{{Short description|American historian and medievalist}} {{Infobox historian | honorific_prefix = | name = Alfred J. Andrea | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Alfred Andrea.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Alfred John Andrea | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|11|18|df=y}} | birth_place = | occupation = Historian | notable_works = ''The Capture of Constantinople'' (1997); '' Encyclopedia of the Crusades'' (2003) | awards = Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation | influences = | doctoral_students = | workplaces = University of Vermont<br>University of the Peloponnese<br>University of Puget Sound<br>Keimyung University | education = Boston College<br />Cornell University }} '''Alfred John Andrea''' (born November 18, 1941) is an American historian of medieval and world history.
He is professor emeritus of History at the University of Vermont, former president of the World History Association, and Distinguished Professor at the University of the Peloponnese in Greece.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Medievalists.net |date=2015-10-15 |title=Seven Myths of the Crusades: An Interview with Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/seven-myths-of-the-crusades-an-interview-with-alfred-j-andrea-and-andrew-holt/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=Medievalists.net |language=en-US}}</ref>
His scholarship has focused on the crusades, papal–Byzantine relations, the Silk Road, and the historiography of world history.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Harris |first=Jonathan |date=2003-12-31 |title=Alfred J. Andrea, Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade, with contributions by Brett E. Whalen (The Medieval Mediterranean, 29). Leiden: Brill, 2000. Pp. xii, 330. ISBN 90 04 11740 7. |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/28327861.2003.12220003 |journal=Crusades |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=169–170 |doi=10.1080/28327861.2003.12220003 |issn=1476-5276|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He has been a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 1965.
== Biography == Andrea was born on November 18, 1941. He received his A.B. magna cum laude from Boston College in 1963<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graduate: Andrea, Alfred, 1963 - 1963 {{!}} Burns Library Archival Collections |url=https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/5897 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=findingaids.bc.edu}}</ref> and earned his Ph.D. in history from Cornell University in 1969, with a dissertation titled ''Pope Innocent III as Crusader and Canonist: His Relations with the Greeks of Constantinople, 1198–1216''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrea |first=Alfred John |url=https://opac.regesta-imperii.de/lang_en/anzeige.php?monographie=Pope+Innocent+III+as+crusader+and+canonist:+his+relations+with+the+greeks+of+Constantinople,+1198-1216&pk=1088514 |title=Pope Innocent III as crusader and canonist: his relations with the greeks of Constantinople, 1198-1216 |date=1969 |location=[Cornell University]}}</ref>
Andrea joined the faculty of the University of Vermont in 1967, where he taught until 2001, rising from assistant to full professor and holding administrative roles including Director of Graduate Studies, Interim Chair, and Director of Undergraduate Studies.<ref name=":0" />
He later held visiting and honorary appointments at institutions in the United States, Europe, and Asia, among them the Eli Lilly Visiting Professorship at the University of Puget Sound (1978–1979) and a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence position at the University of Louisville (2002).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Holt |first=Andrew |date=2015-06-26 |title=The Future of Medieval History: An Interview with Dr. Alfred J. Andrea |url=https://apholt.com/2015/06/26/the-future-of-medieval-history-an-interview-with-dr-alfred-j-andrea/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=AHolt |language=en}}</ref>
He also served as a President of World History Association from 2010 to 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Former WHA Presidents – World History Association |url=https://archive.thewha.org/about/governance/former-wha-presidents/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |language=en-US}}</ref>
His awards include the World History Association’s Pioneer of World HistoryAward (2014),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneers in World History Award – World History Association |url=https://archive.thewha.org/awards/pioneers-award/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |language=en-US}}</ref> the Phi Delta Kappa Award for Distinguished Teaching (2009), and the Centennial Medal for Distinguished Scholarship from Saint Michael’s College (2004). He has been a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 1965.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Alfred Andrea {{!}} Department of History {{!}} The University of Vermont |url=https://www.uvm.edu/cas/history/profile/alfred-andrea |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=www.uvm.edu |language=en}}</ref>
On 19 October 2022, the University of the Peloponnese in Kalamata, Greece, conferred upon him the title of ''professor honoris causa'' in recognition of his contributions to the study of the Crusades and world history. On 3 November 2022, the Academia Via Serica at Keimyung University in Daegu, South Korea, named him Distinguished Professor for his scholarship on the Silk Road.<ref name=":3" />
== Research and scholarly work == Andrea’s research spans medieval ecclesiastical history, the crusades, papal–Byzantine relations, and long-distance cultural exchange in the premodern world.
His work integrates regional and global perspectives, particularly cross-cultural encounters along the Silk Roads and in the Mediterranean.
