IMC 2016: Sessions

This round table discussion will reflect on how the role of the Normans in English, British, and European history should be approached and analysed in 2016, with the participants deliberately chosen to bring multiple perspectives to bear on the subject. The starting-point will be a tribute to the University of Leeds and the contribution of David Douglas (1898-1982), Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds (1939-1945), and the mastermind behind the University’s Brotherton Library’s acquisition of its magnificent collection of French cartularies. The time in Leeds was the great formative period for Douglas's work on Normandy and the Normans. His William the Conqueror, which is still in print in the Yale University Press English Monarchs series, was published a little in advance of the novocentenary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966. Leeds was of course also John Le Patourel’s university. With their commitment to analysing the history of the Normans in a wide-ranging pan-European context being something that we should celebrate, and remaining of absolutely central importance to the subject, the members of the round table will reflect from their own perspectives on what has changed since 1966 and, since many stereotypes do still abound in popular perceptions, on what has not changed. This, along with the round table discussion organised by Catherine Clarke, will set out to define agendas for the future. Hence, we will go from 1066 to 1966 to 2016, and beyond.

Participants will include Sarah Foot (University of Oxford), Mark Hagger (Bangor University), Susan Johns (Bangor University), Andrew T. Jotischky (Lancaster University), Graham Loud (University of Leeds), and Keith J. Stringer (Lancaster University).