Marita Koornwinder-Wijntjes

freelance historian





Curriculum Vitae

Marita Koornwinder-Wijntjes (born Th.M. Wijntjes, Voorschoten, 1941; married with Tom Koornwinder since 1968) is a freelance historian living in Bussum, Netherlands. She is specialized in medieval history, in particular Arabic history, of Spain and the Middle East. She usually publishes under het maiden name.

She studied history at the University of Leiden with specialization medieval history and with a minor in Arabic language. During het study she was a member of the historisch dispuut Fruin. She obtained her doctoraal (master) diploma in 1967. Later she studied Arabic language at the University of Amsterdam and obtained there her kandidaats (bachelor) diploma in 1986.

During January 1968 - January 1969 she was a doctoraal assistent at the Leids Academisch Historisch Museum for work on the Icones Leidenses. She was a teacher in history at a high school in Alkmaar during August 1969 - April 1970. During the academic year 1970-1971 she was an unpaid guest (forskare) at the department of history of the University of Stockholm, Sweden.

In 1974 she was one of the founding members of the werkgroep Holland. She was involved in an ambitious project of this group to publish the Beierse Rekeningen.

During 1976-1985 she was a member of the editorial board of the journal Holland. She was active in this board in several positions, including a term as chair.

She was an active member of several Dutch groups and societies in history of the middle ages and of the Arabic world, to mention the Mediëvistenkring at the University of Amsterdam, the Nederlandse Vereniging voor de studie van het Midden-Oosten en de Islam (MOI), and the Nederlands-Arabische Kring (NAK). At meetings organized by MOI she lectured several times. In 1994 and 1995 she also lectured at meetings held in Marocco.

During 2004-2013 she was a regular participant in the Colloquium on the History of Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras (10th-15th centuries) (CHESFAME), which was held annually in Leuven or Ghent, Belgium, usually in May. She lectured there eight times, and all her lectures gave rise to publications in the conference proceedings, which appeared at Peeters, Leuven.

Marita Wijntjes altogether published 14 papers in journals and conference proceedings. She gave 20 lectures at conferences and meetings. Beside book projects already mentioned she gave important assistance to several other such projects.

contact: Marita.Koornwinderxs4all.nl