Writing Battles: New Perspectives on Warfare and Memory in Medieval Europe

by Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (Editor), Rory Naismith (Editor), Elizabeth Ashman Rowe (Editor)

Overview

Battles have long featured prominently in historical consciousness, as moments when the balance of power was seen to have tipped, or when aspects of collective identity were shaped. But how have perspectives on warfare changed? How similar are present day ideologies of warfare to those of the medieval period?

Looking back over a thousand years of British, Irish and Scandinavian battles, this significant collection of essays examines how different times and cultures have reacted to war, considering the changing roles of religion and technology in the experience and memorialisation of conflict. While fighting and killing have been deplored, glorified and everything in between across the ages, Writing Battles reminds us of the visceral impact left on those who come after.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350253162
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/2021
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

Rory Naismith is Lecturer in Medieval British History at King's College London, UK. He is the author of Citadel of the Saxons (I.B. Tauris, 2018).

Máire Ní Mhaonaigh is Professor in Celtic and Medieval Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Elizabeth Ashman Rowe is Reader in Scandinavian History at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Prologue, Brendan Simms (University of Cambridge, UK)
1. Introduction, Máire NÍ Mhaonaigh (University of Cambridge, UK), Rory Naismith (King's College London, UK) and Elizabeth Ashman Rowe (University of Cambridge, UK)
2. Battle Names in the Middle Ages, Robert Bartlett (University of St Andrews, UK)
3. Battle-writing and Commemoration: the Transition from Violence to Peace, Jenny Benham (Cardiff University, UK)
4. 'Undying Glory by the Sword's Edge': Writing and Remembering Battle in Anglo-Saxon England, Matthew Strickland (University of Glasgow, UK)
5. Fortress London: War and Peace in an Anglo-Saxon City, Rory Naismith (King's College London, UK)
6. 'Trembling Sods'?: Rhetoric and Reality in Battle-Narratives from Medieval Ireland and Britain, Máire NÍ Mhaonaigh (University of Cambridge, UK)
7. 'Sword-Age, Axe-Age': Writing Battles in Viking Age and Medieval Scandinavia, Elizabeth Ashman Rowe (University of Cambridge, UK)
8. Which 'Pagans'? The Influence of the Crusades on battle-Narratives in Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia, Natalia Petrovskaia (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
9. The Battle of Bannockburban 1314, Tony Pollard (University of Glasgow, UK)
10. A Troubled Memory: Battles of the First World War, Robert Tombs (University of Cambridge, UK)
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"This imaginative collection of essays reappraises the place of medieval battles in British, Irish and Scandinavian historical and literary traditions. It will be sure to find a place on the reading lists of students and scholars in Medieval Studies and War Studies alike." --Julia Smith, Chichele Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford, UK

"This wide-ranging volume of essays is an outstanding contribution to the cultural, political, and social military history of the Middle Ages. Although the focus is on how medieval battles were understood and commemorated as key cultural and political markers in the British Isles and Scandinavia, the essays range much further, demonstrating how warfare was critical in the making of London, the complex relationship between war and peace, and the continuities and discontinuities between medieval and modern understanding of the meaning of battle. Those who dismiss military history as mere battlefield narratives will find this volume a revelation." --Richard Abels, Professor Emeritus of History, United States Naval Academy, USA

"The volume's concentration on the memory of medieval warfare in Northern Europe makes it essential reading for all scholars of European conflict in time and place. It also poses wider questions about the relations of past and present that will interest all students of conflict commemoration and memory." --Michigan War Studies Review

From the Publisher