His annotated source collection ''Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade'' (Brill, 1997; 2nd ed., 2009) remains a standard reference in crusader studies,<ref name=":1" /> and ''The Capture of Constantinople'' (1997) provides a critical analysis and translation of Gunther of Pairis’s ''Hystoria Constantinopolitana''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Capture of Constantinople: The "Hystoria Constantinopolitana" of Gunther of Pairis 0812215869, 9780812215861 |url=https://dokumen.pub/the-capture-of-constantinople-the-quothystoria-constantinopolitanaquot-of-gunther-of-pairis-0812215869-9780812215861.html |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=dokumen.pub |language=en}}</ref> He authored the ''Encyclopedia of the Crusades'' (2003) and served as editor-in-chief of the 21-volume ''World History Encyclopedia'' (2011).<ref name=":2" />
In world history pedagogy, Andrea co-authored with James H. Overfield anthology ''The Human Record: Sources of Global History'' (first published in 1990; 8th ed., 2015)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bucholz |first=Arden |date=1992 |title=Review of The Human Record: Sources of Global History; The Human Record: Sources of Global History. Instructor's Resource Manual, Alfred J. Andrea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20078533 |journal=Journal of World History |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=263–265 |issn=1045-6007}}</ref> and authored ''The Medieval Record: Sources of Medieval History'' (2nd rev. ed., 2019), which he regards as a personal favorite. He also co-edited ''Seven Myths of the Crusades'' (2015) with Andrew Holt<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Guy |title=The best books on The Crusades |url=https://fivebooks.com/best-books/the-crusades-guy-perry/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=Five Books |language=en}}</ref> and coauthored ''Sanctified Violence: Holy War in World History'' (2021),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Todesca |first=James J. |date=2024 |title=Sanctified Violence: Holy War in World History by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/227/article/948741 |journal=Journal of Global South Studies |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=344–346 |issn=2476-1419}}</ref> and authored ''Expanding Horizons: The Globalization of Medieval Europe, 450–1500'' (2024).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-28 |title=New Medieval Books: Expanding Horizons |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2024/11/new-medieval-books-expanding-horizons/ |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=Medievalists.net |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Selected publications ==
=== Books and reference works ===
*{{Cite book |last=Andrea |first=Alfred J. |url=https://www.amazon.com/Expanding-Horizons-Globalization-Medieval-450-1500/dp/164792183X |title=Expanding horizons: the globalization of Medieval Europe, 450-1500 |date=2024 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-64792-183-5 |series=Critical Themes in World History |location=Indianapolis}} *{{Cite book |last=Andrea |first=Alfred J. |title=Sanctified violence: holy war in world history |last2=Holt |first2=Andrew P. |date=2021 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Inc |isbn=978-1-62466-960-6 |series=Critical themes in world history |location=Indianapolis, Indiana}} * {{Cite book |title=Seven myths of the Crusades |date=2015 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Inc |isbn=978-1-62466-403-8 |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |series=Myths of history : a Hackett series |location=Indianapolis |editor-last2=Holt |editor-first2=Andrew}} * {{Citation |last=Andrea |first=Alfred J. |title=The human record. Volume 1: To 1500 |date=2016 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Human-Record-Sources-Global-History/dp/1285870239 |access-date=2025-09-01 |edition=8th |place=Boston |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-285-87023-6 |last2=Overfield |first2=James H.}} * {{Cite book |last=Andrea |first=Alfred |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004169432.i-346 |title=Contemporary Sources for the Fourth Crusade |last2=Andrea |first2=Alfred |last3=Whalen |first3=Brett |date=2000-06-16 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-3383-5}} *{{Cite book |last=Gunther |title=The capture of Constantinople: the Hystoria Constantinopolitana of Gunther of Pairis |last2=Andrea |first2=Alfred J. |date=1997 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3356-8 |series=Middle Ages series |location=Philadelphia}} *{{Cite book |title=The living past: Western historiographical traditions |date=1975 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-02914-4 |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |location=New York |editor-last2=Schmokel |editor-first2=Wolfe W.}} * {{Cite book |title=World history encyclopedia |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-929-0 |editor-last=Andrea |editor-first=Alfred J. |location=Santa Barbara, Calif |editor-last2=Neel |editor-first2=Carolyn}} * {{Cite book |last=Andrea |first=Alfred J. |title=Encyclopedia of the crusades |date=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-31659-3 |location=Westport, Conn}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrea, Alfred}} Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:American medievalists Category:University of Vermont faculty Category:Boston College alumni Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Scholars of Byzantine history Category:20th-century American historians Category:21st-century American historians Category:American encyclopedists