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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 1220: Keeping and Breaking the Unwritten Rules of Kingship in Late Medieval England

Wednesday 11 July 2012, 14.15-15.45

Organiser:Andrew M. Spencer, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:Andrew M. Spencer, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge
Paper 1220-aThe Good Parliament and Its Aftermath
(Language: English)
Claire Fetherstonhaugh, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Administration, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1220-bBreaking the Rules of Kingship?: Richard II and the Mortimer Inheritance, 1382-4
(Language: English)
Mark King, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Index terms: Administration, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract

There were few official written rules for kingship in late medieval England, though plenty of writers sought to give advice to kings. Mostly, however, kings and political society worked on a series of unwritten rules about how a king should and should not behave. This session will look at how three kings in the 13th and 14th centuries kept and broke those unwritten rules and the consequences for them.