The Medieval Warfare Blog

Medievalists.net

2007-09-22T21:47:00.000-04:00

If you are looking for medieval news and other information related to the Middle Ages, please check out the News for Medievalists Blog, which is part of Medievalists.net

Two new items added to our website

2007-03-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

We added to the De Re site two interesting pieces. First, Jason Price has generously allowed us to republish his MA thesis: An Analysis of the Strategy and Tactics of Alexious I Komenos. Secondly, Chris Hanson submitted his article, The Mongol Siege of Xiangyang and Fan-ch’eng and the Song military, which we have made available too.

Edwin Mellen Press wants to publish your books!

2007-03-18T14:42:00.000-04:00

Fellow De Re member Dana Cushing has sent us this letter, looking for authors who might be interested in working with Edwin Mellen Press (EMP). Here it is:

Dear colleagues:

I hope that De Re Militari members will consider publishing with EMP. Knowing the excellent quality of work produced by DRM members, many of whom are leaders in our field, I would be to offer to you a provisional contract (pending an editorial review meeting). A proposal form is attached hereto.

As a medieval military historian myself, I think EMP is ideally suited to publishing our kind of work because EMP publishes all finalized MSS with full apparatus critici – full notes and bibliographies, foreign languages, tables, charts, plus color capability for maps, medieval manuscript reproduction, and other supporting research – within six months.

Most importantly, you do not have to “write down” your work for non-specialists and EMP never requests any kind of author payment – unlike most college presses.

I would be happy to offer myself personally as a point of contact for members or their students who wish to publish, and professionally as an editor. If anyone wishes to meet with me personally, I shall attend the Society for Military History conference in Frederick, MD and the International Medieval Congresses at Kalamazoo and Leeds later on this year.

Please visit our website (www.mellenpress.com) or contact me if you have any questions about the Press or making a proposal, and please let me know if you would like some information to show to your department chair or thesis supervisor about EMP.

Y/s,

Dr. Dana Cushing
Associate Editor
The Edwin Mellen Press
716-754-2219 (direct)

Two new books on the Crusades

2007-03-13T18:53:00.000-04:00

Christopher Tyerman - God's War: A New History of the Crusades
Belknap Press, 2006
ISBN 0-674-02387-0

At over a thousand pages, this is a thick book that deals mostly with the crusades in the Latin East.

Nikolas Jaspert, The Crusades
Routledge, 2006
ISBN: 0-415-35967-8

Translation by Phyllis G. Jestice. Less than 200 pages, so not as comprehensive as Tyerman's book. Gives a small overview of many topics. Seems useful to me, but I haven't read much of it yet.

Recent articles from The Journal of Military History

2007-02-12T15:54:00.000-05:00

The Defense of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-1366)
Donald J Kagay.
The Journal of Military History. 71.1 (2007)

Abstract - This article focuses on the general strategy of defense developed by the Aragonese king Pere III during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-66) between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, headed by Pedro I "the Cruel." After eight years of fiscal creativity and defensive luck, Pere retained most of his territory but had lost some sovereignty to his parliaments. He then went on the offensive but never effectively defeated Pedro; this was achieved by his ally Enrique de Trastámara, Pedro's stepbrother. What the war did accomplish, however, was the establishment of administrative and military forces that would ultimately lead toward a Spanish statehood in the fifteenth century.

The Training of an Inner Asian Nomad Army in the Pre-Modern Period
Timothy May
The Journal of Military History 70.3 (2006)

Abstract - Often the armies that emerged from the steppes of Inner Asia are viewed as throngs of horse-archers who overwhelmed their opponents through sheer ferocity or superior numbers. The typical observation about their military ability is that as nomads they were natural warriors inured since birth to riding and archery in the harsh climate of the steppe. While this view has an element of truth, the armies were actually better trained than is generally assumed. This article examines the training of Inner Asian armies. Although it focuses on the Mongols, it also explores the antecedents and evolution of training techniques across Inner Asia.

Kalamazoo 2007

2007-02-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

The schedule for the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, taking place May 10–13, 2007, is now available. Click here to read the entire schedule. The De Re Militari sessions begin on Friday, and continue all day Saturday.

Session 318: De Re Militari Annual Session: A Roundtable

The roundtable discussion will include John France, Kelly DeVries, Richard Abels and Timothy Feist.

Where: Valley III, 302
When: Friday, May 11, 3:30

Session 402: Medieval Military Technology and Artefacts

The German Slat Shield: Just Another Piece of Military Equipment or the Billboard of Badness? Shield Symbolism in the Dark Ages, by Vincent Farone

Come and See: The Evolutionary Arms and Armor of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Sara Louise Howells

Iberian Crossbows, by J. Patrick Hughes

Cultural Activities of the Teutonic Knights’ Military Order: The Sculptures of Schreinmadonnen, by Irene Gonzalez Hernando

Where: Fetzer 1055
When: Saturday, May 12, 10:00 am

Session 488: Warfare in the Earlier Middle Ages

The Historical Context of Annales Bertiniani” on Resistance to the Vikings between the Seine and the Loire, by Carroll Gillmor

Louis VII’s Military Career in the West, by John D. Hosler

Helgastaðir, 1220: A Battle of No Significance?, by Oren Falk

Where: Bernhard 157
When: Saturday, May 12, 1:30 pm

Session 532: Warfare in the Later Middle Ages

How to Invade Iraq: the Mongol Way, by Peter Michael Konieczny

“A Voyage, or Rather an Expedition to Portugal:” Edmund of Langley’s Navy and His Journey to Iberia, 1381, by Douglas L. Biggs

Non-Noble Deeds of Arms in the Late Middle Ages, by Steven Muhlberger

Where: Schneider 1145
When: Saturday, May 12, 3:30 pm

The De Re Militari Business Meeting will be at 12:00, Saturday May 12, at Bernhard 157. Those attending the congress might also be interested in a few other sessions, including:

Session 579: The Far-Ranging Effects of Medieval War: Captains, Crusaders and Aristocratic Families

Session 571: Reading between the Threads: New Research on the Bayeux Tapestry

Sessions 409, 463, 529: Cruades I, II, III

Sessions 263, 323: The Trial of the Templars I, II

Session 13: Gender and Sexuality in the Context of the Crusades

Session 40: The Vikings in Late Anglo-Saxon England

Session 61: The Nine-Hundredth Annivesary of Bohemund's Crusade of 1107

Session 162: Medieval Western Martial Arts: Pedagogy and Practice: A Demonstration

Journal of the Oxford University History Society

2007-02-04T10:47:00.000-05:00

Just some information on a new online publication:

Journal of the Oxford University History Society - a bi-annual online peer-reviewed scholarly journal run by postgraduate students under the aegis of the Oxford University History Society. Its aims are: to establish scholarly links in the varied community of historians at the University of Oxford; to serve as a discussion forum for the international community of postgraduate students and scholars; and to provide a medium for contact between advanced postgraduate students and established academics.

Some articles of interest:

Multi-Use Management of the Medieval Anglo-Norman Forest, by Dolores Wilson

Interview with Dr Maria João Branco, Fellow in Medieval History at the Open University in Lisbon and Visiting Research Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford, from 2001 to 2003.

Institutionalisation and Vita Religiosa. New Approaches towards the History of the Medieval Religious Orders, by Anne Müller

If you are looking for medieval news...

2006-12-18T16:41:00.000-05:00

Go to my other blog, News for Medievalists, which you can find at http://medievalnews.blogspot.com/ It is going to be part of a new website that I am creating and will go live in early 2007.

New Book - Transcultural Wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century

2006-12-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Transcultural Wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century, ed. Hans-Henning Kortum (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2006)

War is a predominant theme as well in medieval as in modern historical research. Whereas both disciplines tend to dwell on this topic separately this volume aims at crossing the artificial line of division between medieval and modern wars. War is regarded as a historical phenomenon that's continuities prevail over any time-specific alternations.A special kind of war is the one waged between or on the line of different cultures. Such transcultural wars are a widespread phenomenon in our days, but have been on the agenda throughout history. Different examples and aspects of transcultural wars are discussed in this volume. All papers were presented and discussed at a international conference held in Regensburg in March 2004 where war-specialists of the Middle Ages and the Modern Period came together.With regard to the category of "transcultural" wars the question has been raised what medieval and modern wars have in common and whether the so called "New Wars" are that new at all. On top of that it has been examined what characteristics can be ascribed to transcultural wars, what makes these wars special and how they can best be classified.

