Dr. Damián Fernández

Damián Fernández is a historian of Late Antiquity and Associate Professor at Northern Illinois University. He is currently working on two different projects related to Late Antique and Early Medieval Iberia. The first project is a monographic study of rebellions and coups in the Visigothic Kingdom between the fifth and the eighth centuries CE. The second project focuses on the transformation of Roman legal norms under barbarian rulers, in particular in the Visigothic kingdom. He is part of a team working on a translation and commentary of the Leges Visigothorum, a legal code issued in the seventh century by Visigothic kings, which summarizes earlier legislation and enacts new norms for the kingdom's subjects. Damián also teaches a wide range of survey and upper division courses in ancient history, from the Hellenistic to the early medieval periods. His courses are heavily based on primary source analysis and an understanding of the specific problems raised by ancient sources for historical reconstruction.