sources: various

That's the bibliography of this article from Wired, on "first canon fired in battle, maybe." Darn. I wish I could get away with that sometimes. It would come in really handy for those cases when I lose a footnote in the shuffling of drafts...

As for the factual stuff, there is actually little indication that the "canon" made much of a difference to the Genoese. At least from what I've seen. Read Ayton's edited volume on Crecy, or the archery articles in Villalon and Kagay's new volume on the Hundred Years War.

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/08/0826crecy_cannon/

Yet another stupid reference to the Middle Ages

As in, "your article was plenty informative, why did you have to say THAT?" stupid. He doesn't even make an attempt to link his pejorative use of the word "medieval" to anything, except to assume readers will connect donkeys and illiteracy with some dark, mysterious passage in Western history. Put down your copy of Manchester's A World Lit Only by Fire, and pick up something like Hollister and Bennett, for crying out loud....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

Crusades in the news.

Some interesting articles here on the crusades, pro and con as it were.


Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6572753.html

The Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-8274-San-Diego-Christian-Examiner~y2009m8d21-Stop-blaming-Christians-part-one-the-Crusades

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos-world-from-the-crusaders-on-contempt-for-the-arabs-is-written-in-stone-1775845.html

Debates over the nature of the crusades are some of the most mentally tiring of activities--with the possible exception of listening to crusades scholars debate the origins of the events themselves (cue an excellent and entertaining session on the first day of this past Zoo congress). The problem, as I see it, is two-fold. Firstly, the outrageous claims of those "not down with" the crusades are, by and large, wrong. The crusaders were not "monsters", incapable of "normal" humanity, and so on. Massacre and brutal warfare was practiced by both sides, and was not a Christian monopoly. Attitudes towards Islam were far more complex than the outraged group portrays as well. Most of the fallacious claims have been exploded by excellent scholarship in the last couple decades. HOWEVER, secondly there is one major problem with the scholarship dedicated to correcting these mistakes, and that is the tendency to emphasize, for reasons unknown to me (but probably having something to do with current politics), the portrayal of the crusades as a series of "defensive" wars. To our own age, this conjures an image of counter-attacking an invading force, or parallels to that scenario. The crusades, in my opinion, were categorically NOT a defensive war, in that sense. To medieval minds, the right of controlling the holy places of one's faith, as well as foreign powers' oppressive behavior towards co-religionists, were sufficient conditions for a just war which they might define as "defensive"; but they were waged offensively, towards lands not currently (or even recently) under Christian control. Certainly recovery of lands formerly part of Christendom was a rationale, but it was hardly the only or, I would dare argue, the deciding one. And further, "Christendom" (as in the western part of Europe) was not under any sort of overt threat by 1095; after the Barbastro expedition and the Mahdia campaign, the "strategic" situation in the western and central Mediterranean was at least one of parity, threatening though Muslim military presence might have been at times. The view of "Christendom under threat" also assumes a closer Western affinity with Byzantium than I think can be proved from the sources. So, there are definite weaknesses in the "sympathetic" approach, which need to be borne in mind when reading Stark's and Madden's work. On the other hand, Fisk's reference to "crusader grafitti" is vague, general, and hardly unique to Majorcan Christians. Offensive English grafitti existed concerning the French in the Hundred Years War...

Well, what's life without some argument and discussion?

Of gunpowder, clay pots, and chaos

These links courtesy of Kelly DeVries, who, along with Steve Walton and others, had waaaaay too much fun in Denmark this summer. Whacha gonna do, I say...Anyone who likes things that go flash-bang, or bang-flash, or BOOM...you get the picture. Check out this footage of experiments with late medieval incendiary weapons:

HO Seminar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuWslUzW2P8


Medieval Warbooks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTm8Lwn2exQ

IMC, Leeds 2010 Call for Papers

Just got this the other day, for those of you who fancy a flight across the pond, as they say:

International Medieval Congress 2010: 12-15 July 2010
Paper proposals must be submitted by 31 August 2009, session and roundtable proposals by 30 September 2009.
Plans for next year's Congress are well underway. As in previous years, papers and sessions on all aspects of the study of the European Middle Ages are most welcome, in any major European language.
One of the focuses for 2010 will be the special thematic strand on 'Travel and Exploration'. IMC 2010 commemorates the 550th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry 'the Navigator' by making 'Travel and Exploration' a special thematic focus. The voyages undertaken in the name of Henry exemplify many of the motives that had long driven people to travel and explore: the prospect of wealth, trade, and territory, knowledge and curiosity, piety and religious zeal, legends and external salvation.

