Current Position
2008-10, David H. Burton Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History, Saint Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
Education and Training
2008, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Doctor of Philosophy
- Dissertation: “From Sword to Seal: The Ascent of the Carvajal Family in Spain (1391-1516).”
- Major Field: Late Medieval/Early Modern Europe with an emphasis on Spain
- Minor Fields:Medieval Islamic Historiography (7th – 13th century), Medieval Global Interconnections
1994, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, Master of Public Policy
- Master’s Thesis/Project: “Should California Educate Its Undocumented Immigrant Children?: A Cost-Benefit Analysis for the 1990 School-Age Population.”
- Completed as a professional project for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
1992, Humanities Program, University of Texas at Austin, Bachelor of Arts in Humanities
- Thesis: “The Moorish Princess Motif in Medieval Spanish Literature”
Prior Relevant Professional Employment (1992-2002)
Prior to 2002, I worked for eight years in the public sector as a strategic planning and management consultant to local governments, Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, and universities. Working for a diverse group of entities such as the Institute for the Future (Menlo Park, CA); MGT of America (Austin, TX); Message Audience and Presentation (Austin, TX); The RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, CA); and the Texas Senate.
I specialized in designing and facilitating strategic planning processes and public policy analysis. Select former clients include: The Kaiser Family Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Chase Manhattan, The City of Austin (TX), Edwards Aquifer Authority, University of Texas System, Alamo Community College District, San Antonio Independent School District, and East Palo Alto Community Law Project at Stanford University.
I garnered my strategic planning and graphic facilitation expertise during my associations with the Institute for the Future and the Grove Consultants, International (San Francisco, CA).
Research Interests, Paleography, and Archival Experience
My continuing and active research focuses on medieval and early modern Iberia. I am particularly interested in cultural and religious hybridity as expressed through personal and group identities, religious practices and beliefs, family and social structures, governing institutions and laws, and material culture.
In July 2005, I participated in the Mellon Summer Institute in Spanish Paleography at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. This four-week course, taught by Dr. Carla Rahn Phillips, provided intensive practical training in reading late medieval and Renaissance Spanish manuscripts. Since 2005, I have garnered substantial expertise in the particularities of various scripts and “hands,” as well as in the decoding of the formulaic structures used in wills, dowry letters, church records, royal correspondence, and legal pleas.
In the course of conducting my dissertation research, I have accumulated extensive research experience in multiple archives, libraries, and museums in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. These institutions include:
SPAIN
BURGOS
Archivo Municipal de Burgos
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Burgos
CACERES
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Caceres
LEON
Archivo Municipal de Leon
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Leon
Archivo Historico Provincial de Leon
Archivo del la Basilica de San Isidoro
MADRID
Real Academia de la Historia
Archivo Historico Nacional
Biblioteca Nacional
Museo Naval
PLASENCIA
Archivo Municipal de Plasencia
Archivo de la Catedral de Plasencia
SALAMANCA
Biblioteca y Archivo de la Universidad de Salamanca
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Salamanca
SEVILLA
Archivo General de Indias
TALAVERA DE LA REINA
Archivo Municipal de Talavera de la Reina
TOLEDO
Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional
TRUJILLO
Fundación Xavier de Salas, Convento de La Coria
Archivo Muncipal de Trujillo
VALLADOLID
Archivo de la Real Chancilleria – Valladolid
Archivo General de Simancas
ZAMORA
Archivo de la Catedral de Zamora
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zamora
MEXICO
Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Mexico
UNITED STATES
Benson Latin American Library, Austin, TX
Center for American History, Austin, TX
Huntington Museum, San Marino, CA
New Mexico State Research Center, Santa Fe, NM
RECENT INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES
Conferences Papers and Presentations
- David H. Burton Faculty Workshop. Presentation of my teaching module on “Religious Tolerance and Intolerance” for the Forging the Modern World curriculum at Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 1, 2009.
- “Abraham’s Cathedral: Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic Co-existence in Late Medieval Spain.” David H. Burton Postdoctoral Fellowship Lecture, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 16, 2009.
- “Promoting Family Piety and Nobility: Creating Cardinal Juan de Carvajal of Plasencia, Spain 1440s-1470s.” Unpublished paper presented at the Sixteenth Century Society Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, September 23-26, 2008.
- "Before the Collapse of Co-existence: The Collaboration of the Catholic Carvajal Family and the Jewish Ha-Levi Family in the Bishopric of Plasencia, Spain 1400-1440." HaLapid, The Journal of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies (SCJS), Volume XIV, Issue 1, Winter 2007. Paper presented at the SCJS 16th Annual Conference, El Paso, TX, August 6-8, 2006.
Publications and Writing
- Book Review of Fernando González de León’s The Road to Rocroi: Class, Culture, and Command in the Spanish Army of Flanders, 1567-1659 (2009), The Sixteenth Century Journal (forthcoming).
- Book Review of J.H. Elliot’s Spain, Europe, and the Wider World, 1500-1700 (2009), The Americas (forthcoming).
- “Jews, Catholics, and Converts: Reassessing the Resilience of Convivencia in Fifteenth Century Plasencia, Spain.” Journal of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Crypto-Jews, Volume 1, Spring 2009: 95-119.
- “Becoming a Part of the Society.” HaLapid, The Journal of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies (SCJS), Volume XV, Issue 4, Fall 2008.
- Book Review of Vincent Barletta’s A Memorandum for the President of the Royal Audiencia and Chancery Court of the City and Kingdom of Granada (2007), The Sixteenth Century Journal, Volume XL, No. 2, Summer 2009: 615.
- Book Review of John Martin’s Myths of Renaissance Individualism (2004), The Sixteenth Century Journal, Volume XXXVII, No. 1, Spring 2006: 1173-1174.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Roger L. Martínez’s C.V. (an Adobe Acrobat file, or .pdf)