Areas of Specialization
The langauges, literatures and cultural history of Medieval Iberia from the 13th century through the 15th., medieval book culture and the archeology of the manuscript book, manuscript illuminations, pilgrimage studies, and linguistics.
Background
George D. Greenia specializes in the Spanish Middle Ages, its literature, language, art and social history. He is Editor at Large of the journal La corónica, devoted to medieval Iberia, Editor of the journal American Pilgrim with public scholarship serving the pilgrimage community internationally, and author of the textbook Generaciones. Composición y conversación en español with parallel versions in French and German. He is co-Editor of a 2-vol. encyclopedia of Castilian Writers, 1200-1500. Prof. Greenia served for ten years as Director of William and Mary’s Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. His courses include Love & Prostitution in Medieval Spain, Spanish Language, Epic and Nationalism, Medieval Pilgrimage, Hispanic Follktales, The Medieval Book, and a summer Apprenticeship in Archival Skills for Medieval and Renaissance Studies taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 he led William & Mary undergraduates in retracing the legendary routes of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. In the second photo he stands atop the roof of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
In 2007 Greenia was named Editor of the Year by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals and was also knighted by order of King Juan Carlos I of Spain and granted the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Católica. In 2009 he was elected to the national Senate of the Phi Beta Kappa Society and serves on the Society’s Executive Committee. Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and largest undergraduate honorary society in the US, was founded at William & Mary in 1776 and the College continues as home to the Alpha Chapter of the Society.
Publications
“The Tragicomedia as a Canonical Work”. Actas of the International Symposium 1502-2002: Five Hundred Years of Fernando de Rojas’s” Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea”, 18-19 October, 2002. NY: Hispanic Society of America.
“The Bigger the Book: On Oversize Medieval Manuscripts”. Special Issue on Manuscript Studies, Keith Busby, Guest Editor. Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire.
Castilian Writers, Beginnings to 1400. and Castilian Writers, 1400-1500. Eds. Frank A. Domínguez and George D. Greenia. Dictionary of Literary Biography, 2 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2004, 2007.
Generaciones: Composición y conversación en español (textbook, workbook, instructor’s manual, listening casette tape, computer disks).