The IMC seeks to provide a forum for debates on the motives, processes, and effects of travel and exploration, not only by Latin Christians in the so-called 'Age of Discovery', but across cultures, and throughout the medieval period and beyond. The full call for papers is available on our website at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2010_call.html

The IMC Core Strands are:
. Anglo-Saxon Studies
. Archaeology
. Art and Architecture
. Byzantine Studies
. Celtic Studies
. Central and Eastern European Studies
. Church History and Canon Law
. Crusades and Latin East
. Culture and Society
. Daily Life
. Drama
. Gender Studies/Women's Studies
. Geography and Settlement Studies
. Government and Institutions
. Hagiography and Religious Writing
. Historiography (Medieval and Modern)
. Jewish Studies
. Language and Literature - Comparative
. Language and Literature - Germanic
. Language and Literature - Middle English
. Language and Literature - Romance Vernacular
. Late Antique and Early Medieval Studies
. Latin Writing
. Literacy and Communication
. Material Culture
. Medievalism and Reception of the Middle Ages
. Mediterranean and Islamic Studies
. Monasticism and Religious Life
. Music and Liturgy
. Philosophy and Political Thought
. Scandinavian Studies
. Science, Technology and Military History
. Social and Economic History
. Sources and Resources
. Theology and Bible Studies

We prefer proposals to be completed online - a quick, easy, and secure method. To submit a proposal, go to http://imc.leeds.ac.uk/imcapp/
Remember to order your equipment for 2010 on your proposal form! Check http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/equipment.html for more details.

Future IMC Dates
. IMC 2010 Paper Proposals Deadline: 31 August 2009
. IMC 2010 Session Proposals Deadline: 30 September 2008
. IMC 2010: Special Thematic Strand: 'Travel and Exploration', 12-15 July 2010
. IMC 2011: Special Thematic Strand: 'Poor-Rich', 11-14 July 2011
. IMC 2012: 9-12 July 2012
. IMC 2013: 8-11 July 2013
. IMC 2014: 7-10 July 2014

Society for Military History Conference

Certainly worth considering, if you are "one of those military historians"!!! You know who "those" people are!!! Anyway, the details:

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Society for Military History is pleased to announce a call for papers for its 77th Annual Meeting, hosted jointly by the Virginia Military Institute and the George C. Marshall Foundation at Lexington, VA on May 20-22, 2010. The conference theme is "Causes Lost and Won," and will provide an opportunity for a wide examination of military institutions and practices - including the causes, conduct, resolution, and consequences of past wars. While the theme of the conference will provide a basic guide to determining the final program, the program committee will gladly consider proposals on other facets and perspectives of military history.

Panel proposals must include a panel title, contact information for all panelists, a brief description of the purpose and theme of the panel, one-paragraph abstracts of each of the three papers, a brief curriculum vitae for all panelists, including commentator and panel chair. Proposals for individual papers are welcome and should include a brief abstract, abbreviated curriculum vitae, and contact information. All panelists must be Society for Military History members. The deadline for proposals is October 1, 2009. Proposals may be submitted electronically to the conference coordinator, Dr. Timothy C. Dowling (DowlingTC@vmi.edu) or by regular mail to Dr. Timothy C. Dowling, Department of History, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 24450. The program committee will acknowledge receipt of your proposal within two weeks of its submission. If you fail to receive such notice, please contact the conference coordinator.

The meeting will be held on the Post of the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, with the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics and the George C. Marshall Library serving as principle venues. Lexington is conveniently located at the juncture of Interstate Highways 81 and 64 and is easily accessible via Roanoke Regional Airport. The City of Lexington offers excellent local restaurants and shopping and a broad choice of hotels with comfortable accommodations.

