Bio


Kathryn Starkey is Professor of German in the Department of German Studies and, by courtesy, Professor of English, History, and Comparative Literature. Her work focuses primarily on medieval German literature from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, and her research topics encompass visuality and materiality, object/thing studies, manuscript illustration and transmission, language, performativity, and poetics. She has held visiting appointments at the Universities of Palermo (2011) and Freiburg im Breisgau (2013 and 2018).

Recent book publications (since 2012) include:

* Things and Thingness in European Literature and Visual Art, 800-1600, edited with Jutta Eming (Berlin/New York, 2021).
* Animals in Text and Textile. Storytelling in the Medieval World, edited with Evelin Wetter. Riggisberger Berichte, Vol. 24 (Riggisberg, Switzerland, 2019).
* Sensory Reflections. Traces of Experience in Medieval Artifacts, edited with Fiona Griffiths (Berlin/New York, 2018).
* Neidhart: Selected Songs from the Riedegger Manuscript, edited and translated with Edith Wenzel, TEAMS series in bilingual medieval German texts (Kalamazoo, MI, 2016).
* A Courtier’s Mirror: Cultivating Elite Identity in Thomasin von Zerclaere’s “Welscher Gast” (Notre Dame, 2013).
* Visuality and Materiality in the Story of Tristan, edited with Jutta Eming and Ann Marie Rasmussen (Notre Dame, 2012).
Professor Starkey is the PI for the Global Medieval Sourcebook (https://sourcebook.stanford.edu/) for which she received a NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant (2018) as well as awards from the Roberta Bowman Denning Fund for Humanities and Technologies at Stanford (2016, 2017, 2018).

Her current research projects include a co-authored (with Fiona Griffiths) textbook for the Cambridge Medieval Textbook series on A History of Medieval Germany (900-1220).

Professor Starkey has been the recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the UNC Institute for the Arts and the Humanities, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC).

Before joining the faculty at Stanford in 2012 she taught in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Academic Appointments


  • Professor, German Studies
  • Professor (By courtesy), English
  • Professor (By courtesy), History
  • Professor (By courtesy), Comparative Literature

Administrative Appointments


  • Chair, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (2022 - 2025)
  • Professor, by Courtesy, Department of Comparative Literature, Stanford University (2020 - Present)
  • Professor, by Courtesy, Department of History, Stanford University (2020 - Present)
  • Guest Professor, Deutsches Seminar, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg (2018 - 2018)
  • Director, Department of German Studies, Stanford University (2014 - 2022)
  • Professor, by Courtesy, Department of English, Stanford University (2013 - Present)
  • Co-Director (with Prof. Elaine Treharne), Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Stanford University (2013 - 2016)
  • Guest Professor, Deutsches Seminar, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg (2013 - 2013)
  • Full Professor, Department of German, Stanford University (2012 - Present)
  • Research and Teaching Fellow, Erasmus Mundus Master Course GLITEMA Palermo and Bremen (2011 - 2011)
  • Research and Teaching Fellow, Erasmus Mundus Master Course, GLITEMA (German Literature in the European Middle Ages), Palermo and Bremen (2011 - 2011)
  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of German Studies, Duke University (2009 - 2012)
  • Director, Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007 - 2010)
  • Chair, Medieval Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007 - 2008)
  • Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Languages, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) (2004 - 2012)
  • Chair, Medieval Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004 - 2005)
  • Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Humboldt University, Berlin (2003 - 2004)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Languages, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998 - 2004)
  • DAAD Fellow, Humboldt University, Berlin (1997 - 1998)
  • Canada Council Fellow (SSHRCC), Humboldt University, Berlin (1996 - 1996)
  • Coordinator of German summer session language program, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) (1995 - 1995)
  • Graduate Student Instructor, University of California, Berkeley (1991 - 1998)