Henning Kortüm: Clash of Typologies - The Naming of Wars and the Invention of Typologies
Stephen Morillo: A General Typology of Transcultural Wars - The Early Middle Ages and Beyond
Michael Prestwich: Transcultural Warfare - The Later Middle Ages
Bernhard R. Kroener: Antichrist, Archenemy, Disturber of the Peace. Forms and Means of Violent Conflict in the Early Modern Ages
Hew Strachan: A General Typology of Transcultural Wars - The Modern Ages
Matthew Strickland: Rules of War or War without Rules? - Some Reflections on Conduct and the Treatment of Non-Combatants in Medieval Transcultural Wars
Martin van Crefeld: A Tale of Two Wars
Corinne Saunders: Sexual Violence in Wars - The Middle AgesBirgit Beck-Heppner: Gender Specific Crimes in Wars of the Modern Age
Hannes Möhring: The Christian Concept of the Muslim Enemy during the Crusades
Michael Hochgeschwender: Enemy Images in the American Civil War - A Case Study on Their Function in a Modern Society
Andrew Ayton: From Muhi to Mohács - Armies and Combatants in Later Medieval European Transcultural Wars
Daniel Hohrath: Soldiers and Mercenaries; Protagonists of Transcultural Wars in the Modern Ages

Recent articles on warfare in the Middle Ages

2006-12-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

MARVIN, Laurence W., "The massacre at Béziers July 22, 1209: a revisonist look"
Heresy and the Persecuting Society in the Middle Ages: Essays on the Work of R.I. Moore. Ed. Michael FRASSETTO. Leiden: Brill, 2006. pp.195-225

BOTLEY, Paul, "Giannozzo Manetti, Alfonso of Aragon and Pompey the Great: a crusading document of 1455" Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 67 (2006), pp.129-156

GREATREX, Geoffrey, BURGESS, Richard, ELTON, Hugh, "Urbicius' Epitedeuma: an edition, translation and commentary" Byzantinische Zeitschrift 98:1 (2005), pp.35-74

MADGEARU, Alexandru, "Salt trade and warfare: the rise of the Romanian-Slavic military organization in early medieval Transylvania," East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Ed. Florin CURTA. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (2005), pp.103-120

Medieval News - Portuguese exploration, nanotechnology, and Carcassonne

2006-11-21T16:30:00.000-05:00

Historian's approach turns discovery of Asia on head at Tufts U.
14 November 2006
By Giovanni Russonello, Tufts Daily (Tufts U.)

MEDFORD, Mass. -- Eminent historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam presented an innovative approach to Portugal's exploration of Asia during an afternoon speech at the Tufts University Fletcher School yesterday.

The speech, titled "When the World Discovered Portugal: Ten Years of Luso-Asian Interaction, 1498-1508," was part of Tufts' Pearson Prentice Hall Seminar Series in Global History.

Subrahmanyam, chairman of Indian history at the University of California at Los Angeles, delivered his hour-long speech to an intimate crowd of about 20 professors and graduate students seated in armchairs around a wooden table in Goddard Hall's Edward R. Murrow Room.

Subrahmanyam's speech sought to examine Portugal's early maritime exploration of Asia through eyes other than those of the Portuguese explorers who provided most of the primary documentation on this subject.

During the era on which Subrahmanyam focused, many European countries were seeking Asian spices, but no common avenue of travel into Asia had yet been discovered.

"It all comes down to the [trade of] pepper, because the Spice Route was not discovered until after the period of time we are dealing with," Subrahmanyam said.

Subrahmanyam spoke of international rivalries within Europe and within Asia during that period, in addition to those between European and Asian civilizations.

Of the Portuguese, Subrahmanyam said, "their main rivals were the Venetians." At the same time, however, Portugal was engaged in a war with the Mamluks of Egypt.

"There's an enormous amount of instability, the situation is incredibly disturbed," he said.

Tufts Professor of history Felipe Fernandez-Armesto organized the seminar series of which this speech was a part. The series is "part of the new dynamism of exciting initiatives that Tufts is launching in exploiting the genius of its history department which is globalism," Fernandez-Armesto said. "We're launching a global history Ph.D. program which is going to be the most attractive and promising in the country and therefore the world."

Subrahmanyam is "one of the most complex, diverse historians," according to audience member Mana Kia, a Harvard graduate student; still, the atmosphere was familiar and relaxed despite the speech's sophisticated nature, as audience members freely interjected with contributions or questions.

"Getting here from Harvard is a trek, but it's worth it," Kia said. "[Tufts'] global history lecture [series is] superior in many ways to what is available even at Harvard and MIT."

After Subrahmanyam finished his speech, he answered questions from audience members for over an hour. The friendly atmosphere, promoted by the high ratio of professors to students, led to a stimulating back-and-forth during the question section.

Boston College professor David Northrup introduced Subrahmanyam by saying, "I am afraid his reputation precedes him."

Subrahmanyam is the author of numerous history books, Joint Managing Editor of the Indian Economic and Social History Review, and former chairman in Indian history and culture at the University of Oxford in England.

Roll the dice and try your luck on Arab history through the ages; Locally produced board game brings the region's past to life in imaginative new ways
Iman Azzi
8 September 2006
Daily Star

BEIRUT: What is the name of the main temple at Baalbek? How many Mongol invasions did the Mamluks fend off? When did Kuwait gain its independence? No, these questions are not the start of a history lesson. Rather, they are part of a new board game launched in Lebanon this summer, where players compete to earn "points of knowledge" and show off their understanding of Arab history.

Rahala, an Arabic word that means "explorers" in English, is a game that is playable in both languages. It had its official launch in Beirut on July 11, 2006, but as an exercise in documenting over 4,000 years of Arab wars and achievements, it was duly overshadowed by the Middle East's most recent war, which broke out the next day.

Rahala's creator, Reem Askalan, first realized the need to compile Arab history for the masses while she was pursuing a graduate degree in Islamic studies at New York University.

"If you wanted to know anything about Arab history you had to go to an academic source," she says. "I was looking for a medium that would simplify the information and make people interested in learning."

Askalan considered creating an "Arab History for Dummy's" and other book projects before returning to school, this time to the Massachusetts Institute for Technology for urban planning.

"The idea remained brewing in my mind until I met Jawdat Kazoun in 2000, who was

a game player and he introduced me to games I hadn't played since I was nine. Suddenly it clicked: Why not do a board game?"

Kazoun came on board as the game's designer and, in 2002, Askalan devoted her time to making Rahala a reality.

The game itself, intended for ages 15 and up, may be a mystery at first and prospective players should make sure they read, and reread, the instructions before they begin to play. The board is a flowery hexagon-shaped labyrinth guiding the players between six eras of Arab history.

Like Trivial Pursuit, the aim of Rahala is to travel between topics, correctly answering questions to earn "points of knowledge" as you pass. Unlike Trivial Pursuit, and most other board games, the goal is not to complete the game the fastest but to collect the most points by the end of the game.

Some 4,000 years of history are divided into six decks of question cards. The yellow deck represents the "Ancient Civilizations Era" (20th century BC-fourth century BC), starting with the spread of writing until the death of Alexander the Great, covering the Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Phoenician and Canaanite civilizations.

The orange cards follow the Hellenic period and the Byzantine Empire, focusing on the rise and spread of Christianity through to and including Byzantium.

Questions on "The Rise of Islam" (fifth century AD-eighth century AD) are symbolized by the green cards and proceed until the fall of the Umayyad Dynasty, covering the Islamic conquests and the spread of Islam and Arab societies.

"The Age of Discovery" (eighth century AD-12th century AD), the blue deck, covers scientific discoveries and inventions and innovations in art, architecture, music, literature and philosophy.

