Institute of Medieval History

Dr. Joaquín Serrano del Pozo

Portrait von Joaquín Serrano del Pozo
Joaquín Serrano del Pozo

Sprechstunden: nach Vereinbarung per Mail

Adresse:
Fachbereich Geschichtswissenschaft
Seminar für mittelalterliche Geschichte
Wilhelmstraße 36
72074 Tübingen

Raum: U 16a

E-Mail: joaquin.serranospam prevention@philosophie.uni-tuebingen.de

Biography and Academic Career

Biography:

I am a historian specialising in Late Antique and Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) culture. My research interests include the study of medieval war from a sociocultural perspective, the veneration of Christian relics, and the interplay between literary, material, and iconographic sources. Originally from Chile, I completed a BA and an MSt in History at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), before moving to Scotland for a PhD at the Centre of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies (CLAIBS) at the University of Edinburgh.

During my doctoral studies, I attended the School of Byzantine Greek at Trinity College Dublin, the London International Palaeography Summer School, and digital humanities courses offered by the Mary Jaharis Center. I also conducted research at the British School at Athens and taught tutorials in Roman/Byzantine history (HCA) and Art history (ECA). 

After completing my PhD, I moved to Tübingen for a one-year Teach@Tübingen fellowship (2024–2025), where I taught an Übung titled “The End of Antiquity? The Crucial Seventh Century and Byzantium.” In February 2025, I was awarded funding by the DFG for a two-year Walter Benjamin postdoctoral position, which will take place at the University of Tübingen (2025–2026) and JGU Mainz (2026–2027).

My doctoral thesis at Edinburgh examined the use of Christian relics in Late Roman and Byzantine war. My current postdoctoral research at Tübingen expands on this topic by exploring the political and military use of Christian relics by rulers of various kingdoms and polities across the Euro-Mediterranean medieval world (AD 600–1200).

Academic career:

2025 – Present: Walter Benjamin postdoctoral position - The University of Tübingen

2024–2025: Teach@Tübingen Postdoctoral Fellow – The University of Tübingen

2019-2024:

  • PhD in History – The University of Edinburgh, UK (funded by ANID).
  • Tutor in the courses “Transformation of the Roman World”, “Roman History 1B”, and “History of Art 1A: Art and Belief in Europe (Edinburgh College of Art)”

2025–2017: Magister (MSt) in History of Art and Culture, PUCV, Chile.

2009–2014: BA in History and BA in Education at PUCV, Chile.

Research interests

  • Social and cultural history of Late Antiquity and Byzantium (4th-13th centuries)
  • The veneration of Christian relics
  • War and society in the Middles Ages
  • The Roman-Persian wars and the reign of Heraclius

Publications

Papers: 

Book & Book Chapters: 

  • Relics and War in the Eastern Roman Empire (Book based on my PhD thesis, Arc Humanities Press, York, forthcoming 2026).
  • “The Theotokos and Saint Theodore at war: Supernatural aid on the Bulgarian campaign of emperor John I Tzimiskes and the Battle of Dorostolon (AD 971)” In: Supernatural Aid in Medieval Warfare. Saints at War in Southeastern Europe, ed. Boris Stojkovski (forthcoming spring 2025).

Reviews: 

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