Dr. Doug Biggs
Biography
Dr. Doug Biggs was born in Ames, Iowa where his father taught Geology and Earth Science at Iowa State University for his entire career. Dr. Biggs holds a BA and an MA in History from Iowa State University and a Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota. He has written extensively about the political culture of late medieval England, specifically the reigns of Richard II (1377-99) and Henry IV (1399-1413). He has presented his research at International Conferences on both sides of the Atlantic, in Europe, and in New Zealand. He also served as the founder and Managing Series Editor for twenty years of Late Medieval Europe, a monograph series for Brill Academic Publishers in the Netherlands. In late 2009 Dr. Biggs became interested in the local history of his hometown and of his undergraduate alma mater, Iowa State University. This has led to several publications, two books, and numerous public lectures on historical subjects in Ames about Ames and Iowa State University. In Fall 2017 Dr. Biggs received the prestigious Pratt-Heins Foundation Faculty Award for Outstanding Service to the UNK Community in the Area of Research/Scholarship.
Doug has led many student groups abroad to the UK and Europe. In 2018 he led students on a Study Abroad experience to Palacky University, Olomouc Czech Republic. The relationships forged there have led to a significant enhancement in collaboration between Palacky University and UNK across a number of different departments and academic areas. In 2022 Dr. Biggs was named as an External Adviser for International Affairs by Palacky University and from January 2023 to September 2024 he served as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Affairs at UNK.
Publications
Monographs (refereed)
2025 The Dinky and Community Memory: Ames, Iowa Agricultural College, and the Ames&College Railway, 1891-2021, Iowa State Digital Press, Ames, Iowa, (April).
2006 Three Armies in Britain: The Irish Campaign of Richard II and the Usurpation of Henry IV, 1397-1399, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Editions and Translations (refereed)
2017 Royal Charter Witness Lists for the Reigns of Henry IV and Henry V, 1399-1417, List and Index Society, The National Archives, London.
Books
2014 Images of America: Ames, with Gloria Betcher Arcadia Press, Charleston, South Carolina.
Bibliography (refereed)
2013 “Kingship and Monarchy, 1066-1485,” Oxford Bibliographies Online (Oxford University Press).
Edited books (all refereed)
2011 The Ties that Bind: Essays in Medieval British History in Honor of Barbara Hanawalt, with Linda Mitchell and Katherine French, Ashgate Publishing.
2008 Henry IV: Rebellion and Survival, 1403-1413, with Gwilym Dodd, York Medieval Press.
2004 Reputation and Representation: Essays in Late Medieval History, with S. Michalove and A.C. Reeves, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
2003 Henry IV: The Establishment of the Regime, 1399-1406, with Gwilym Dodd, York Medieval Press.
2002 Traditions and Transformations in Fifteenth Century England, with S. Michalove, and A. C. Reeves, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Articles (all refereed)
2024 “The Queen’s Affinity: Anne of Bohemia and the Politics of the Realm, 1381-94,” Historica Olomoucensia 65/1 (2024), pp. 42-58.
2021 “‘During Our Absence or Until Further Order:’ Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, and the Custodianship of the Realm, October 1394 – May 1395,” in People, Power and Identity in the Later Middle Ages: Essays in Memory of W. Mark Ormrod, ed. Gwilym Dodd, Helen Lacey and Anthony Musson (London, Routledge, 2021), pp. 229-44 (solicited).
2020 “The Commission to Ensure Good Governance of 11 May 1402: A Case-Study of Lancastrian Counter-Propaganda,” in Fifteenth Century England: XVIII - Rulers, Regions and Retinues. Essays Presented to Prof. Tony Pollard (Boydell & Brewer, 2020), pp. 17-26, (solicited).
2018 ‘“Our Dearest Uncle:” The Role of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, in the Resumption of Richard II’s Personal Rule, 1389-92,” Czech and Slovak Journal of Humanities, (2/2018), pp. 26-35 (solicited).
2018 “Henry IV and the Welsh March: The Application and Limits of Royal Patronage and the Glyndwr Rebellion in South Wales, 1399-1405,” in Crossing Borders: Boundaries and Margins in Medieval and Early Modern Britain Essays in Honour of Cynthia J. Neville, ed. Sara Butler and Krista Kesselring (Brill, 2018), pp. 43-60 (solicited).
2016 “Using Calamity to Drive College Policy: President William Beardshear, Iowa State College, and the Challenge of Enrollment Growth, 1891-1902,” American Educational History Journal, 43/1, pp. 59-74.
2016 “Chasing the Chimera in Spain: Edmund of Langley in Iberia, 1381/82,” Journal of Medieval Military History, 15 (2016), pp. 79-98.
2016 “’The Laughing Rolling Stock of the State:’ Ames, Iowa State College, and the Ames&College Railway, 1902-1907,” Annals of Iowa, 75 (2016), pp. 101-129.
2012 “Forging a Community with Rails: Ames, Iowa Agricultural College and the Ames&College Railway, 1890-1896,” The Annals of Iowa, 71 (2012), pp. 111-140.
2011 “Patronage, Preference and Survival: The Life of Lady Margaret Sarnesfield, c. 1380-1447,” in The Ties that Bind: Essays in Medieval British History in Honor of Barbara Hanawalt, pp. 143-58.
2009 “’A Voyage or Rather and Expedition to Portugal:’ Edmund of Langley in Iberia 1381/82,” Journal of Medieval Military History 7 (2009), pp. 57-74.
