- MA King's College, London
PhD University of Exeter
Fellow of Royal Historical Society
Lecturing: Plymouth University at Strode College, Somerset; Associate Lecturer Open Universityedit
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The eight-hundredth anniversary celebrations of Magna Carta in 2015 attracted huge global interest. As expected, there was a proliferation of books and articles published not only on the “Great Charter” itself but, even more so, on the... more
The eight-hundredth anniversary celebrations of Magna Carta in 2015 attracted huge global interest. As expected, there was a proliferation of books and articles published not only on the “Great Charter” itself but, even more so, on the reign of King John (1199–1216), the monarch who conceded the charter’s terms at Runnymede in June 1215. The Charter, though it is to be largely understood as a product of John’s inept rule, is a much drier and more prosaic topic than the colorful king himself; as a consequence, a close study of its long life (John’s most enduring, if inadvertent, legacy) more readily falls into the hands of legal historians. In The Reinvention of Magna Carta 1216–1616, John Baker, who taught law at the University of Cambridge for forty years until 2011 (specializing in late medieval and early modern legal history), offers the reader a valuable and insightful exposition of the Charter’s influence on the development of English public law to the early seventeenth century, by which point its fading political influence began to resurface. Baker argues that just a century after the Charter’s birth its legal significance had been drastically reduced before its tentative resurgence in the 1580s (Baker reminds us that Shakespeare’s King John from the 1590s makes no reference to Magna Carta). Before this time, he observes the almost total absence of the Charter in cases that covered constitutional issues. Indeed, he is probably right to assert that, but for this resurgence, the charter would likely be of little interest to any but medieval specialists. Baker examines the origins of the Charter in statute and common law. He notes that the original of 1215 (then called the Articles of the Barons) was a peace treaty. This is crucial to our understanding of it, although, as with many medievalists (surprisingly), too little is made of the actual circumstances of the looming French invasion of England, which occurred soon afterwards and led to occupation of England for by French forces eighteen months, until September 1217. This invasion provided the overwhelming and urgent Journal of British Studies 58 (October 2019): 805–844. © The North American Conference on British Studies, 2019
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Research Interests: History and Royal Studies
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Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, was the eldest son of Edward III, the famous warrior king of England. Earl of Chester, duke of Cornwall, prince of Wales, and prince of Aquitaine, Edward inherited all his father's martial... more
Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince, was the eldest son of Edward III, the famous warrior king of England. Earl of Chester, duke of Cornwall, prince of Wales, and prince of Aquitaine, Edward inherited all his father's martial abilities and more, but never inherited the greatest title of all, dying a year before the old king. Acknowledged by contemporaries as an outstanding soldier and a paragon of chivalrous virtue, he was arguably the foremost general in the first part of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the most successful, earning his renowned reputation on the field of battle, with famous victories at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Najera (1367), but also through his infamous chevauchees (ravaging expeditions) such as in 1355–1356, and his sheer ruthlessness, as displayed at Limoges in 1370. Keywords: fourteenth century; military history; war
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Ivy A. CORFIS & Michael WOLFE, eds, The Medieval City Under Siege, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, 1995, 292 p.John FRANCE, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade, Cambridge... more
Ivy A. CORFIS & Michael WOLFE, eds, The Medieval City Under Siege, Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, 1995, 292 p.John FRANCE, Victory in the East: A Military History of the First Crusade, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, xv + 425 p.Philip A. HAIGH, The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses, Alan Sutton, Gloucester, 1995, 206 p.Ann HYLAND, The Medieval
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owing labour services would have done. A considerable part of the book is devoted to the methods used in turning the grain into bread and ale. The bakery and brewhouse on the premises were controlled by three obedientiaries, namely the... more
owing labour services would have done. A considerable part of the book is devoted to the methods used in turning the grain into bread and ale. The bakery and brewhouse on the premises were controlled by three obedientiaries, namely the master of the cellar, the cellarer and the sacrist. The bakery produced three different types of bread: the so-called ‘knights’ bread’ and ‘monks’ bread’, and a lightweight bread for famuli (servants). About 29,000 loaves were produced annually. When we turn to consumption, each monk was given enough for 2,600 kcal but it is unlikely that he would have consumed it all; probably half was given away to servants and paupers. In addition to the considerable amount distributed to the needy by the almoner, special arrangements were made to feed the local anchorites and hermits as well as the prisoners in the city’s gaols, who otherwise would have starved. Ale was made principally of barley. It is odd that hops are not mentioned despite their introduction into the area (Brears 2008, 104). Two kinds of ale were made, the so-called cervisia bona (monastic ale of a superior quality) and cervisia aule/seconda. The good stuff went to the monks, aristocratic guests and master masons, the secondary to workers of inferior status. Both were made of barley malt. A gallon a day was the gargantuan allowance but it was probably not all consumed and anyway is likely to have been considerably weaker than modern beer, with an alcoholic strength of about 2 per cent. As regards the charge of overeating, it has to be said that the brethren had fasting periods – they were forbidden to eat meat during Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, and during ‘long Lent’, seven weeks before Easter. They were also required to ‘fast’ three days a week (ie, to live on fish and cereals). The result, nevertheless, of the consumption of such excessive amounts by men leading passive and contemplative lives was to cause obesity and lethal symptoms associated with adiposity. This would have led to a high mortality rate as noted by Barbara Harvey in her study of Westminster Abbey (Harvey 1993). Slavin has, by meticulous study of the documentary sources, shown that they can be made to yield an impressive stock of statistics on which to base a credible account of the provisioning of a major religious institution in the late Middle Ages.