Honors & Awards


  • Senior Fellowship, Auerbach Institute of Advanced Study, University of Cologne (2023)
  • Faculty Research Fellowship, The Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Stanford University (2022-2023)
  • Course Development Grant for “Sustaining the Human Record”, Stanford School of Sustainability (2022)
  • Course Development Grant for “The Global Middle Ages”, COLLEGE Global Perspectives, VPUE, Stanford University (2022)
  • Merico Fellow, Stanford Humanities Center (2020-2021)
  • Digital Humanities Advancement Grant (Level II) for the Global Medieval Sourcebook, National Endowment for the Humanities (2018-2020)
  • Short-Term Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2018)
  • Awards for the development of the Global Medieval Sourcebook, The Roberta Bowman Denning Fund for Humanities and Technologies, Stanford University (2016-2017; 2017-2018; 2018-2019)
  • Short-Term Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2014)
  • Faculty College Fellowship to develop a Minor in the Global Middle Ages, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • ArtsCatalyst Grant for Enriching Undergraduate Education, VPUE (2013)
  • Kenan Faculty Retention Award, Arts and Sciences Foundation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009)
  • Research Fellow, National Humanities Center (2009)
  • Trans-Coop Program Research Grant, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2005-2008)
  • Spray-Randleigh Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004)
  • Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2003-2004; 2005)
  • Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2003 - 2004)
  • Endowment for Scholarly Publication Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel H ill (2003)
  • University Research Council Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2003)
  • Research Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute for the Arts and the Humanities (2002)
  • Williamson Bequest for Gay and Lesbian Studies Course Development Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999 - 2000)
  • DAAD German Academic Exchange Service Research Fellowship, Humboldt University, Berlin (1997 - 1998)
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of California, Berkeley (1995 - 1996)
  • Regents Fellowship for Graduate Study, University of California, Berkeley (1995 - 1996)
  • Chancellor's Humanities Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley (1994 - 1995)
  • Fellowship, Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (1993 - 1996)
  • Regents Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley (1991 - 1992)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Faculty Advisor for the Undergraduate Minor in Medieval Studies, Stanford (2013 - 2016)
  • Advisory Board Member, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), Stanford (2018 - 2022)
  • Senator, University Senate, Stanford (2018 - 2020)
  • Advisory Council Member, The Europe Center, Stanford (2019 - 2021)
  • Council Member, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Advisory Council, Stanford (2019 - 2020)
  • Committee Member, Committee on Committees, Stanford (2019 - 2020)
  • Editorial Board Member, Visual Cultures and German Contexts, Bloomsbury Press (book series): www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/visual-cultures-and-german-contexts/ (2018 - 2021)
  • Editorial Board Member, Sense Matter, and Medium: New Approaches to Medieval Literary and Material Culture, De Gruyter Press (book series): www.degruyter.com/view/serial/474423 (2016 - Present)
  • Advisory Board Member, Transcriptiones, De Gruyter (book series): www.degruyter.com/serial/TC-B/html (2021 - Present)
  • Editorial Board Member, Euphorion. Zeitschrift für Literaturgeschichte: https://euph.winter- verlag.de/ (2021 - Present)
  • Chair, Committee on Libraries (C-LIB), Stanford (2022 - Present)
  • Committee Member, Committee on Libraries (C-LIB), Stanford (2021 - Present)
  • Chair, Graduate Affairs Committee, Division of Literature, Cultures and Languages (DLCL), Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • BOSP Berlin Advisory Committee Member, Stanford (2021 - Present)
  • Co-Director (with Professor Elaine Treharne), Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Stanford University (2013 - 2016)
  • Member, American Association of Teachers of German (AATG)
  • Member, Modern Language Association (MLA)
  • Member, Germanic Society of America (GSA)
  • Member, Medieval Association of America (MAA)
  • Member, Selection Committee, Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • Pre-Major Advising, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • Teagle Foundation Project on Collaborative Faculty-Graduate Student Teaching, Stanford University (2013 - 2014)
  • External Reviewer, Außerplanmäßiger Professur, Humboldt University, Berlin (2013 - 2013)
  • Member, Search Committee for German subject specialist, Green Library, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
  • Member, Search Committee for Lecturer in German, Stanford University (2013 - 2013)
  • Editorial Board Member, The German Quarterly (2012 - 2021)
  • Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011 - 2012)
  • Elected Member of Faculty Council, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2010 - 2012)
  • Liaison, European Union, Erasmus Mundus Masters Program: German Literature in the European Middle Ages (2009 - 2013)
  • Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2009 - 2011)
  • Member, Division Executive Committee, German Literature pre 1700, Modern Language Association (MLA) (2008 - 2013)
  • External reviewer, W-3 Professur in German Medieval Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2008 - 2008)
  • Director, Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007 - 2009)
  • Chair, Medieval Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007 - 2008)
  • External Reviewer, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2005 - 2013)
  • External Reviewer, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies – FRIAS (2005 - 2013)
  • Chair, Medieval Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004 - 2005)
  • Director of Graduate Admissions, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004 - 2005)
  • Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2004 - 2005)
  • Member, Medieval Studies Advisory Board, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2003 - 2012)
  • Director of Graduate Admissions, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2002 - 2003)
  • Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2002 - 2003)
  • Member, Faculty Travel Grant Selection Committee, University Center for International Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2002 - 2002)
  • Member, Search Committee, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001 - 2002)
  • Member, Undergraduate Curriculum Review Committee on Foreign Languages, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001 - 2002)
  • Member, Long-Term Personnel Planning Committee, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000 - 2012)
  • Member, Undergraduate Studies Committee, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000 - 2012)
  • Member, Advisory Committee for North Carolina/Baden Württemberg Exchange, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000 - 2005)
  • Member, Medieval Studies Advisory Board, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000 - 2002)
  • Director of Graduate Admissions, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999 - 2000)
  • Faculty Advisor to the German House, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1999 - 2000)
  • Faculty Advisor to the German Honors Society, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998 - 1999)

