(Posted January 7, 2002)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Belle Tuten, assistant professor of history at Juniata College, will speak about medieval property law and other issues in the talk "Attack of the Body-Snatching Nuns" as part of the Bookend Seminar lecture series at 4:30 p.m., Jan. 16 in 202 Good Hall on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The Bookend Seminar series features afternoon lectures each month by Juniata College faculty.

Tuten's lecture will focus on her research into how medieval cities and communities handled disputes on various legal and property issues. Her lecture concentrates on a single case where a number of monasteries claimed the right to bury, and collect fees from, local parishioners in the same city. When the boundaries of each parish came into dispute, so did the disposition of the dead.

Tuten's main interests are in medieval culture and history from 300 to 1500 A.D. and early modern social history, with an emphasis in the history of women and family. In addition, Tuten teaches courses in the history of Islam and Arab-European relations in the Middle Ages.

Tuten earned a bachelor's degree in history from the College of Charleston in Charleston S.C. in 1991 and went on to earn a master's degree in 1994 and a doctorate in history in 1997 from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

She received the 2001 Beachley Award for Distinguished Academic Service for junior faculty. Tuten also was named an Outstanding Student in History at the College of Charleston, and was the 1999 Juniata May Day Faculty Woman of the Year.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.