Lee Morrison
Graduate Student in History
![](https://history.wustl.edu/files/history/styles/testimonial_mobile/public/Morrison.jpeg?itok=mbfXNk1C)
I am a Ph.D. student in the department of history, focusing on the social and economic history of northern Italy in the late Middle Ages.
I am currently researching the landholding strategies of monasteries in and around the city of Genoa over the mid-twelfth to mid-fourteenth centuries.
My research explores the relationship between monasteries and their tenants by tracking the growth of neighborhoods, or burgi, on monastic land outside of the city walls. I am particularly interested in how document production tied monks and their tenants together, as tenants often functioned as witnesses, counselors, advocates, or procurators in notarial contracts involving the monastery.