The Mamluk and Ottoman eras (12th century AD-19th century AD) follow with the red deck, asking questions about non-Arab dynasties that came to rule the Arab-Muslim world, including the Crusades and the wars against the Mongols.

The last deck of cards is black and poses questions about modern times (19th century AD-20th century AD) after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the oil boom and the rise of modern Arab states.

All 360 trivia cards, most of which contain two multiple choice questions, were written by Askalan, who read hundreds of books in both English and Arabic to fill out the cards, which were then checked over by university professors. The questions are well-researched, fascinating and bound to provoke hours of fun.

"No one wants to play with me any more," Askalan says, admitting that she now knows the answers to all the cards. For those who dare to compete with the creator, she is not given the multiple choice options.

There is a seventh deck of card called "Open Questions." When players land on the open-question space they are given one minute to answer a question that has no right answer.

"When does freedom fighting end and terrorism begin?" one card asks. Another poses the question: "Is history true?" Players earn 10 points just for speaking with the option of obtaining another 10 points if the other players decide the argument was well-presented.

"Open questions are a way to give players a break from academic questions. Each player has a different opinion so let them express it," explains Askalan.

For some, the $56 price tag may seem shocking but this is not an ordinary board game. The price is cheap if one considers that a textbook containing an equal amount of information would cost well over $100, and be far less exciting.

Askalan chose to market Rahala through Lebanese bookstores - such as the Virgin Megastore, CD-Theque and Librarie Antoine - rather than placing the product in toy stores.

"Games are linked to kids. Arab culture does not exercise game playing and so to put this game in a toy shop where mothers go looking for children's toys would not be fair to the game."

Although currently only available in Lebanon, the game can be purchased elsewhere through Rahala's Web site, www.rahala.net . Askalan believes the game could also become a favorite among Arab expatriates or Westerners interested in Arab or Islamic history.

"Arabs living in the West are more used to a culture of games," Askalan offers as one possible reason why expatriates might be intrigued by her product. Nostalgia is another.

Well presented and well documented, although a bit overwhelming at first, Rahala may become a new key to unlock the Arab world's past for the next generation of thinkers.

ANCIENT SABRES REVEAL USE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
15 November 2006
Press Association National Newswire

Deadly sabres used against Christian knights in the crusades employed a medieval version of nanotechnology, scientists have learned.

The Damascus blades wielded by Muslim fighters were renowned for their exceptional strength, sharp cutting edge, and beautiful banding pattern.

It is believed they were forged from small cakes of steel known as 'wootz'' produced in ancient India.

A sophisticated treatment was then applied to the steel, but the secrets of the technique were lost in the 18th century. European craftsmen were unable to replicate the process.

How medieval blacksmiths overcame the inherent brittleness of the material to create such a perfect finished product has remained a mystery to this day.

Now scientists are starting to uncover the secrets of the Damascus sabre, and the results are surprising.

An investigation of the microstructure of one 17th-century blade revealed evidence of carbon nanotubes - tiny cylinders of carbon with special properties.

Today, carbon nanotubes are at the cutting edge of nanotechnology, the science of materials at very small scales that promises to change the way we live.

Remnants of iron carbide 'nanowires'' were also found. These microscopically-thin strands of extremely hard material may have been contained within the carbon nanotubes, and would have given the weapon its unusual strength and banding pattern.

'By empirically optimising their blade-treatment procedure, craftsmen ended up making nanotubes more than 400 years ago,'' the researchers, led by Dr Peter Paufler, from the University of Technology in Dresden, Germany, reported in the journal Nature.

They believe further study of the sabre's structure might make it possible to reproduce the long-forgotten recipe for Damascus steel.

Old French town inspired 'Labyrinth' author Mosse
Kyoko Nakajima / Special to The Daily Yomiuri
30 September 2006
Daily Yomiuri

Carcassonne, a fortified city dating back to the Roman era in southern France, played a key role in the history of a Christian sect called the Cathars, who feature prominently in the popular novel Labyrinth.

Visiting Japan to help launch the two-volume Rabirinsu, the Japanese edition of Labyrinth (Softbank Creative), British author Kate Mosse revealed in an interview with The Daily Yomiuri how this novel was born out of her fascination with Carcassone.

But first, what's a Cathar? According to The Encyclopedia Britannica, they believed matter was evil and spirit was good. Their renunciation of the material world included a meatless diet and sexual abstinence. The Cathars also rejected the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, which labeled them heretics.

This led to the suppression of the Cathars, beginning with the Albigensian Crusades in the early 13th century, during which Carcassone fell. Mosse writes in her book that this was the first crusade held "against Christians and on European soil. The persecution of the Cathars led directly to the founding of the Inquisition."

According to legend, the Cathars could have been the protectors of the Holy Grail, the vessel from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Through the ages, the relic has featured in stories, poems, operas and, most recently, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

Mosse's historical mystery weaves together Grail lore and the destinies of two heroines with ties to Carcassone. A British woman, Alice, uncovers two skeletons while volunteering at an archaeological dig near Carcassonne in the present day. The other heroine, Alais, lived in the area 800 years earlier and was entrusted with a book and a stone ring engraved with a labyrinth by her father, a steward for the lord of Carcassonne, in 1209 to protect the secret of the Holy Grail.

"Authors are inspired by different things. Some authors or novelists are inspired by ideas, some by characters and some by places. The spirit of the place is very, very important to me as a person and also as a writer," Mosse said.

Mosse lives part of the year in Carcassonne, absorbing its history and researching the Cathars' tragic experiences.

"From the very first time I was there, I fell completely in love with it," she said.

"From my bedroom in Carcassonne, where I wrote some of [my] books, I look up out of the windows across vines, tomato plants, eggplants, and I can see the towers and the turrets," she said.

"Every time I feel writing is difficult, all I need to do is to look out of my window," she said, finding the landscape and its history to be reliably inspiring.

Mosse's career is also inspiring. In addition to her own writing, she hosts programs on books and culture for the BBC, and is a cofounder of the high-profile Orange Prize for female authors.

Labyrinth is her fifth book, but with it, Mosse says: "I feel that for the first time I discovered my voice as a writer. I was always thinking too much about what sorts of books I was writing, instead of letting the book tell you, I was imposing my will on the book."

"I started [writing Labyrinth] because I was inspired by the history as well as the landscape of southern France, and once I had let the landscape talk to me, the characters talked to me, the book itself started to tell its own story," she said.

The catalyst was a visit 10 years ago to Mt. Monsegur in the Pyrenees, where the brutal crusade against the Cathars finished in 1244, Mosse explained. When she stood alone in the cold and silence at the summit, something came to her. "I imagined a woman standing [on that spot] at cold dawn, wearing a white cloak. I wondered how she felt, knowing that she was about to go down to her death. That's the woman who became Alais."

She said we are apt to know the history of kings, emperors and battles, usually told by those who emerge victorious, but she is more interested in writing about the experiences of ordinary people, particularly women.

The book has sold 1 million copies in Britain since its publication in July last year and has been published in 40 countries in 37 languages. The 544-page book packed with historical details rewards readers who give it a patient and careful reading.

Asked why so many people enjoyed reading it, Mosse said she doesn't really know, but she thinks as a reader that you can read it in many different ways and on many different levels.

"Labyrinth is an epic story. There are some stories about big themes, about love, about bravery, about loyalty and about preserving a secret, that are more important than time, place and context. I think people from all over the world understand we share the same emotions. It doesn't matter what nationality we are, whether a man or a woman, we all understand happiness, love and sadness, loyalty to your family and to your friends. I think this might be why Labyrinth has been enjoyed by people in 37 different languages."

Mosse said her next novel, which is half finished, is about classical music, adding that she once studied to be a violinist and has written a nonfiction book on Britain's Royal Opera and Royal Ballet.

