Dr. Jeroen W. P. Wijnendaele

Postdoctoral Researcher

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
Room 0.203
Heussallee 18–24
D-53113 Bonn
jwijnend@uni-bonn.de

Wijnendaele_Jeroen_BFro_001_a.JPG
© Barbara Frommann

Academic Profile

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele is a Senior Fellow of the BCDSS, working on Prof. Julia Hillner’s ‘Connecting Late Antiquities’ project. He helps with revising and digitizing vol. 2 of The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (AD 395–527), whilst doing research on secular and religious networks in Late Antique North Africa. Before coming to Bonn, Dr. Wijnendaele worked and taught at various universities in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, and Italy. His own work focusses on Late Roman political, military and social history, the genesis of barbarian communities in Late Antiquity, and the modern reception of ‘the Fall of Rome’, on which he has published extensively. He is especially interested in the broader history of violence, and processes of state formation and disintegration.

  • 'Political assassination in the Late Roman Empire. Towards a new approach to studying state power and weakness in ancient Europe and the Mediterranean' (F.W.O. Senior Post-Doctoral research fellowship, conducted at Ghent University, 2020–2023 & B.O.F. Post-Doctoral research fellowship, conducted at Ghent University, 2019–2020)
  • 'The origins of European kingship (c. 400–525 CE). Towards a new model for Military Leadership in Late Antiquity' (F.W.O. Junior Post-Doctoral research fellowship, conducted at Ghent University, 2016–2019)
  • 'The Contribution of Warlordism to the Disintegration of the western Roman Army' (PhD project under the supervision of Dr. David Woods, University College Cork)

2015
PhD, University College Cork, Department of Classics
Thesis: 'The Contribution of Warlordism to the Disintegration of the western Roman army.' 
Supervised by David Woods (University College Cork), examined by Michael Kulikowski (Pennsylvania State University) & Damian Bracken (University College Cork)

2007
MA, Università di Bologna & Ghent University, Department of Ancient History
Thesis: 'Bonifatius. Story of a Warlord (AD 413–433),' Magna Cum Laude
Supervised by Giusto Traina (Sorbonne Université) & Koen Verboven (Ghent University), examined by Valerio Neri (Università di Bologna).

2006
BA, Ghent University, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History (Cum Laude)

since 2023
Senior Fellow, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies

2019–2023
Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of History, Ghent University

2016–2019
Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of History, Ghent University

2016
Fellow, Academia Belgica di Roma

2015–2016
Associated Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of History, Ghent University

2014–2015
Lecturer, Department of Classics, University College Cork

2012–2013
Research Associate, Roman Society Research Center, Ghent University

2011–2012
Visiting Fellow, Classics & Archaeology, University of Melbourne

Monographs

  • 2015. The Last of the Romans. Bonifatius: Warlord and comes Africae. London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Revised and translated as: L'ultimo romano. Il generale Bonifacio e la crisi dell'Impero romano. Palermo: Editore 21, 2017. 
"A clearly written study that negotiates the difficulties of a complex period with assurance, is based on close familiarity with the ancient sources and with the most recent scholarship, and makes a good case for the importance of Bonifatius."
The Classical Review 67(1): 312–313, 2016. 

 

"A thorough and balanced account ... Wijnendaele has shed new light on his subject from all angles ... Wijnendaele's book is a stimulating new portrayal [and] an alternative look at the history of the Western Roman Empire between 413 and 433."
H-Soz-Kult online, 2015.

"The author brings the count to life, displaying considerable acumen, infectuous             enthusiasm, and great sympathy for all players in the drama. This is an important book." 
F. M. Clover, University of Wisconsin, public endorsement, 2015
  • 2013. Romeinen en barbaren. De ondergang van het Romeinse Rijk in het westen. Leuven: Davidsfonds.

More than 2000 copies sold in first year of publication. Sold out as of 2017.

Short-listed for the Public History Award of Eastern Flanders. 

