In addition to my full-time vocation of academic librarian at Brown University Library, I have been working for longer than I care to mention on a Ph.D. in History at Columbia University. My specialty is the history of medieval Europe, and particularly in the early Middle Ages: Merovingian and Carolingian periods.
My dissertation (just deposited and defended in March and April 2021) is on “The Trials of Pope Formosus.” Formosus was Pope from 891-896, and is best known for being disinterred by one of his successors (Pope Stephen VI) and placed on trial. What I am trying to determine (and I think I have) is why someone would go to such an extreme. I have given many papers on various aspects of the life and times of Formosus, especially at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo over the past several years. Stay tuned for the book and the film! If you want to know a little more about Formosus, you can find information on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Formosus
The information there is a pretty good summary of the common story, but my research will change our understanding of the Cadaver Synod considerably. You can find more in these three posts here on my blog:
https://wsmonroe.com/2014/05/30/133/
https://wsmonroe.com/2014/06/02/137/
https://wordpress.com/post/wsmonroe.com/275
You can find a list of my publications here: orcid.org/0000-0003-3252-2121
Meanwhile, since I am the curator of the medieval manuscripts and early printed books at the Brown University Library, I also do research on these (not just ours, but others as well). And I am the list-owner of the long-standing discussion list on medieval history, called MEDIEV-L. If you are interested in medieval history, it is a good source of information. We have many subscribers, including some prominent historians. You can find out more about it, and subscribe, here: http://listserv.brown.edu/?A0=MEDIEV-L
I am also currently serving a three-year term on the governing Council of the Medieval Academy of America.
wsmonroe 
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