English Monarchs and the Treatment of Prisoners of War

2006-10-30T13:41:00.000-05:00

Here is a paper I gave in 2001 for the De Re Militari sessions during the International Congress on Medieval Studies:

English Monarchs and the Treatment of Prisoners of War
By Peter Konieczny

Good morning all. I believe it is rather appropriate that the De Re Militari society finish off its sessions here at Kalamazoo with a topic that deals with what happens when the battle is over. In this case, I will be dealing with prisoners of war.
This is a subject which has been somewhat neglected in the past, sometimes given no more than a couple of sentences in books on medieval warfare Recent works on medieval military history have started paying more attention to this topic, including Matthew Strickland's book War and Chivalry, but a lot of work still has to be done. Today, I hope to show one small aspect of the treatment of prisoners of war, namely the role of English kings in deciding the fate of these captives.
Stephen Morillo wrote in his recent book Warfare under the Anglo-Norman Kings that what happened to prisoners "varied depending on the captor, the prisoner, and the circumstances of the capture." I would another factor to this list, namely the King and his wishes. The English monarchs that I am looking at, from William the Conqueror to Henry the Third, had several powers over prisoners of war, and used these captives to gain more power for themselves.
Victory or defeat in warfare of the High Middle Ages often occurred when one of the leading commanders was taken prisoner, and English monarchs new full well how much it meant to capture their enemies. The capture of Robert Curthose at the battle ofTinchebrai in 1104 gave the Henry the First the duchy of Normandy. The capture of the Scottish king William the Lion in 1174, allowed Henry the Second to achieve major gains along his northern borders. If it was not for the capture of the earl of Gloucester, King Stephen may never have regained his freedom, let alone his crown. Several rebellions against the English rulers ended only when their enemies were taken prisoner. Holding their enemies captive allowed English kings to make political and territorial gains that could not be achieved otherwise. Having your enemy in your chains always makes for a good bargaining position.
I think the first fact about the role of English kings is that they had a very important right: namely they could take custody of any prisoner of war that their followers captured for themselves. Following a battle or siege, those captured would be handed over to the king - not only the high-ranking captives, but frequently every prisoner down to the lowliest crossbowman. There are many instances which show this, but I'll just give you a few examples.
The battle of Tinchebrai in 1106 netted not only Henry's brother, Robert Curthose, but many more captives. In his letter to the archbishop of Canterbury following the victory, the English ruler wrote that all the prisoners were delivered into his hands, numbering them at four hundred knights and ten thousand foot. Orderic Vitalis added that Henry's only trouble in getting these captives came not from his own men, but from his Breton allies, who were unwilling to surrender Count William of Mortain, but even he was eventually given up.
Henry the Second's war with his own sons and the French in 1173 and 1174 also saw the English ruler gaining huge numbers of prisoners. Among Henry's triumphs was the capture of Dol, which brought with it many important captives. Robert of Torigni wrote that "the king distributed them among his castles, where they were committed to prison, but some of them he kept near himself." Roger of Howden added in his report of the capture a list of eighty-one names of prisoners taken at Dol. This list was probably made so that the royal government could know who their prisoners were, and help them make preparations on where to send them for their safekeeping. The several victories scored by Henry and his forces during that war netted the English king over a thousand prisoners of war in just two years of fighting. Finally, one of King John's last victories was the capture of Rochester in 1215. After the King was persuaded by his supporters not to execute all the prisoners, John decided to keep the knights for himself, but allowed the footsoldiers to be given up to his own men for ransoming and ordered that some of the crossbowmen be hung.
Without monetary gain, some captors could be easily swayed by bribes from their captives to release them. The Gesta Stephani reported that at the battle of Stockbridge in 1141, the King of Scotland was captured by Stephen's supporters but let go on consideration of a bribe. But the crown did not take kindly to those who did not deliver their prisoners to the King, as the following two examples illustrate. In 1138, fighting around the city of Bath led to the capture of a prominent soldier named Geoffrey Talbot. But soon after he was imprisoned, Geoffrey's kinsmen managed to seize the bishop of Bath, and forced him to release Geoffrey in exchange for his own freedom. When King Stephen arrived in Bath to take custody of the prisoner, he was outraged to learn that Geoffrey got away, and even threatened to strip the bishop of his office. Stephen was eventually mollified when he learned that the bishop's very life was in danger if he did not turn over the prisoner, and as Stephen's biographer wrote in the Gesta Stephani "there is no obligation on him...to give his own life in exchange for another's."
In another dramatic episode, William of Grandcourt was fighting on the side of Henry the Second at the battle of Bourgtheroulde in 1124, where he captured the Count of Evreux. William knew that if he had kept the count, the latter would have been turned over to the English king and would then suffer a long imprisonment or perhaps a worse fate. So as Orderic wrote, William, "Out of human compassion took pity on a man of such great valour" and released him. To avoid the punishment he would have had to face from King Henry, William also decided to accompany the Count of Evreux into exile in France.
One might ask what did the soldiers receive in return for handing over his prisoners to the King? In War and Chivalry, Matthew Strickland suggests that kings had to adequately reward their men for their captives, such as by giving them a share of the ransom. But in my examination of English monarchs, I find almost no evidence to support Strickland's view. But the kings did compensate their soldiers in another way, which I will deal with a little later.
Now that the prisoners are in the king's hands, we can look at how they were treated by their captor. Most of the studies done on prisoners of war for the middle ages suggests that nobles and knights were usually well-treated while in captivity and could soon pay a sum of money to ransom themselves. In fact, many medieval writers condemn captors who cruelly treated their prisoners or refused to ransom them. The villainous depictions of Robert Belleme, Thomas de Marie and Robert fitz Hubert often centre around their torturing and killing of prisoners, including knights. Clearly, medieval writers believed that these men were violating a code of conduct regarding the treatment of prisoners.
But English kings could play by different rules and were able to inflict any type of punishment they wanted. Prisoners of war could face exile, mutilation, imprisonment for life and even death, although these sterner punishments were usually only given to those who rebelled against the monarchy. These punishments were also far more common in the reigns of William the Conqueror and his two sons than they were with later kings. The father would often remove the hands or eyes of captured rebels, while his son William Rufus had William of Eu blinded and castrated for his disloyalty, and had Eu's steward hanged as well. Orderic Vitalis wrote that the prisoners of Henry the First often "died in his fetters, and could neither gain release through kinship or noble birth, nor ransom themselves with money." This even included Henry's brother Robert Curthose, although his captivity was reportedly not too severe.
Why did these monarchs believe that they had the power to impose such harsh punishments, and why were medieval writers, who detested similar actions done by counts or knights, willing to look the other way when the king did them. The answer lies with the medieval notion of royal justice where the king had a "sacred duty to enforce peace and curb violence and treachery" by any means necessary. Furthermore a severe punishment was also seen as deterrent, done to prevent others who had rebellious thoughts. Henry of Huntingdon even criticizes King Stephen when he captured a rebellious castle after a siege and, in the words of the chronicler "did not execute punishment on those who had betrayed him. For if he had done so at that time, there would not have been so many castles held against him later."
A good illustration of this notion comes after the battle of Bourgetheroulde. Henry decided to blind three of the important prisoners taken in the fight. Charles the Good, count of Flanders, happened to be around, and objected to the king, believing it was wrong to punish knights in this fashion. Henry replied that two of these prisoners were his liegemen and that they had betrayed him by going to war against him, therefore deserving a punishment of death or mutilation. As for the third captive, Luke of La Barre, he had previously mocked Henry with scurrilous songs, and that by blinding this man, he would force him to give up this practice and give an example for others to see.
Typically, if a prisoner was blinded or mutilated, he was then released, becoming a living advertisement for the iron rule of the monarchy. There were more practical reasons for kings to impose severe punishments. In times of war, threatening an important prisoner with death or torture was used as way to make other gains. One practice that can be found throughout the reigns of these monarchs was to force a captive noble to turn over his castles over to the king. Often the prisoner would be brought to just outside the castle, where he would be tortured or prepared for execution unless the garrison surrendered immediately. King Stephen was perhaps the most notorious practitioner of this method, but William Rufus and John both were able to gain the surrender of important castles by threatening to kill or mutilate the captured owners.
