Paper -a:
This paper explores the notion of the full materiality of chivalry, with emphasis on the complex relationship between arms and armour and descriptions thereof in medieval texts. I shall focus on extant examples of armour and weaponry, depictions in medieval art and effigies, and descriptions of the meaning and function of weaponry and armour in a wide variety of medieval texts, such as chronicles, poems, chivalric manuals, and chivalric romances. Because of the richness of the Iberian source material, the textual examples used will mostly be from this region. All quotations will be translated into English.
Paper -b:
Since the seminal work of the German military historian Hans Delbrück in the first decades of the 20th century, most scholars believe that medieval armies were modest in size. A number of studies have still sought to discredit Delbrück's theses and several methodological imperatives are claimed to have emerged. But the dissenting voices have not won the day. Their arguments have not brought us any closer to understanding medieval military demography because their calculations are unfalsifiable and non-testable. An innovative attempt to calculate the numerical size of an army thought to be one of the greatest mustered during the history of the crusade movement will follow an appraisal of the existing methodologies. The paper will then discuss the future direction of military demography studies in the digital age.
Paper -c:
Historians commonly assert that King Stephen did not go on crusade because he was too occupied with the violence and so-called 'anarchy' of his reign. My paper revisits the state of English affairs around the time of the Second Crusade (1146-1147) and reexamines the accepted position regarding Stephen's crusading reticence. I argue that he had greater motivation and opportunity to crusade than his predecessors but was ultimately dissuaded from doing so. However, I hold that the cause was not political strife in England but rather his deteriorating relations with the English church and especially Pope Eugenius III.
| 