https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5739-2354
-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
SEAN McGLYNN, Writing Battles: New Perspectives on Warfare and Memory in Medieval EuropeMedieval Women and War: Female Roles in the Old French Tradition, The English Historical Review, Volume 137, Issue 589, December 2022, Pages 1803–1806, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceac226
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Over the last half-century or so, our scholarly understanding of medieval warfare has been transformed. This has especially been so in the treatment of battles: no longer are they considered as the key focus of conflict in the Middle Ages: instead, scholars now see the importance of ravaging and sieges, and have turned beyond the set-piece dramas of hand-to-hand combat, all too often seen previously through the prism of chivalry and mounted warriors, with infantry and logistical aspects frequently neglected, especially before the later Middle Ages. Of course, it is exactly this drama of battle with the great and the good portrayed in their heroic roles as milites that attracted the attention of medieval writers (often prompted by their patrons) and held the attention of succeeding scribes for generations and centuries to come. Nothing beats a good battle. Kingdoms could be gained or lost in hours, while whole identities of peoples and nations could be forged forever. Wider perspectives are included in the Writing Battles: Perspectives on Warfare and Memory in Medieval Europe, in which the editors (Rory Naismith, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and Elizabeth Ashman Rowe) have collected an impressive range of leading authorities to analyse how medieval battles have resonated in literature and how they are remembered.