Although monarchs always had the stick when dealing with prisoners, more and more during this period they were willing to use the carrot when dealing with them. Between the reigns of William the conqueror and the last years of Henry the Third, no high-ranking English noble was executed by the monarchy, even if they had rebelled against him. William of Poitiers specifically mentioned prisoners of war when he noted that the Conqueror tried to avoid killing and "preferred to punish with exile, imprisonment, or some other penalty which did not cost death." Furthermore, the punishments of mutilation or life-long imprisonment almost disappeared after the reign of Henry the First. Some prisoners were also dealt with leniently by Henry, such as Count Waleran of Meulan and Hugh, son of Gervase, both of whom were also taken at Bourgtheroulde. They did spend five years in captivity, but then they were released and restored to mush of their former power. Count Waleran in fact, became an important part of Henry' s royal household and was said to have become a good friend of the king. Henry the Second was himself praised by a several of contemporaries for his compassion when dealing with prisoners of war. Of course, the kings were not giving clemency for its own sake, but probably believed that by doing so, they could win their enemies over to the king's side.
Kindness was sometimes extended to less important prisoners as well. In 1097 William Rufus arrived at a castle, where a large number of prisoners of war were being held. As they heard the king's approach the captives shouted out for the king to help them. William did just that, not only releasing the captives from their cells, but also gave them a good meal and allowed them to walk where they pleased in the castle. When some of the king's followers objected to this action,
pointing out that a prisoner might easily escape this way, William rebuked them for their severity.
There are also several instances where an English king released his captives or pardoned their ransom fines. Even if English kings were becoming more lenient towards their captives, there were occasions when harsh measures were used. One story about Richard the First is that when he heard about the destruction of one of his Welsh contingents during his continuing war with Phillip Augustus, he reacted by having three French prisoners thrown off a cliff and then blinded fifteen others and sent them to the French king. Phillip reciprocated with some of his English captives. In 1224, after Henry the Third had captured the castle of Bedford, he had most of the garrison hanged after they surrendered to him. On several other occasions, the massacre of entire garrisons was avoided only by the pleas of the king's followers.
Once the English monarch had his prisoners and decided to hold them in captivity, he was faced with a new problem on where to keep them. As seen before, the English king might have hundreds of prisoners of war in his custody at anyone time, and they all needed to be accommodated. Some of the captives, like the footsoldiers taken at Rochester in 1215, would be given over to the king's followers as a reward, but many other prisoners, including all the high-ranking ones, would be kept by the king. These men were split up into small groups and sent throughout the kingdom, to be placed in the custody of various lords and nobles. This can be seen as another feudal service that the vassals owed to their English rulers: they were expected to care and guard for prisoners of war, as well hostages and other captives. A good example of this movement of prisoners can be seen in the Pipe rolls following John's victory at Mirebeau in 1202. While the king took his nephew Arthur to Falaise in Normandy, many of the other prisoners were shipped across the English channel to Portsmouth. From there, the records show that these captives were dispatched to various places throughout the country, including London, York, Lancaster, Corfe, Wallingford, Sherburn, Nottingham, Doncaster and Newcastle. It would be preferable for the king not to have too many prisoners held in anyone place, since regrettable incidents might happen, such as at Corfe, where the Mirebeau captives overpowered their guards and took control of the castle for a short period of time.
For those who had to take care and guard these prisoners, they could expect some compensation form the king. Hubert de Burgh received four pounds from John for having to handle several Mirebeau prisoners. Government documents also show that many payments were made for transporting captives from one place to another and even for the costs of iron chains, although it is not clear in every case, whether the captive was a prisoner of war or not. One must believe that sometimes these prisonkeepers, who probably did not profit much for there work, might get somewhat careless in their guard duties, or that they were tempted by bribes, and allowed the prisoner to escape. Of course, monarchs were not pleased to lose their prisoners and they exacted harsh penalties to any negligent jailer. The huge debt of twenty-two hundred pounds owed by William de Mandeville to Henry the First was probably due to when William was in command of the Tower of London and allowed one of the important captives to slide down a rope from a tower window and escape.
Another irresponsible jailer was Robert de Ros. In 1196 he had one of his charges, an important French prisoner, escape, and King Richard fined Robert eight hundred pounds. The sergeant that Robert had watching the prisoner, who may have been complicit in the escape, was excuted. Robert apparently did not learn his lesson, since eleven years later he was punished with a two hundred pound fine for losing more captives.
I wondered earlier that if monarchs had the right to taking prisoners of war for himself, what kind of trade off was their for the rest of army, the people that actually did the capturing. Well, it seems that while English kings had great authority over prisoners of war, he also had a large responsibility in freeing his own forces that had been captured. Either through prisoner exchanges or by ransoming, the English kings would attempt to free their followers from enemy prisons. Part of the reason why the monarchs did this was that they would need these men to fight their wars. As William Rufus and Louis the Fat were fighting over the Vexin Louis' biographer Suger notes that "King William, concerned at his need to hire more knights, quickly ransomed the English prisoners." When Stephen had his steward and close mend, William Martel, captured by Angevin supporters, the king gave up a castle to have Martel freed.
Another reason to help free one's followers would be to keep their loyalty and make sure that they continue to fight for you. When Prince Louis of France invaded England during the early years of Henry the Third's reign, the Patent rolls record a letter sent to castle garrisons holding out against the French, encouraging them not to give up, and promising to pay a reasonable ransom should any royal fortress be forced to capitulate.
But more importantly, those vassals who fought under the banner of the English kings probably believed that the monarch owed something to them if they were taken prisoner, especially since they often had to give up their valuable prisoners to the king. In 1140, one of Stephen's counts abandoned his king and joined the Angevins, since, according to Orderic Vitalis, "he had recently had cause to be angry with the king, because he had sought his help over the release of his nephew and got no satisfaction through him. "
Prisoner exchanges was one of the methods through which English monarchs got their followers released. There are several instances of these exchanges taking place as part of a truce or peace agreement. The first known exchange occurred in 1098 between William Rufus and the Count of Anjou, where both sides released their prisoners. In 1120 Henry the First and Louis the Fat set free all their captive knights, including those taken at the battle of Bremule the year before. The war between Henry the Second and his son Henry the younger king ended in 1175 with a prisoner exchange that involved more than a thousand captives. King Richard and Phillip Augustus included prisoner releases in their truces on two occasions, the first in 1194 and then in 1197. Finally, the regents for Henry the Third made peace with the French prince Louis after the English victories at Lincoln and Sandwich in 1215, with the agreement including a clause for all prisoners to be released, including those taken at the two battles.
These prisoner exchanges not only involved the captives held by the English king and his counterpart, but even those held by their supporters. Understandably, the various lords sometimes refused to go along with this part of the deal. During the negotiations for the exchange of King Stephen for Robert, earl of Gloucester, the latter tried to have all prisoners of war set free, but Stephen's followers scuttled this part of the deal, because, according to William of Malmesbury, they did not want to give up their own captives and suffer "any of loss of money to themselves."
Even after an agreement was made, it might be difficult for the English king to have his vassals comply with the terms. When Prince Louis reached the French throne in 1223, he complained that many of his own men who were supposed to have been freed were kept in English dungeons until they paid a heavy ransom. Patent rolls also show that Henry the Third and his government were often sending out letters to his vassals, such as the mercenary leader turned noble Fulk de Breaute, for several years after 1215, demanding that they release French prisoners.
The other method used by monarchs for freeing their own followers was to pay for their ransoms. Some evidence of this practice can be seen in various chronicles, such as when Roger of Wendover reported that in 1196 Richard paid two thousand pounds to free the garrison of one castle, which had surrendered to the French. But stronger evidence of this practice comes out in government documents found in the reigns of John and Henry the Third. The money given out by these kings varied from some large payments, including over a thousand pounds each for Roger de Lacy and for the son of William Briewerre, to smaller amounts like the hundred shillings given out to the wife of John de Talemund, so she could free her husband from the French. These payments sometimes came in the form of a loan, but as in the case of Roger de Lacy and others, these debts were usually pardoned.
By finishing, I'll recap the importance of these High Medieval Kings in regards to prisoners of war. If you were an enemy soldier that got captured, it would be very likely that your captor would hand you over to the king. Some of the unlucky prisoners might have been killed or mutilated, but most would be sent throughout the king's domain, where they would be imprisoned until they could await their freedom.
For those knights and soldiers who had been captured in the service of the English king, their fates also often upon their monarch. Many of these prisoners of war never had to pay a ransom for their own release, but instead relied on the crown to free them. Sometimes they would be ransomed by the king, but most of the prisoners that got their freedom through the royalty were part of the six large scale prisoner exchanges that occurred between 1098 and 1215.
There is no doubt that from William the Conqueror to Henry the Third, that these English monarchs played an important role with what happened to prisoners of war from both sides of the battlefield.

