Home / People / Dr. Austin Collins Dr. Austin Collins Adjunct - History PhD: University of Durham & Universität Erfurt, Max-Weber-Kolleg (cotutelle)MA: King’s College LondonBA: Catawba CollegeDr Collins is a historian of early modern European history, specializing in urban, religious, peace-making, globalization, and spatial approaches. His research investigates how monarchical and religious influence interacted with civic authority within urban spaces and New World settlements during the early French Wars of Religion of the sixteenth century.His current book project, based on his doctoral dissertation and provisionally entitled Cities and the Crown during the Royal Tour of France (1564-1566): Civic, Urban, and Spatial Interactions during the Early Religious Wars, explores how royal, civic, and religious actors utilized the urban spaces of Angoulême, Lyon, and Sens to project their own authority and promote religious toleration and coexistence through royal entrances amid religious warfare.Dr Collins is also currently researching the early trans-Atlantic relationship between the French settlements of France Antarctique, Charlesfort, and Fort Caroline with French port cities during the early French Wars of Religion. His research incorporates primary source material such as festival books, financial records, correspondences, city council minutes, and maps.Prior to Gardner-Webb, Dr Collins held a Teach@Tübingen postdoctoral fellowship at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen where he designed and taught seminars about early modern religious violence and early modern global cities. Selected Publication:‘Constructing a Monarchical and Religious Connection: Angoulême, the Royal Tour, and the French Wars of Religion’ in Religion and Urbanity Online (22/07/2025) (https://doi.org/10.1515/urbrel.22664478) Research Interests: Early Modern France French Wars of Religion Centre & Periphery Religious Tolerance & Coexistence Urban & Spatial History Visual & Material Culture
