Paper -a:
Philip II 'Augustus' is frequently presented as an outlier in a tradition of crusading Capetian kings, more concerned with the expansion of political authority and territory at the expense of his rivals than in religious war. My paper argues that the crusading movement was a significant contributor to the socio-political landscape of Capetian France, and challenges the traditional view of Philip's involvement in the Crusades, arguing that his consistent support and participation proved crucial to the legitimation and expansion of Capetian political authority. It asserts the transregional impact of crusading in defining a new vernacular discourse of sovereignty used to define the limits of an idealised sacral community under the rule of the Capetian kings and the importance of crusading to the ideology of sacral Capetian kingship.
Paper -b:
The murder of any political figure who holds high office is always a highly controversial event. This was indeed the case when the seneschal of the kingdom of Jerusalem, Miles de Plancy was murdered in October 1174. However, the circumstances and motives that lay behind the deed are clouded by the account of the chronicler William of Tyre, who harboured his own resentment towards Miles. This paper will investigate the political circumstances that existed at the time of the murder and how the timing of the murder itself may reveal the primary motive and suspect.
Paper -c:
In the half of the 11th century, count Baldwin V of Flanders annexed the Land of Aalst which became known as the Imperial Flanders. This paper aims at presenting the complex geographical and political conditions, characteristics of the local nobility, as well as its social networks and relations with the county of Flanders. The final conclusions will show how these aspects impacted the crusading activity of the nobles from the Land of Aalst, and how this activity might be related with their political agenda. Qualitative-quantitative analysis will be done mainly on the basis of charter evidence gathered with the Diplomata Belgica database.
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