Medieval News - Dublin's walls, Robin Hood, and church bells

2006-10-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

Second Opinion - Castlegate, Sheffield
13 October 2006
Regeneration & Renewal

Name of scheme: Castlegate Masterplan. Published: March 2006. Commissioned by: Sheffield City Council. Produced by: Edaw.

Scope/purpose: To reconnect the site of Sheffield's castle and the riverside, introduce new uses, transform the area around the castle remains, improve public transport and build on the city's strengths.

Glyn Roberts comments: A focus of traditional working class life in Sheffield city centre, Castlegate is one of the city's oldest areas - the site of a Norman fortress and the original settlement's marketplace.

The masterplan, developed by Edaw and approved by the city council's cabinet in March 2006, provides a guide for future development. It marks the shift in Sheffield's political and economic fortunes - and progress in the rebirth of the city - by proposing to transform Castlegate from a secondary shopping area to a mix of uses that are less dependent on retail aimed at lower income residents.

The markets and castle have dominated the character of the area for over 700 years. This was the site of the original Sheffield Castle at the confluence of the Rivers Don and Sheaf, and so marks the birthplace of the city and has always been key to its development. Markets have existed on the site since 1297, culminating in the current buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s. It is agreed that the area will lose its markets, but possibly regain its historic castle remains. Castlegate now needs to find a non-market-related role.

The plan seeks diversity and interest - offices, homes, leisure, entertainment and retail uses, with high-quality public realm developments, including riverside terraces and public spaces. The pedestrianisation of key streets, partial opening out of the River Sheaf to reveal the medieval castle's remains, and the creation of a riverside walk are key environmental elements and attractive proposals.

The plan proposes to unite and focus a number of existing and planned regeneration initiatives by celebrating the Rivers Don and Sheaf, connecting the city centre to its waterfront. As well as creating important new public spaces, it seeks to achieve this by converting congested highways to pedestrian and cycle routes, public realm and development sites.

The highly ambitious vision is dependent on funding and delivery of a lot of crucial major capital schemes, the management of technical feasibility issues, and an element of luck. The radical change envisaged for Castlegate is predicated on the completion of the Inner Relief Road and the relocation of Castle Market. There are inherent political and financial risks, but the benefits could be impressive if the city can deliver.

If excavation reveals visual as well as historic interest, the unique identity created by the castle's remains and the rivers Don and Sheaf could help to re-brand Castlegate and the city centre. Removal of the 'budget shopping' image should promote higher values to support quality design and public realm.

- Glyn Roberts is development director for Renew North Staffordshire and member of the RTPI's Regeneration Network Steering Group and General Assembly.

Analysis - Robin Hood hits the mark.
13 October 2006
Broadcast

BBC1's new Robin Hood had more pros than cons while Jane Horrocks took overnight success in her stride in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, says James Burstall.

On the Box

Judging by its first outing, Robin Hood (BBC1, 7 October, 7.05pm), Tiger Aspect's new family drama, has yet to get into its groove. There were plenty of bow-and-arrow stunts and last-minute rescues from the gallows, but the drama has yet to find its heart.

Michelle Guish cast the piece sexy and young, but Jonas Armstrong in the lead role seems too inexperienced to be a nobleman back from the Crusades. He's best when in amorousmood, rebuffed bythe sassy modern Marian with the words: "Five years and you're still peddling the same old drivel." We have to hope that he will become more convincing.

Keith Allen makes an unpleasant bullyboy Sheriff, but the star in episode one is Robin's servant Much, played with emotional depth and sharp comic timing by Sam Troughton. Mike Gunn's production design is superb - especially the thatched manor house Knighton Hall - and John McKay's edgy direction combines with a cinematic shooting style to make the drama both broad-sweeping and accessible. Dominic Minghella's script at times threatens to fall into medieval pastiche but saves itself by cutting back to the protagonists' political and personal battle with evil. There's a shiver of anxious anticipation when you realise Robin is going to have to fight the Sheriff and his men - to the death. Despite a few shortcomings I can see the audience sticking with this band of outlaws for all 13 episodes. Current affairs has been trying and failing to make politics interesting for years, so it was a smart move by the BBC to get drama to do it instead in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (BBC1, 3 October, 9pm). Written by Sally Wainwright and directed with a deft lightness of touch by Declan Lowney, Kudos's series is a classy and entertaining watch. Mrs Pritchard, played by a measured Jane Horrocks, runs a supermarket in the north and is compelled to take action when she witnesses two foolish middle-aged male politicians break into fisticuffs. Believing politics needs an injection of common sense, off she goes to become PM within a few short weeks. This romp's bright and shiny production design and catchy score make it fresh and appealing, but it's not all saccharine. Pritchard's spineless husband Ian, well underplayed by Steven Mackintosh, lays the seeds of her future woes and makes you want to come back for more. At the heart of the piece is a timely debate on the battle of the sexes and who is most fit to govern a country. James Burstall is chief executive of Leopard Films and Leopard drama.

Historic heart is given a boost
733 words
12 October 2006
Bristol Evening Post
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English
Copyright (c) 2006 Bristol Evening Post & Press Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Developers hoping to revitalise the former historic heart of Bristol into one of the city's most important places for living, working and shopping have revealed their plans.

In a move set to knit back together the old city with Broadmead and Redcliffe, they have come up with a favoured option that they said would produce maximum benefits for the rest of Castle Park.

It would also give Bristol a permanent food quarter similar to the renowned Borough Market in London, with a wide range of locally produced food making it a major attraction.

New homes, offices, public open space, restaurants and cafes are also proposed in what developers Deeley Freed said was a "vibrant mix" of uses.

The option is one of four approaches to the masterplanning of the five-acre St Mary le Port site, which people will be able to see for the first time when an exhibition opens in the park on Saturday.

Ideas put forward reflect the variety of opinions from a first round of consultation, ranging from a redevelopment of only the redundant office buildings right through to the preferred option, which could release a £2 million package of improvements to pay for much of Bristol City Council's Castle Park improvement plan.

The favoured option would also create a new public square surrounding the ruins of St Mary le Port Church, new paths and cycle routes and recreate the medieval St Mary le Port Street linking St Nicholas Market with St Mary le Port Church and the ruins of the bombed St Peter's Church.

A footbridge across the river from Castle Park to the redeveloped former Courage Brewery site will connect Broadmead with Redcliffe and a large south-facing grassed sitting area will overlook the Floating Harbour.

The proposals also include a new exhibition area for outdoor events, a children's play trail around the park, new seating, lighting and planting and a new St Peter's Square around the church with gardens and sitting areas, including stepped grassed seating with views across the water.

David Freed, director of developers Deeley Freed, said: "St Mary le Port is a pearl of a site and we really want to create something of quality.

"The regeneration of St Mary le Port provides a unique opportunity to create a new heart for the historic centre of Bristol.

"We are proposing a development that builds on the city's growing reputation as Britain's capital of food and delivers a vibrant mix of homes, shops, cafes and offices, which will act as a real magnet for people living and working in the area.

"It will help knit the area back into the city and fund major improvements to the park, which will become a place which far more people can use and enjoy.

"We are very excited about these proposals and hope people will take time to consider the potential a development like this can offer the city when they visit the exhibition."

Councillor Anne White, the city council's executive member for regeneration, said: "The proposals being presented by Deeley Freed offer exciting plans for St Mary le Port, giving us a real opportunity to transform this area at the heart of our city. It is vitally important that development is well thought through and responds to the views of people who live and work in the area.

"We also need to make sure that we consider the development in a rounded way, taking into account the effect on Castle Park and the wider area. I hope people will use this opportunity to put forward their views and help shape the future of the site."

The exhibition, which opens on Saturday, will continue until Friday, October 20, in the ruins of St Peter's church and will outline the four proposals.