2008 “The Lancastrian Sheriff? Henry IV and his Sheriffs; the Lancastrianization of County Government and the Problem of Good and Abundant Governance, 1399-1413,” Medieval Prosopography, 25 (2008 for 2004), pp. 163-80. (solicited).
2008 “An Ill and Infirm King: Henry IV and the Parliament of 1407,” in Henry IV: Rebellion and Survival, 1403-1413, ed. D. Biggs and G. Dodd (Woodbridge), pp. 180-209.
2007 “Archbishop Scrope’s Manifesto of 1405: ‘Naïve Nonsense’ or Reflections of Political Realty?” Journal of Medieval History, 33 (2007), pp. 1-14.
2004 “Royal Charter Witness Lists of Henry IV, 1399-1413,” English Historical Review, CXIX (2004), pp. 401-17.
2003 “The Politics of Health: Henry IV and the Long Parliament of 1406,” in Henry IV: The Establishment of the Regime, 1399-1406 (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2003), pp. 185-205.
2002 “To Aid the Custodian and Council: Edmund of Langley and the Defense of the Realm, June-July 1399,” Journal of Medieval Military History, I (2002), pp. 125-144. (solicited).
2002 “Henry IV and his Justices of the Peace: the Lancastrianization of Justice, 1399-1413,” in Traditions and Transformations in Fifteenth Century England ed. D. L. Biggs, S. Michalove, A. C. Reeves, (Brill, 2002), pp. 69-81.
2000 “The Reign of Henry IV: The Revolution of 1399 and the Establishment of the Lancastrian Regime,” in Fourteenth Century Studies ed. Nigel Saul (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 2000), pp. 195-210. (solicited).
2000 “The Appellant and the Clerk; the Assault on Richard II’s Friends in Government, 1387-89,” in The Reign of Richard II: Politics, Personalities and Perceptions, ed. G. Dodd (Stroud, Gloucester: Tempus Press, 2000), pp. 57-70. (solicited).
1999 “The Plantagenet Revolution in Government? The Officers of Central Government and the Lancastrian Usurpation of 1399,” Medieval Prosopography, 20 (1999), pp. 191-212. (solicited).
1997 “The Trinity Guild of Coventry and the Royal Affinity, 1392-1413” Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, XVII (for 1995/6), pp. 91-113.
1996 “Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace: The Patterns of Lancastrian Governance, 1399-1402” Nottingham Medieval Studies, XL (1996), pp. 149-166.
1994 “A Wrong Whom Conscience and Kindred Bid Me to Right: A Reassessment of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York and the Usurpation of Henry IV” Albion, 26, pp. 231-246.
Book Chapters (refereed)
2004 Book chapter: “The Hundred Years War, 1337-1453,” in Events that Changed Great Britain Before 1714, ed. F. Thackeray and J. Findling, (London: Greenwood Press 2004), pp. 42-75 (solicited).
Short articles
2015 “The Dinkey and the Campus,” in Campus Beautiful: The Ascetics of Iowa State University, ed. L. Pohlman, (University Museums, 2015), p. 75. (solicited)
2002 “Henry IV,” “The Exchequer,” “The Chancery,” “Edmund of Langley,” “The Unlearned Parliament,” “The Earls’ Rebellion,” “The Free Companies”, in Dictionary of Medieval England, ed. Ron Fritzie (London: Greenwood, 2002). (solicited)
Materials Appearing in Non-Peer Reviewed Publications
2020 ‘“We Have Been Warned:” How Early Epidemics Battered the Iowa State Campus,’ in Visions, publication of the Iowa State University Alumni Assn., with Becky Jordan, pp. 16-19.
2019 “Iowa State University and the 1960s: Stability and Change,” in Visions, publication of the Iowa State University Alumni Assn, pp. 20-43.
2014 “The 1940s: Iowa State and the Greatest Generation,” in Visions, publication of the Iowa State University Alumni Assn, June.
2013 “The Greatest Decade: Iowa State in the 1890s,” in Visions, publications of the Iowa State University Alumni Assn., June.
2004 “A Young Woman from Atlantic: Edna Meek and Iowa Agricultural College, 1893/1894, in Visions, publications of the Iowa State University Alumni Assn., June.
Educational guide
1990 A Guide to Shakespeare’s History Plays with Alan Nielsen and Archibald I. Leyasmeyer, Guthrie Theater: Minneapolis, MN
Book Reviews
2018 W. Mark Ormrod, et al., Early Common Petitions in the English Parliament, c. 1290-1420, (London, 2017), Sehepunkte (Viewpoints), Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, vol. 18, no. 11.
2016 Richard Barber, Edward III and the Triumph of England: The Battle of Crecy and the Company of the Garter (London, 2014), Speculum (Summer)
2015 Adrian Bell, Anne Curry, Andy King & David Simpkin, The Soldier in Later Medieval England (Oxford, 2013), American Historical Review (April)
2009 G. L. Harriss, Shaping the Nation: England, 1360-1461(Oxford, 2006), Speculum
2006 The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham (1376-1422), ed. D. Preest, Intro. by J. Clark (Woodbridge, 2005), Journal of British Studies (October)
2004 A. A. M. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, 842-1292 (Edinburgh, 2003) Scotia
2004 Nigel Saul, Death, Art and Memory in Medieval England: The Cobham Family and Their Monuments, 1300-1500 (Oxford, 2001), H-Albion.
