Donald Maddox holds a Ph.D. in French Studies from Duke University and is Professor of French Studies and an associated faculty member of Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a charter member and Honorary President of the International Courtly Literature Society. He is the author of five books and over one hundred articles on topics in Medieval Studies, French literature and critical theory, and he has co-edited seven collective volumes on literary aspects of the Middle Ages.