For more details, please contact Dr. Tim Dowling at DowlingTC@vmi.edu or (540) 464-7472.

Kalamazoo Sessions seeking papers...

So, we're getting to that time of year again, when proposals are due for the big medieval congresses next year...This also means the semester is beginning soon, too. There are several sessions for the 'Zoo next year seeking paper proposals (including my own). More will probably follow:

1. SEEKING PANEL PARTICIPANTS
Dana Cushing is looking for papers for a session about "Maritime History of the Early Crusades (before 1204)" to be presented at the next Kalamazoo conference (May 13-16, 2010).

This is an emerging field, so he would like especially to encourage graduate students and non-medievalists (such as art historians, archaeologists, professional seamen, etc.) to participate.

Please send a one-page Abstract before 25 September 2009 to:
Dana Cushing
PO Box 187
Grand Island, NY 14072
dana@antimony.biz

The conference website: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/index.html

2. (from Anne Romine) Seigneurie, a group for the study of lordship, the nobility, and chivalry, invites paper proposals for a session at the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, MI, May 13-16, 2010.

The Contestation of Chivalry

The scholarship of recent years makes it ever more clear that the values of chivalry were under constant tension, as clerics, kings, and knights themselves worked to revive, reform, or otherwise influence them. Bernard of Clairvaux held up the newly founded Order of the Temple as a model, calling knights to greater efforts in the service of the church and the Holy Land. Edward III of England, founding the Order of the Garter in 1348, sought to reinforce the links between chivalric prowess and loyalty to the crown. Ramon Llull’s Book of the Order of Chivalry urges self-policing within the knightly ranks, so that robber and traitor knights should not be permitted to tarnish the praiseworthy name of knighthood. In 1394, Philippe de Mézières predicted darkly that the upcoming crusade to Hungary (which would end in disaster at the battle of Nicopolis) could not succeed unless the knights involved were to repent and reform their lives. As scholars continue to debate just how meaningful chivalry was in practice, we must take into account the many examples of contemporaries who attempted, by invoking chivalric ideals, to influence the priorities and the behavior of knights. Papers might explore such topics as:

· Ecclesiastical and literary critiques of chivalry, the knightly class, or specific activities like tournaments

· Disputes with the nobility itself as to what constituted proper chivalric behavior

· The relative importance placed by writers of chivalric manuals on different elements of the concept

· Institutions, like orders of knighthood, which attempted to promote specific interpretations of correct chivalric behavior

Please submit one-page abstracts for a 20-minute paper and contact information (name, email, and affiliation) to Anne Romine of St. Louis University via email (aromine@slu.edu) before September 15, 2009.

For more information about Seigneurie, or for correspondence by post rather than electronic mail, please contact Donald Fleming, History Department, Hiram College, Hiram OH 44234 (Flemingdf@Hiram.edu).

3. SEEKING PAPER PROPOSALS
Daniel Franke, University of Rochester, is seeking paper proposals for a session entitled "Warfare in Staufen Germany: New Directions and Perspectives," which he is organizing for the next Kalamazoo conference (May 13-16, 2010). The term "Staufen Germany" is broadly construed to include all aspects of warfare in the German imperium from roughly 1120 to 1300. Medieval German warfare has slowly been receiving increased attention in the last decade, and this session seeks to highlight advances and new contributions to this under-appreciated topic; thus it welcomes proposals on diverse topics from a variety of fields, such as military, technology, or art history.

Interested participants should send 1-page paper proposals, with the Congress cover letter, no later than September 15 to the following paper or email address:

Daniel Franke
Department of History
364 Rush Rhees Library
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627
Fax: 585-756-4425
danielfranke79@gmail.com

Congress paper submissions page: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html

Robin Hood film; interview with Crowe

This is actually a rather thoughtful interview, all things considered. Some of my English Department friends take rather a more jaundiced view of it, but that's typical. My own hope is that the film amounts to something more than Kingdom of Heaven transferred to England (of course, I also don't share the same loathing of that film that many of my crusades historian friends do!). Anyway, let the man speak for himself...

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi682623513/