 

Edited Volumes

  • 2023. Late Roman Italy. Imperium to Regnum, Edinburgh University Press
"Scholars in the fields of classics, history, archaeology and art history will find this to be an indispensable resource, and a complement to existing or forthcoming scholarship."Peer review report
  • 2019. "Warfare and Food Supply in the Late Roman Empire." In Journal of Late Antiquity 12(2). Special theme issue featuring 5 articles.

 

Journal Articles

  • Forthcoming. "All the Generalissimo’s Men? Delegating military authority in the western Roman Empire." In Hermathena.
  • 2021. With M.P. Hanaghan. "Constantius heros (ILCV 66) – An elegiac Testimony on the Decline of the Late Roman West:" In Chiron 51: 257–276. 
  • 2020. "Ammianus, Magnus Maximus, and the Gothic Uprising." In Britannia 51: 330–336. 
  • 2019. "Late Roman Civil War and the African Grain Supply." In Journal of Late Antiquity 12(2): 298–328.
  • 2019. "Sarus the Goth: from Imperial Commander to Warlord." In Early Medieval Europe 27(4): 469–493. 
  • 2018. "Dagli altari alla polvere – Alaric, Constantine III, and the downfall of Stilicho." In Journal of Ancient History 6(2): 260–277.
  • 2017. "The Manufacture of Heraclianus' Usurpation." In Phoenix 71(2): 138–156.
  • 2017. "The early career of Aëtius and the murder of Felix." In Historia 66(4): 468–482.
  • 2017. "The Career and 'Revolt' of Gildo, comes et magister utriusque militae per Africam." In Latomus 76(2): 385–402. 
  • 2016. "Stilicho, Radagaisus and the so-called 'Battle of Faesulae.'" In Journal of Late Antiquity 9(1): 267–284. 

 

Book Chapters

  • Forthcoming. "An anti-user’s guide to the Notitia Dignitatum." In Ruling an Empire in a Changing World – Studies on the Origin, Impact, and Reception of the Notitia Dignitatum, edited by M. Jelusić, A. Kaiser, and S. Roggo. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums.
  • 2024. "Die Delegierung militärischer Befugnisse im Weströmischen Reich." In Das Weströmische Reich und seine Erforschung: Neue Perspektiven, edited by T. Stickler and U. Roberto, 169–185. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag. 
  • 2023. "Introduction: Italy and its place in the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity." In Late Roman Italy. Imperium to Regnum, edited by J. W. P. Wijnendaele, 1–11. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
  • 2023. "The final western Roman emperors, Odoacer, and the resilience of Late Roman Italy." In Late Roman Italy. Imperium to Regnum, edited by J. W. P. Wijnendaele, 86–107. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
  • 2022. "Ammianus on Mallobaudes and Magnus Maximus: A response to Theodosian discourse?" In Ammianus Marcellinus. From Soldier to Author, edited by M. Hanaghan and D. Woods, 204–227. Leiden: Brill. 
  • 2018. "Generalissimos and Warlords in the Late Roman West." In War, Warlords and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean, edited by T. Ñaco del Hoyo and F. López-Sánchez, 429–451. Leiden: Brill. 
  • 2016. "Warlordism and the disintegration of the western Roman army." In Circum Mare: Themes in Ancient Warfare, edited by J. Armstrong, 185–203. Leiden: Brill.