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, German (Literature and Culture) (1998)
  • M.A., University of California, Berkeley, German (Germanic Linguistics) (1993)
  • B.A., Queen’s University, German, Linguistics, Psychology minor (1990)

2024-25 Courses


Stanford Advisees


All Publications


  • Materializing history: Objects and women's lives in medieval Germany GERMAN QUARTERLY Griffiths, F., Starkey, K. 2023

    View details for DOI 10.1111/gequ.12346

    View details for Web of Science ID 000987855300001

  • Teaching the Legend of Tristan and Isolde ARTHURIANA Starkey, K., Velloso-Lyons, M. 2022; 32 (4): 103-120
  • Introduction: Amputation and warfare in the eleventh century: absence, sensation, and embodiment POSTMEDIEVAL-A JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL CULTURAL STUDIES Griffiths, F., Starkey, K. 2021
  • The Global Medieval Sourcebook: Creating a Sustainable Digital Anthology of Medieval Texts and Translations SEMINAR-A JOURNAL OF GERMANIC STUDIES Velloso-Lyons, M., Dombrowski, Q., Starkey, K. 2021; 57 (3): 193-216
  • Steps Toward a Narratology of Objects: A Comparison of Heinrich von Veldeke's "Eneas Romance", the "Roman d'Eneas" and Virgil's "Aeneid" (Book Review) MONATSHEFTE Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2018; 110 (1): 131–32
  • Sensing Through Objects SENSORY REFLECTIONS: TRACES OF EXPERIENCE IN MEDIEVAL ARTIFACTS Griffiths, F., Starkey, K., Griffiths, F., Starkey, K. 2018; 1: 1–21
  • Blinking during gaze Movement: Virtual Spaces and Perceptual Experiences in courtly Collected Stories around the Period 1200 (Book Review) BEITRAGE ZUR GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE UND LITERATUR Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2015; 137 (2): 345-347
  • Visibility of the Invisible. Seeing and Understanding in Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (Book Review) SEMINAR-A JOURNAL OF GERMANIC STUDIES Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2014; 50 (2): 236-243
  • Seeing and Visibility in the Literature of the German Middle Ages (Book Review) SEMINAR-A JOURNAL OF GERMANIC STUDIES Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2014; 50 (2): 236-243
  • A Courtier’s Mirror: Cultivating Elite Identity in Thomasin von Zerclaere’s “Welscher Gast.” Starkey, K. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 2013
  • Visuality and Materiality in the Story of Tristan edited by Eming, J., Rasmussen, A. M., Starkey, K. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 2012
  • The I in Images. The Figure of the Author in vernacular illuminated Manuscripts of the 13th and 16th Century (Book Review) BEITRAGE ZUR GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE UND LITERATUR Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2012; 134 (4): 586-591
  • Author Images. On the Mediality of literary Communication in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period (Book Review) BEITRAGE ZUR GESCHICHTE DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE UND LITERATUR Book Review Authored by: Starkey, K. 2012; 134 (4): 586-591
  • The Question of Reading and the Medieval Book: Reception and Manuscript Variation of Thomasin’s Welscher Gast The Question of Reading Starkey, K. edited by Hess, J., Benson, R., Downing, E. Rochester, NY: Camden House. 2012: 40–67
  • Affektives Sehen und die Visualisierungsstrategien in den Illustrationen zu Thomasins Welschem Gast Machtvolle Gefühle Starkey, K. edited by Kasten, I. Berlin: de Gruyter. 2010: 167–188
  • THE VISUALITY OF GERMAN COURTLY LITERATURE OXFORD GERMAN STUDIES Starkey, K., Wenzel, H. 2008; 37 (2): 130-159
