Michèle Kahn Spike

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Michèle Kahn Spike is an American lawyer, historian, and prominent lay figure in the Episcopalian church. Since the late 1980s she has lived in Florence, Italy together with her husband, noted art historian John Spike. Although a graduate of Boston University School of Law and a member of the New York State Bar Association in the United States, she has primarily concentrated on social activism and historiography since moving to Italy. As a member of the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns of the Episcopal Church (USA), Spike has participated in delegations to Palestine and Israel as well as to United Nations conferences in New York City and Ammann, Jordan. More recently, she is known for her biography of Matilda of Tuscany, Tuscan Countess: The Life and Extraordinary Times of Matilda of Canossa, which was published to favorable reviews in 2004. She also collaborated with John Spike on his study of Caravaggio.

She is the mother of a son, Nicholas, 25, together with her husband.