 

Lexicon Articles 

  • 2022. "Aegidius." In Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde.
  • 2022. "Aëtius" and "Stilicho." In Der Neue Pauly. Supplement 12: Militärgeschichte der griechisch-römischen Antike.
  • 2022. "Attila." In Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online. Access 
  • 2020. "Heraclianus." In De Imperatoribus Romanus.

since 2022
Co-supervisor of Yannis Brichant, "Under Pressure. The Impact of Socio-Economic and Institutional Dynamics on the Eastern Roman Aristocracy (565–641)" (supervisor: Peter Van Nuffelen), Ghent University

since 2019
Co-supervisor of Matthijs Zoeter, "Basil of Caesarea: Networking, lobbying and self- presentation in his letters and letter collection" (supervisor: Lieve Van Hoof), Ghent University

2022
External examiner for Tunç Türel, "Orchestrating the Downfall of Opponents: Political Violence in the Fifth-Century Roman West" (supervisor: Ivan Prchlík), Charles University of Prague

2018
External examiner for Theo Vijgen, "The Cultural Parameters of the Graeco-Roman War discourse" (supervisor: Paul Erdkamp), Vrije Universiteit Brussel

since 2022
Historical advisor for the Roman Archaeological Museum of Oudenburg

since 2011
Peer-reviewer for presses including Bloomsbury Academic, Oxford University Press, Routledge, and Yale University Press

since 2010
Contributor for news sites Apache.be and Knack.be

Conference & Workshop Organizations

  • 2023. Panel: "Marriage in the Late Roman Empire: Risks and Rewards in Relationship-Networks," International Medievalist Congress, University of Leeds (5 July)
  • 2023. Panel: "Assassination in the Ancient World," International Ancient Warfare conference, Universität Bonn (22–24 June)
  • 2021. Panel: "#TakeBackControl – Imperial Authority in Late Antiquity," International Medievalist Congress, University of Leeds (5 July)
  • 2019. International conference: "Late Roman Italy – Imperium to Regnum," Ghent (10–12 January) [Published with Edinburgh University Press]
  • 2019. Panel: "The Impact of Ostrogothic Warfare on Late Roman Italy," International Medievalist Congress, University of Leeds (2 July)
  • 2018. Panel: "Imperial Personnel in Late Antiquity: New Directions," International Medievalist Congress, University of Leeds (2 July)
  • 2018. Workshop: "From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: Interdisciplinary approaches to Society, Language and Material Culture," Ghent University (29 March)
  • 2017. International workshop: "Warfare and Food-Supply in the Late Roman Empire," Ghent University (21 April) [Papers published as Journal of Late Antiquity’s 2019 theme issue]

 

Invited Papers

since 2009

27 invited guest lectures and seminars at universities in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

44 invited papers – including 2 key notes – at conferences in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Dr. Wijnendaele has taught across the entire width of Roman and Byzantine history (c. 753 BCE to c. 1453 CE), at universities in Australia, Belgium and Ireland, including first-year modules on Greek and Roman Civilization, modules for advanced undergraduates on the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, Byzantium & Islam, and interdisciplinary approaches to Criminal History. He has also designed modules on the Roman Army (Archaic Italy to Late Antiquity), the Julio-Claudian dynasty and Byzantine history, and on Romans and Barbarians and the Fall of the Roman Empire at postgraduate level. Fundamental to him is maintaining a longue durée perspective, whether explaining to students nascent notions of a state monopoly on violence in antiquity through death penalties in the Code of Hammurabi, or Ancient Greek notions of 'barbarians' when teaching about the great migrations of Late Antiquity. Similarly, he deliberately uses a global view when teaching about antiquity, whether it pertains to intercontinental trade routes as vectors for plague waves, or the importance of the Eurasian steppes for Byzantium throughout its history.

In 2022, Dr. Wijnendaele was short-listed for Ghent University’s Faculty of Arts’ Teaching Award.

  • 26.08.2023. "Should we draw parallels between Wagner, warlordism, and the Fall of Rome?" Euronews. Open access
  • 14.04.2021. "Were the Byzantines actually Roman?" Open access
  • 17.03.2021. Interview on Ammianus Marcellinus, Classical Studies Support – Comfort Classics. Open access
  • Classical Association of Ireland
  • Ghent Centre for Late Antiquity
  • Ghent Institute for Classical Studies
  • Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies
  • Nederlands Klassiek Verbond
  • OIKOS – National Research School in Classics
  • Roman Society Research Center