Thomas Foerster studied at Heidelberg University where he was awarded his PhD in 2008 and has since worked in different postdoctoral positions in Norway, France, and since 2013 at the Norwegian Institute in Rome, Italy. He is author of Conquest and Political Culture: Hohenstaufen Sicily and Capetian Normandy, c.1185-1215 (forthcoming) and Vergleich und Identität: Selbst- und Fremddeutung im Norden des hochmittelalterlichen Europa (2009).