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IMC 2025: Sessions

Session 732: Arms, Armour, and the Arts of Combat, III: Spirituality and Combat

Tuesday 8 July 2025, 14:15-15:45

Organisers:Jacob H. Deacon, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Karen Watts, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Moderator/Chair:Jacob H. Deacon, Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Paper 732-aDo Arms Die as Well?: Weapons and Their Funerary Representations in Late Medieval Portugal
(Language: English)
António Oliveira, Centro de História da Sociedade e da Cultura, Universidade de Coimbra
Index terms: Art History - Sculpture, Military History
Paper 732-bPhysical Fitness and Divine Favour in Medieval Kerala's Warrior Culture
(Language: English)
Uthara Krishnakumar, School of Liberal Studies, UPES, Dehradun
Index terms: Local History, Medicine, Social History
Paper 732-cThe Arming Scene as Ritual in Medieval Poetry
(Language: English)
Paul McFadyen, Independent Scholar
Index terms: Anthropology, Language and Literature - Comparative, Liturgy
Abstract

This panel highlights the importance of iconography in the study of arms, armour and armed combat.

Kelly de Vries analyses the importance and significance of the depiction of soldiers in two 12th-century Italo-Norman cloisters in Benevento and in Monreale.

António Oliveira considers Portuguese ex voto arms and armour as well as their representation on funerary monuments and memorials. He analyses the relationship between the arms and armour depicted on the monuments and the deceased person’s military or professional career. His paper defines two types of characteristic depiction of arms and armour – one showing sword and shield; and the other showing sword, shield, and lance.