  • Mouvance - Varianz - Performanz: Die New Philology und der unfeste Text Walther von der Vogelweide und die Literaturtheorie. Neun Modellanalysen von "Nemt, frouwe, disen kranz.” Starkey, K., Wandhoff, H. edited by Myklautsch, L., Keller, J. Stuttgart: Reclam. 2008: 45–68
  • Imagination und Deixis: Studien zur Wahrnehmung im Mittelalter edited by Wenzel, H., Starkey, K. Stuttgart: Hirzel. 2007
  • Performative Emotion and the Politics of Gender in the Nibelungenlied Women and Medieval Epic: Gender, Genre, and the Limits of Epic Masculinity Starkey, K. edited by Poor, S. S., Schulman, J. K. New York: Palgrave Press. 2006: 253–271
  • Das unfeste Geschlecht. Überlegungen zur Entwicklung einer volksprachlichen Ikonographie am Beispiel des Welschen Gastes Visualisierungsstrategien in mittelalterlichen Bildern und Texten Starkey, K. edited by Wenzel,, H., Jaeger, C. S. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. 2006
  • Visual Culture and the German Middle Ages edited by Wenzel, H., Starkey, K. 2005
  • Thomasins Spiegelphase: (Selbst)Reflexion und Bildfunktion bei der Formierung des höfischen Subjekts Inszenierung von Subjektivität in der Literatur des Mittelalters Starkey, K. edited by Baisch, M., Eming, J., Haufe, H., Sieber, A. Berlin: Ulrike Helmer. 2005: 230–248
  • Reading the Medieval Book. Word, Image, and Performance in Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Willehalm." Starkey, K. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 2004
  • Tristan Slippers. An Image of Adultery on a Symbol of Marriage? Medieval Fabrications: Dress,Textiles, Clothwork and Other Cultural Imaginings Starkey, K. edited by Burns, E. J. New York: Palgrave. 2004: 35–53
  • Brunhild's Smile. Emotion and the Politics of Gender in the Nibelungenlied Codierungen von Emotionen in der Kultur und Literatur des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit: Paradigmen und Perspektiven Starkey, K. edited by Jaeger, C. S., Kasten, I. Berlin: de Gruyter. 2003: 159–173
  • Bilder erzählen - Die Visualisierung von Erzählstimme und Perspektive in den Illustrationen eines Willehalm-Fragments Mediale Performanzen. Historische Paradigmen und Perspektiven Starkey, K., et al edited by Eming, J., et al Berlin: Rombach. 2002: 21–48
  • Die Androhung der Unordnung: Inszenierung, Macht und Verhandlung in Wolframs Willehalm Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie Starkey, K. 2002; 121: 321-341
  • From Symbol to Scene: Changing Models of Representation in Thomasîn von Zerclaere's Welscher Gast Beweglichkeit der Bilder. Text und Imagination in den illustrierten Handschriften des‘Welschen Gastes’ von Thomasin von Zerclaere Starkey, K. edited by Wenzel, H., Lechtermann, C. Cologne: Boehlau. 2002: 121–142
  • Traversing the boundaries of language: Multilingualism and linguistic difference in Wolfram von Eschenbach's 'Willehalm' GERMAN QUARTERLY Starkey, K. 2002; 75 (1): 20-34
  • Ordnung und Unordnung in mittelalterlicher Literatur. Deutsch-amerikanische Mediävistentagung in München/Ruhpolding 20 - 23.6.2000 Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie Starkey, K., Kraß, A. 2001; 120: 426 - 429
  • Bay Area German V: PC German Insights in Germanic Linguistics II (Trends in Linguistics 94) Rauch, I., Starkey, K. 2000
  • Imagining an early Odin: Gold bracteates as visual evidence? SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES Starkey, K. 1999; 71 (4): 373-392
  • English Phonetic Contrasts in San Francisco Bay Area German Across the Oceans: Studies from East to West in Honor of Richard K. Seymour Starkey, K. edited by Moore, C., Rauch, I. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1995