By Alice Eberhart 

Shane Bobrycki recently joined the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as an assistant professor. Also recent, is the release of his book The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages, which discusses the social, political, cultural, and economic effects that crowd behavior had in Europe during the early Middle Ages.

The book was published in November by Princeton University Press.

Bobrycki discusses his new book, research, and more in this Q&A. Responses have been lightly edited for style and length 

How would you describe your research and its findings so far? 

My research focuses on European history between about 500 and 1000 CE, a period known as the early Middle Ages. This was a time of drastic change and tenacious continuity in ways of life, following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. One of the biggest shifts was demographic decline. Almost everywhere in Europe there were fewer people than before. To give an extreme example, ancient Rome once had around a million inhabitants; after about 600, the city’s whole population would have filled about half of Kinnick stadium. But early medieval Europeans remained invested in keeping up old ways.

My book The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages asks what happened to collective behavior — crowds, riots, assemblies, gatherings of all sorts, really — when crowds became a scarce resource. I found that crowds did not disappear, but their form and function altered enormously. Crowds, which we tend to associate today with “popular” or “non-elite” agency, served the interests of the powerful in this period where they were logistically challenging to organize.

Crowds tend to be associated with law and order in early medieval sources. The old Roman word for “riot” came to be used not for unruly mobs, but for orderly gatherings of high aristocrats, pious monks, and holy angels. Non-elites expressed their anger against lords not in crowds with pitchforks and torches, but by strategic non-participation in expected gatherings. They refused to show up to big ritual events or to perform group labor. My book argues that collective behavior changed a great deal after Rome’s fall, but it remained socially, economically, culturally, and politically important. 

What have you found most interesting as you’ve pursued early Middle Age Europe? 

It’s hard to single out one example! Here’s one I find interesting. Early medieval monks and nuns kept huge lists of names known as “books of life” or “confraternity books.” These books of names constituted a kind of giant spiritual network of the living and the dead — people who had visited the institution, people who had supported it, members of other monastic houses, the honored deceased, and so on. At certain times of the year, such books would be placed on the altar during the liturgy. The idea was that the community of names was “present” in spirit. So even in the real-world crowds were elusive, monks and nuns could evoke virtual assemblies larger than any contemporary western city. 

What was your experience with the production of The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages? 

I had a wonderful experience working with Princeton University Press on this book. My editors were thoughtful and patient. They have gotten the word out too. The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages recently had a review in the New Yorker. Here in Iowa City, you can buy a copy at Prairie Lights. That makes me glad, because I wanted the book to be able to speak to non-academics. It is an academic book, to be sure; it builds on years of lonely, quiet trawling and has its fair share of notes. But I hope it also has something to say about our own relationship with crowds.  

What drew you to the University of Iowa? 

I moved to the University of Iowa this summer, and I’m very happy to be here. For several years, I taught at the University of Vienna in Austria. That was a great experience, and I loved my time out there. But I was living half a world away from my family, and, let me tell you, transatlantic marriage and fatherhood are less glamorous than they seem! One of the big draws for me was the chance to be in the same place as my family. And the University of Iowa has so much going for it. We have a wonderful tradition of medieval history going back to the 1950s. Special collections is full of amazing medieval manuscripts.

My colleagues in history are fabulous — and they include scholars who work on both crowds and demographic decline. There is a vibrant medieval studies community here. Our graduate students are wonderful. Above all, I’m very excited to be working with the undergraduate students at a great public university. Not to mention, I get a good deal of first-hand crowd exposure on game days!