It will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm; from Monday to Wednesday and on Friday from 10am to 6pm and on Thursday from 10am to 7pm.

There will be two sessions where members of the public can meet representatives of Deeley Freed, their project team and the council on Thursday from 12.30pm to 2pm and again from 5pm to 7pm.

U. Nebraska: U. Nebraska lecture series examines medieval-era religions
12 October 2006
U-Wire

By Tanika Cooper, Daily Nebraskan (U. Nebraska)

LINCOLN, Neb. -- If a student didn't want to page through ancient texts

in a climate-controlled library to learn about relationships between different religions, a lecture series produced by the University of Nebraska's Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program may impart just as much knowledge.

Robert Haller, a professor of English and director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will begin a series of lectures tonight.

Sahar Amer, an author and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will give a speech as part of the series concerning Christian, Jewish and Muslim relations.

Amer will speak from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Bailey Library in Andrews Hall on UNL's City Campus.

"It's free and the public is welcome to attend," Haller said.

Students and faculty members in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program made slight changes to their activities for this year, Haller said. Normally, he said, the group, consisting of faculty members and students, conducts meetings and sponsors conferences.

Because many faculty members in the group are interested in the relationships of Christians, Muslims and Jews between the 900s-1700s, Haller said he decided to do a series instead of what they've done in the past.

Amer is going to discuss the connection between French and Arabic themes using writings in both languages, he said.

Robert Clark, a French professor at Kansas State University, was invited to introduce Amer and participate in the discussion.

"I have a lot of respect for her (Amer's) work and I'm delighted they invited me to come and introduce her," he said.

Amer first began her studies in French and later went on to study Arabic, Haller said, and Clark studied French. They are going to discuss their work and make a connection between their findings, he said.

The discussion will be open for questions.

The goal of the series is to help people realize that the different worlds of Christians, Muslims and Jews have been in conflict for some time, Haller said. The conflict didn't just recently begin.

From the 900s-1700s, he said, more similarities existed among Muslims, Jews and Christians than do now.

During that time, the different religions all used the Old Testament, he said. Even so, he said, the people of different religions didn't focus on their few differences.

The different religions were very close and the influence they had on each other is what the group is trying to examine, Haller said.

"Everyone knows there's relations between them (the different religions) and hostility," he said.

Ringing up funds for new bells
12 October 2006
Surrey Mirror

A SPONSORED bell ringing to provide money for vital repairs at a medieval church has been hailed as a great success.

The Horley Bellringers held their event at St Bartholomew's Church in Horley on Saturday to raise money to repair the parish church's eight 17th century bells.

Tower captain Hazel Spring said: "They rang 5,040 changes and it took three hours. I think we are looking at about £500 raised so far."

The bells need maintenance costing £11,500 plus VAT.

No date has been set for the repairs, which involves taking down the bronze bells.

All the clappers, which make the pealing sound when they bang the side of the bell, need to be replaced while the ballbearings have to be regreased.

But if enough volunteers are found to help out, the cost will be reduced by £3,450.

For details about the fundraising, ring 01293 782218.

Built on the ashes of history
12 October 2006
El Pais - English Edition

Madrid's Royal Palace stands on the site of a castle destroyed by fire, writes Rafael Fraguas

A s the sun sets over Madrid, its sidelong rays cut out the silhouette of a medieval castle with tall towers topped by a steep roof covered in black slate and long needles that stretch up into the sky. This is what the western skyline of Madrid would look like today had a fire not destroyed that royal fortress three centuries ago. The now forgotten castle actually stood on a hill overlooking the Manzanares River for 600 years, until on the cold Christmas Eve of 1734, the flames turned it and the many treasures it held into a pile of scorched rubble.

The fire started in the quarters of court painter Jan Ranc. Apparently, a group of servants, drunk from the seasonal celebrations, forgot to attend a blazing log fire. A spark flew to a nearby curtain that was soon ablaze, together with the wooden window frames, the furniture, the bedding, the doors and then the chests lining the castle's corridors.

Servants and members of the court rushed in and out of the castle trying to save some of the treasures held in it. The fire was of such magnitude that nobody tried to put it out. Five horse-drawn carts were loaded "with gold, silver, jewels and coins belonging to the princes, and then rushed out," according to accounts from the time.

Among other things, the once Moorish fortress was home to 2,000 canvases that represented the world's most valuable painting collection, with pieces dating back to the days of the 15th century Queen Isabella. Works by Titian, Tintoretto, Ribera, Durer, Leonardo Da Vinci and Brueghel formed part of this collection that grew under the rule of King Philip II, followed by his son Philip III, and that kings Philip IV and Charles II completed with the acquisition of several paintings by Velázquez, Rubens, Claudio Coello and Lucas Jordán.

Up to 500 of these works were lost forever, including canvases such as Rubens' mounted portrait of Philip IV and Velázquez's Expulsion of the Moors, as well as his mythological painting Apollo, Adonis and Venus. And although the people of Madrid were not allowed to help save some of the castle's more valuable belongings for "fear of looting," it seems that more than 1,000 paintings were successfully pulled out undamaged from the bonfire the building soon became. As a few priests from the nearby San Gil convent struggled to help servants bring out the works of art, however, thousands of relics, religious ornaments, furniture and princely garments were destroyed by the fire.

Known as the Alcázar - the name the Moors gave to their castles in Spain - because it was built upon the foundations of an old Moorish fortress, the ill-fated royal castle housed among other things the dwellings of King Philip V, the first of Spain's Bourbon kings. Born in France and used to the vast open spaces of Versailles, however, Philip V disliked the Alcázar, which he saw as a symbol of the Habsburgs, the dynasty that preceded him. Instead, he preferred the Buen Retiro Palace, which stood in today's downtown Retiro Park.

In 1734 the Alcázar was a rectangular building with two central, square courtyards, known as the king's and queen's patios. They were linked by the royal chapel, a heavily ornamented space housing dozens of valuable objects, mostly of religious origin. Two hundred years earlier Emperor Charles I had transformed the building's facade and several of its rooms. During the reign of Philip III, between 1599 and 1625, the palace attained its maximum splendor - largely thanks to the generous donations to the court made by Madrid dwellers in order to convince the king to move the court from Valladolid to Madrid. Philip III invested a considerable amount of those donations in refurbishing the palace. But Philip V, the Bourbon king, always associated the castle with what he deemed as the old-fashioned Habsburg dynasty, looking upon it with utmost disdain. In the end, the fire came to embody that royal disdain.

Welcome to medieval quarter
Paul Melia
12 October 2006
Irish Independent

Old city wall rebuilt in plan to rejuvenate heritageof capital

DUBLIN city bosses plan to resurrect the capital's heritage and create a medieval quarter between Christchurch and St Patrick's Cathedral.

An ambitious new plan hopes to restore parts of the city wall and build a civic museum and new open spaces in an effort to reinvigorate the city centre.

The walled city remained at the heart of Dublin until the 18th century when it fell gradually into economic decline as the city grew.

Now Dublin City Council want to restore what's left of the walls and build heritage in an effort to overcome the "uneven quality" of recent development.

The plan sees the creation of a new route linking Dublin Castle with Nicholas Street, following the line of the city wall and go past Geneval's Tower, off Bride Road, which is not accessible to the public.

Five sites which could be redeveloped had been identified which would help re-create a medieval setting and include provision of new public spaces. The sites are between Christchurch and St Patrick's, and Patrick Street and Dublin Castle.

The plan envisages creating routes through the area as well as public spaces and a city museum on St John's Lane, which would partially obscure the north front of Christ Church Cathedral.

The proposals are contained in the Ship Street/ Werburgh Street Urban Framework Plan, which says the key area at the historic core of Dublin has "significant historic fabric" but a "poor physical environment" with little connection to the city.

It says that the green spaces in that part of the city are not linked in a "useful way", and that pedestrian links are also poor.

However, it notes there are sites of "interesting local potential", and that this area of Dublin requires some special effort to recover what was once a strong physical character.

"Special efforts should be expended to recover lost history and building fabric in the area", it says. "Naming the extensive historic elements and activities of the quarter would have a beneficial effect on its future."

