Abigail Agresta
I study late medieval social history in the towns of the Western Mediterranean. I'm mainly interested in how medieval townspeople experienced their world; its rules and structures, objects and boundaries. My undergraduate thesis used pious bequests in wills from Castelló d'Empúries in Catalonia to examine the role of the notary in the will-making process. My master's thesis looked at how the social role of the Medici Palace garden in fifteenth century Florence influenced perception of its symbolic meaning.
I graduated with highest honors from Swarthmore in the spring of 2009, having majored in medieval studies and minored in history. I completed a Master of Studies in medieval history at Oxford in the summer of 2010. Before all that, I was born and raised on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
