Larissa Juliet Taylor

Biography

When she graduated from high school, Larissa Taylor wanted to be a professional sports writer. Unfortunately, in those days, the field was for the most part not open to women. After reading a historical novel, Anya Seton's Katherine, Larissa found her life's passion: medieval history. She received her doctorate from Brown University in 1990 and taught at MIT, Wellesley, Harvard, and Assumption College before coming to Colby College in 1994. There she is Professor of History with affiliations to Religious Studies and French.

She is President of the American Catholic Historical Association.

Her publications include the award-winning Soldiers of Christ: Preachers in Late Medieval and Reformation France; Heresy and Orthodoxy in Sixteenth-Century Paris; Preachers and People in the Reformations and Early Modern Period; and numerous chapters, articles and co-edited works. She is editor-in-chief of The Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage (Brill, 2009).Her most recent book is The Virgin Warrior: The Life and Death of Joan of Arc (Yale, 2009) and its Italian translation Giovanna d'Arco e la Guerra dei Cent' Anni (Bruno Mondadori, 2010).

While finishing volume 1 of a Sourcebook of the West (Prentice-Hall, 2012), Larissa is also working on two new books: Avignon at the Time of the Plague and Joan of Arc, The Church and the Papacy, 1429-1920.

When not teaching or working in archives, Larissa spends her spare time watching NFL football (especially the New England Patriots), European soccer and other sports. She is both a 'cat lady' and an advocate of animal welfare/rights.

Titles by the Author