Other proposals include:

* Removing St Audoen's Park on the corner of High Street and Bridge Street and reinstating a sense of enclosure by building up the street frontages.

* Removal of the Peace Garden at the corner of Christchurch Place and Nicholas Street installed in 1991, but retain green space behind a new building planned for the site.

The Office of Public Works and Dublin City Council have agreed to a series of land swaps to implement the plan, which is hoped to attract more people into the area.

"It's to try and bring back the wall to the citizens of the city and recreate a sense of inside and outside the city", Dublin City Council Heritage Officer Donncha O'Dulaing said yesterday.

Some of the work may start next year.

Council plans to create 'cathedral quarter' in heart of medieval Dublin.
Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
11 October 2006
Irish Times

Dublin City Council is planning to create a new "cathedral quarter" in the heart of the medieval city, centred on Christ Church and St Patrick's and surviving remnants of the old city walls.

The plan envisages creating new routes through the area, following the line of the walls where possible, as well as new public spaces and a city museum on St John's Lane, partially obscuring the north front of Christ Church Cathedral.

Other proposals in the plan, which was drawn up by McCullough Mulvin Architects, include eliminating St Audoen's Park on the corner of High Street and Bridge Street to reinstate a sense of enclosure by building up the street frontages.

The sunken Peace Garden at the corner of Christchurch Place and Nicholas Street - installed in 1991 - is also being targeted for similar treatment, though an element of green space would be retained behind a new building on the frontage.

Implementation of the plan, which has the support of city archaeologist Ruth Johnson and heritage officer Donncha Ó Dulaing, will start with the creation of a new public space in front of the longest intact section of the city wall in Great Ship Street.

Architect Niall McCullough said the aim would be to provide a new route linking Dublin Castle with Nicholas Street following the line of the city wall, including the little-known Geneval's Tower, off Bride Road, which is currently inaccessible to the public.

The Office of Public Works and Dublin City Council have agreed to a series of land swaps to facilitate the plan, according to the city council's chief planning officer, Dick Gleeson, who said the aim was to "reinterpret the history and meaning of the city walls".

He conceded that the historic core of Dublin had become "extremely fragmented", largely due to the damage caused by major road-widening schemes that turned High Street/Cornmarket and much of Nicholas Street/Patrick Street into dual-carriageways.

"The cathedral quarter plan makes a big strong gesture towards repairing the damage done to the city core," Mr Gleeson said. "It will also create multiple routes from St Stephen's Green and Trinity College to bring more tourists into the Liberties." At present, many tourists "get lost and confused in the city core, suffering a huge amount of angst crossing roads" in what Ms Johnson described as a "noisy, dirty, unfriendly pedestrian environment". What they should be getting is a "real experience".

Under the plan, some road space will be "reclaimed" to make more room for pedestrians. "Cornmarket is so blown apart that we have to be very bold looking at the options to reinstate it while creating a new public amenity for local people," Mr Gleeson said.

According to Mr McCullough, the whole area needed the urban design equivalent of "mouth-to-mouth resuscitation". The creation of new pedestrian routes would provide a "different way of going round the city that nobody has used for hundreds of years".

He stressed that the plan aimed to "keep every fragment" of the city wall because the urban grain of the area is based on it. "We're at the point in Dublin where you have to hang on to things like that ferociously, because there isn't much of it left". Asked about the potentially contentious proposal to build a city museum in front of Christ Church Cathedral, he said medieval cathedrals "should be seen over roofs", rather than being exposed. "These roofs were there until 40 or 50 years ago," he added.

Mr Gleeson said Dublin badly needed a city museum that would "fill out" the site of the Civic Offices.

You have seen the TV show ...Now do the degree
ALISTAIR HARRIS
10 October 2006
Nottingham Evening Post

A Post-graduate course has been set up in Robin Hood studies at the University of Nottingham.

It is the world's first master's degree course to investigate the truth behind Nottingham's most famous legend.

Academics will have access to 600-year-old manuscripts at the university's school of history to investigate the story.

The course starts next year and should cost about £2,930 - the same as most of the university's history MAs for 2007-08.

Dr Rob Lutton, lecturer in medieval history and pathway leader in Robin Hood studies, said: "The new MA in Robin Hood studies at Nottingham is an exciting opportunity for anyone with an interest in the origins and development of England's most enduring legendary figure to ask searching questions about the relationships between popular culture and history."

The course will involve stories, songs, plays and literature from the 16th and 17th Centuries, and will examine the wider historical context of the medieval Robin Hood stories.

Students will also look at claims by Nottingham, Doncaster and Wales that they are the real home of the historical Robin. They will look at modern manifestations of the hero - including romantic novels and Robin's latest BBC incarnation.

Dr Colin Heywood, head of the school of history, said: "The University of Nottingham has a long tradition of researching late 12th-century society in England and Normandy, making it the perfect environment for students to understand the context for the Robin Hood legends. Those taking the course will look at the wider social and cultural perspectives on the subject, using 600-year-old manuscripts as their source material."

A university spokeswoman said: "Postgraduate qualifications like this are a good grounding for careers in historical research and teaching.

"They compliment undergraduate qualifications and allow students to gain extra knowledge in their chosen subject as well as adding to their research experience and building their confidence."

But a modern-day Robin Hood might look for a different sort of MA course.

"If Robin Hood were operating in Sherwood Forest today, he might choose a bigger target than the sheriff," the university spokeswoman added.

"Battling social injustice would still play a big part, so he might sign up to a course at the university's new centre for the study of social and global justice. The MA in social and global justice includes modules on international relations, war crimes, justice beyond borders and democracy and democratisation."

She suggested Robin might enjoy an MA in international security and terrorism or an MBA in corporate social responsibility at the universtity's business school.

For more information, visit www.nottingham.ac.uk

Medieval History Writing and Crusading Ideology

2006-10-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

Just to give readers a notice, a new book on the Crusades has recently come out:

Medieval History Writing and Crusading Ideology
Edited by Tuomas M.S. Lehtonen and Kurt Villads Jensen
Published by the Finnish Literature Society in 2005.

Synopsis: This book examines how the crusading ideology was formulated in medieval historiography and how the crusading movement affected Christianity and the world beyond. The second main theme is the spread of the crusading movement to Northern Europe, especially Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea area. Northerners not only participated in the crusades in the Holy Land, but also learned and were inspired to create and take part in a new crusading movement within the Baltic Sea region itself. The relationship between the crusades to Jerusalem and those in the North must be of fundamental importance to understanding the dynamics that created history, both locally and in a general European context, but this relation itself has seldom been the object of thoroughgoing research; on the contrary, the considerable scholarship on both the North and the South has been pursued in isolation. Divided into three parts, this volume opens with the different forms of and reactions to the crusading ideology. The importance of ideology as a driving motivation for the crusaders has again been recognised in international studies since the 1970s, and its impact is also now felt in Scandinavian research environments. The second part moves on to examine the crusading ideology and its impact upon society in a broader context through its relation to violence, its portrayal of the enemies, and its representations in the policy and construction of the Danish crown and royal mythology. The Northern Crusades in the Baltic Sea region are discussed in the third part as seen through contemporary sources and modern historical writing. This also includes dealing with some of the impacts of the Crusades in Russia and even farther east in Mongolia. The essays in this section show how the general idea of crusading was applied to the Northern areas and frequently resembles in its details the Mediterranean crusades, as well as demonstrate how Scandinavian scholars have often neglected this aspect in modern history writing.

For De Re readers: The book has 22 essays, most of which focus on the Middle East, but with several that deal with Scandinavia. None of them are straightforward military papers, but anything on the Crusades usually touches on warfare. A couple of papes worth looking at include "Why Did Medieval Norsemen Go on Crusade?' by Arnved Nedkvitne, "A New Norse Knighthood? The Impact of the Templars in Late-Twelfth-century Norway," by Bjorn Bandlien, "Crusading at the Fringe of the Ocean: Denmark and Portugal in the Twelfth Century," by Kurt Villads Jensen, and "The Crusaders and the Mongols : The Case of the First Crusade of Louis IX (1248-1254)," by Antti Ruotsala.