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... ISBN 1 84383 120 1. Sean McGlynn. University of Bath. ... makes its admirably clear, pace Lemarignier and Musset, that Normandy's borders were not readily demarcated by convenient geographical features and markings imposed upon... more
... ISBN 1 84383 120 1. Sean McGlynn. University of Bath. ... makes its admirably clear, pace Lemarignier and Musset, that Normandy's borders were not readily demarcated by convenient geographical features and markings imposed upon the landscape; charters of confirmation ...
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A vivid and original account of warfare in the Middle Ages and the cruelty and atrocity that accompanied it. Sean McGlynn investigates the reality of medieval warfare. For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts... more
A vivid and original account of warfare in the Middle Ages and the cruelty and atrocity that accompanied it. Sean McGlynn investigates the reality of medieval warfare. For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts which we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste, civilians slaughtered, prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and practical military necessity. It was unbelievably barbaric, but seldom uncontrolled. Such acts of atrocity were calculated, hideous cruelties inflicted in order to achieve a specific end. Sean McGlynn examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt, sieges like Beziers, Lincoln, Jerusalem and Limoges as well as the infamous chevauchees of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. He reveals how these grisly affairs form the origin of accepted 'rules of war', codes of conduct that are today being enforced in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
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Research Interests: History, Ancient History, Classics, Crusades, Medieval Islam, and 15 moreHistory of the Mongol Empire, Byzantium, Crusades and the Latin East, Crusader States, Medieval Warfare, History of the Crusades, First Crusade, Military Orders, Middle Ages, Third Crusade, Honour, CRUSADER KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM, Historical Studies, African medieval history, and Medieval Siege Warfare
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Review of The Field of Cloth of Gold. By Glenn Richardson. Yale University. 2014. 275 pp. £35.
Research Interests: History and Royal Studies
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General Editor's Preface Matthew Bennett Warren Hollister: An Appreciation Robin Fleming Preface Richard E. Barton 1 From Alfred to Harold II: The Military Failure of the Late Anglo-Saxon State Richard Abels 2 William Rufus' Plan... more
General Editor's Preface Matthew Bennett Warren Hollister: An Appreciation Robin Fleming Preface Richard E. Barton 1 From Alfred to Harold II: The Military Failure of the Late Anglo-Saxon State Richard Abels 2 William Rufus' Plan for the Invasion of Aquitaine Bernard S. Bachrach 3 Harold Godwinson in Wales: Military Legitimacy in Late Anglo-Saxon England Kelly DeVries 4 The Normans and Crusading John France 5 Aimoin's Miracula Sancti Germani and the Viking Raids on St. Denis and St. Germain-des-Pres C.M. Gillmor 6 "Ad tutandos patriae fines": The Defense of Normandy, 1135 Robert Helmerichs 7 Expedicio in Denmark Niels Lund 8 Milites, Knights and Samurai: Military Terminology, Comparative History, and the Problem of Translation Stephen Morillo 9 The Garrisoning of English Medieval Castles Michael Prestwich 10 The Persistence of Castle-Guard in the Welsh Marches and Wales: Suggestions for a Research Agenda and Methodology Frederick Suppe Index Tabula Gratulatoria
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... Dividing the reign of Henry III into a series of chronological phases along traditional lines, in each section Weiler first traces the fate of the empire and of Plantagenet diplomatic initiatives, for the most part focused upon... more
... Dividing the reign of Henry III into a series of chronological phases along traditional lines, in each section Weiler first traces the fate of the empire and of Plantagenet diplomatic initiatives, for the most part focused upon France, before combining these strands into a survey of ...
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Medieval Warfare 1000–1300/Medieval Warfare 1300–1450/Fourteenth-Century England VI/Essays on Medieval Military History: Strategy, Military Revolutions and the Hundred Years War/Bloodied Banners: Martial Display on the Medieval Battlefield/Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon...more