Bio

I am a historian of western Europe and the Mediterranean, primarily during the high and late Middle Ages. Much of my research tries to understand how law and society interact with each other, especially where legal norms conflict with social practices. Another strand of my research explores the history of economic life and economic thought, especially medieval debates over usury and moneylending. I have also written on the circulation of goods, people, and ideas in the medieval Mediterranean.

My first book (No Return: Jews, Christian Usurers, and the Spread of Mass Expulsion in Medieval Europe, Princeton University Press) uses the banishment of Jewish and Christian moneylenders to explore the rise of mass expulsion as a widespread practice in the later Middle Ages. A second ongoing project examines the ways in which medieval canon law was adapted, reinterpreted, or resisted in local contexts in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The latter builds on Corpus Synodalium, a prize-winning full-text database of late medieval local ecclesiastical legislation that I have been developing since 2016, with assistance from colleagues around the world.

Born and raised in western Canada, I did my undergraduate and doctoral work at Harvard University, earning an MPhil in Medieval History from the University of Cambridge along the way. Before coming to Stanford, I was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor, History

Administrative Appointments

  • Director, Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (2023 - Present)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Comitato scientifico, Fondazione per le scienze religiose, Bologna (2022 - Present)

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University, History (2015)
  • M.Phil., University of Cambridge, Medieval History (2009)
  • AB (Hon.), Harvard College, History (2007)

Contact

  • Academic
    dorin@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: History Department Position: Associate Professor

Additional Info

Links

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • No Return: Jews, Christian Usurers, and the Spread of Mass Expulsion in Medieval Europe Histories of Economic Life Dorin, R. Princeton University Press. 2023
  • Corpus Synodalium: Medieval Canon Law in the Digital Age Digital Medieval Studies: Practice and Preservation Dorin, R. edited by Morreale, L. K., Gilsdorf, S. ARC Humanities. 2022: 49-75
  • THE BISHOP AS LAWMAKER IN LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPE PAST & PRESENT Dorin, R. 2021: 45-82

    View details for DOI 10.1093/pastj/gtaa045

    View details for Web of Science ID 000728393800002

  • Usury and Restitution in Late Medieval Episcopal Statutes: A Case Study in the Local Reception of Conciliar Decrees BULLETIN OF MEDIEVAL CANON LAW-NEW SERIES Dorin, R., Riva, R. 2021; 38: 309-359

    View details for Web of Science ID 000773364700012

  • Migrant Moneylenders and the Threat of Expulsion in Late Medieval Europe L’expérience de la mobilité, de l’Antiquité à nos jours. Entre précarité et confiance Dorin, R. edited by Moatti, C., Chevreau, E. Ausonius. 2021: 49-66
  • Diffusion des normes dans l’église de la fin du moyen âge: Les législations ecclésiastiques locales, 1215-1500. Introduction Revue de droit canonique Dorin, R., Barralis, C. 2021; 71 (1): 5-17
  • Order and Disorder: The Documentary Additions to the Liber Ordinarius of Nivelles The Liber ordinarius of Nivelles (Houghton Library, MS Lat 422): Liturgy as Interdisciplinary Intersection Dorin, R., Schlotheuber, E. edited by Hamburger, J. F. Mohr Siebeck. 2019: 133-150
  • "Once the Jews have been Expelled": Intent and Interpretation in Late Medieval Canon Law LAW AND HISTORY REVIEW Dorin, R. W. 2016; 34 (2): 335-362

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S0738248016000043

    View details for Web of Science ID 000376143900004

  • Les maîtres parisiens et les Juifs (fin XIIIe siècle): Perspectives nouvelles sur un dossier d’avis concernant le regimen judaeorum Journal des Savants Dorin, R. W. 2016: 241-282
  • Canon law and the problem of expulsion: The origins and interpretation of Usurarum voraginem (VI 5.5.1) Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische Abteilung Dorin, R. W. 2013; 99: 129-161

    View details for DOI 10.7767/zrgka.2013.99.1.129

  • Adriatic Trade Networks in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Trade and Markets in Byzantium Dorin, R. W. Harvard University Press. 2012: 235-279
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7334-8049