IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1520: Arms, Armour, and the Arts of Combat, III: Swords and Swordplay

Thursday 8 July 2021, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:	Karen Watts, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds / Musée du Louvre, Paris
Moderator/Chair:	Karen Watts, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds / Musée du Louvre, Paris
Paper 1520-a	It's Only a Sword: Challenging the Mysticism of High Medieval Swords (Language: English) Robert W. Jones, Advanced Studies in England, Franklin & Marshall College, Pennsylvania Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Literacy and Orality, Military History
Paper 1520-b	Tinker, Tailor, Fishmonger, Fencing Master: The Instruction of Arms in 15th-Century London (Language: English) Jacob H. Deacon, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds Index terms: Military History, Social History
Paper 1520-c	The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth? (Language: English) Robert Murray Runacres, Department of History, University of Winchester Index terms: Archives and Sources, Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Language and Literature - Italian, Military History
Abstract	The papers in this session are concerned with the mythologies of swords and the practices and practitioners of late medieval martial arts. Rob Jones will reconsider the significance of mythical swords in the high Middle Ages, challenging the modern perception of them as magical weapons of spiritual power. Jacob Deacon will explore the careers of 15th-century masters of arms who were employed to prepare combatants for trial by combat. Rob Runacres will discuss the modern interpretation that Bologna produced a distinctive regional martial tradition, based on the existence of similar fight books.