Anglo-Norman Studies XLV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2022(Anglo-Norman Studies)

About the Book

"A series which is a model of its kind": Edmund King This year's volume is made up of articles that were presented at the conference in Bonn, held under the auspices of the University. In this volume, Alheydis Plassmann, the Allen Brown Memorial lecturer, analyses how two contemporary commentators reported the events of their day, the contest between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror as they struggled for supremacy in England and Normandy during the 1140s. The Marjorie Chibnall Essay prize winner, Laura Bailey, examines the geographical spaces occupied by the exile in The Gesta Herewardi and Fouke le Fitz Waryn. Andrea Stieldorf compares the seals and the coins of Germany/Lotharingia in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries with those made in England, exploring the ideas embedded in the iconography of the two connected visual sources. Domesday Book forms the focus of two important new studies, one by Rory Naismith looking at the moneyers to be found in Domesday, adding substantially to the information gained on this important group of artisans, and one by Chelsea Shields-Mas on the sheriffs of Edward the Confessor, giving us new insights into the key officials in the royal administration. Elisabeth van Houts examines the life of Empress Matilda before she returned to her father's court in 1125 throwing new light on Matilda's "German" years, while Laura Wangerin looks at how tenth-century Ottonian women used communication to further their political goals. Steven Vanderputten takes the challenge of thinking about religious change at the turn of the Millennium through the lens of the Life of John, Abbot of Gorze Abbey, by John of Saint-Arnoul. Benjamin Pohl looks at the role of the abbot in prompting monk-historians to embark on their historiographical tasks through the work of one individual chronicler, Andreas of Marchiennes, responsible for writing, at his abbot's behest, the Chronicon Marchianense. And Megan Welton explores the implications of honorific titles through an examination of the title dux as it was attached to two tenth-century women rulers. The volume offers a wide range of insightful essays which add considerably to our understanding of the central middle ages.

Table of Contents:
William of Malmesbury, the Gesta Stephani, and the Idea of Successful and Good Rule in the Twelfth Century (The Allen Brown Memorial Lecture) Alheydis Plassmann The Spaces of Exile in the Gesta Herewardi and Fouke le fitz Waryn (The Marjorie Chibnall Essay Prize, 2022) Laura Bailey Empty Honorifics: Elites, Titles, and the Economy of Esteem in the Tenth Century (The Des Seal Memorial Lecture) Megan Welton The Sheriffs of Edward the Confessor Chelsea Shields-Más Seals, Coins, and the Exchange of Imagination and Images Andrea Stieldorf Matilda in the Empire, 1110-1125 Elisabeth van Houts Communications and Power: Ottonian Women Laura Wangerin A Reluctant Historian and his Craft: The Scribal Work of Andreas of Marchiennes Reconsidered Benjamin Pohl Community Building as a Vector of Social and Religious Change in the Life of John of Gorze (973/74-984) Steven Vanderputten The Moneyers and Domesday Book (The Christine Mahany Memorial Lecture) Rory Naismith

About the Author :
S.D. Church is Professor in Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. Elisabeth van Houts is Honorary Professor of European Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Emmanuel College.