Matthew Gillis

Matthew Gillis serves as Associate Professor of European History in the Department of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, specializing in the religious and intellectual history of the Carolingian Empire during the eighth and ninth centuries.

His academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. from the University of Virginia
• M.A. from Western Michigan University
• B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point

Gillis's research explores the intersection of religious authority and societal transformation in early medieval Europe through key thematic lenses:

• Christianization processes across Europe
• Carolingian intellectual frameworks
• Horror rhetoric in ecclesiastical discourse
• Holy war conceptualization
• Religious dissent mechanisms
• Medieval Christian identity formation

His publications reveal consistent analytical focus on how Carolingian authorities weaponized religious narratives—particularly through horror tropes and holy war ideology—to address internal corruption and external Viking threats, establishing conceptual bridges to later medieval Crusading thought.

Professor Gillis teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on early medieval Europe while serving as series editor for Renovatio – Studies in the Carolingian World, actively shaping contemporary scholarship through this publishing initiative.