Culture Program, and the Sexualities Project at Northwestern. Her publications appear in Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society, Decoding Recipes: Histories of Knowledge and Practice Across Time and Space, and Medieval Mobilities: Gendered Bodies, Spaces, and Movements. Before coming to Northwestern, Lauren earned a BA and MA in History from the University of Bristol, UK.