Born 1953 in Heinsberg (Germany) Since 2001 Full Professor of Medieval History, University of Salento, Lecce (Italy)
2001-2007 Founder and director of the Center for studies about the history of the Teutonic Order in the Mediterranean (Centro di studi sulla storia dell’Ordine Teutonico nel Mediterraneo), Torre Alemanna (Cerignola)
Since 2007 President of the Research Center about the Teutonic Order in the Mediterranean (Centro interdipartimentale di ricerca sull’Ordine Teutonico nel Mediterraneo), University of Salento, Lecce
2008-2016 Vice President of the International Historical Commission for the research about the Teutonic Order (Internationale Historische Kommission zur Erforschung des Deutschen Ordens), Vienna
Since 2017 President of the International Historical Commission for the research about the Teutonic Order (Internationale Historische Kommission zur Erforschung des Deutschen Ordens), Vienna
Since 2017 member of the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome
Selected Recently Published Titles
2017
Friedrich II. und Venedig. Versuch einer Annäherung, in Venedig als Bühne. Organisation, Inszenierung und Wahrnehmung europäischer Herrscherbesuche, ed. R. Schmitz-Esser, K. Görich, J. Johrendt, Regensburg 2017, pp. 125-148.
Friedrich II., ein Sizilianer auf dem Kaiserthron?, in «Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken» 97 (2017) pp. 83-98
2016
Le royaume normand de Sicile était-il vraiment « normand » ?, in 911-2011. Penser les mondes normands médiévaux, Actes du colloque international de Caen et Cerisy (29 septembre-2 octobre 2011), ed. D. Bates – P. Bauduin, Caen 2016, pp. 325-339.
Bauten des Deutschen Ordens im Mittelmeerraum, in Ritter, Verwalter und Repräsentanten – Priester und Seelsorger: Burgen, Flachenecker, Weimar 2016, pp. 9-30
2015
Manfred, ein italienischer Staufer und sein kulturelles Umfeld, in Manfred, König von Sizilien (1258-1266), Göppingen 2015, pp. 32-73
2014
editor (with R. Smurra and M. Ghizzoni), Lo sguardo lungimirante delle capitali. Saggi in onore di Francesca Bocchi, The far-sighted gaze of capital cities. Essays in honour of Francesca Bocchi, Roma 2014
2013
I Normanni, Bologna 2013 (il Mulino Universale Paperbacks 655), pp. 141
Federico II. Imperatore, uomo, mito, 2. ediz. aggiornata Bologna 2013 (il Mulino Storica Paperbacks 110)
Religious in secular offices in late medieval southern Italy, in Churchmen and Urban Government in Late Medieval Italy, c.1200 – c.1450, ed. F. Andrews – M. A. Pincelli, Cambridge 2013, pp. 307-318
Between Occidental and Oriental Cultures: Norman Sicily as ‘Third Space’?, in Norman Tradition and Transcultural Heritage. Exchange of Cultures in the ‘Norman’ Peripheries of Medieval Europe, ed. S. Burkhardt – T. Foerster, Farnham 2013, pp. 19-33
Castles and Towers of the Teutonic Knights in the Mediterranean, in Castelos das Ordens Militares. Atas de Encontro Internacional, ed. I. C. F. Fernandes, Lisboa, Direção-Geral do Património Cultural, 2013, vol. 1, pp. 59-71
Between Sicily and Jerusalem: The Teutonic Knights in the Mediterranean (Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries), in Islands and Military Orders, c. 1291-c. 1798, ed. E. Buttigieg – S. Phillips, Farnham 2013, pp. 155-163
2012
A northern Military Order in a mediterranean context: the Teutonic Knights in Southern Italy (13th-15th centuries), in As Ordens Militares. Freires, Guerreiros, Cavaleiros. Atas do VI Encontro sobre Ordens Militares, ed. I. C. Ferreira Fernandes, vol. 2, Palmela 2012, pp. 591-598.
Federico II e i cavalieri teutonici a Belvedere (Apricena) e Foggia: scavi archivistici (con un’appendice documentaria 1220-1417), in Federico II e i cavalieri teutonici in Capitanata: recenti ricerche storiche e archeologiche. Atti del Convegno internazionale, Foggia-Lucera-Pietramontecorvino, 10-13 giugno 2009, ed. P. Favia – H. Houben – K. Toomaspoeg, Galatina 2012, pp. 123-181