Stephen Spencer
Northeastern University, History, Faculty Member
- Crusades, Crusader States, History Of Emotions, The Monstrous and Otherness, Islam and the West, Islam & the West, and 10 moreCrusades and the Latin East, History of Crusades, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Affect/Emotion, Medieval Literature, Medieval Latin Literature, Medieval French Literature, and Medieval Chroniclesedit
- I am an Assistant Professor in Medieval History at Northeastern University London, where I teach courses on the crusa... moreI am an Assistant Professor in Medieval History at Northeastern University London, where I teach courses on the crusades, the religious and political history of the Middle Ages, and Britain's relationship with the wider world from Antiquity to the twenty-first century. Prior to this, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (2019–23) at King's College London – the main outcome of which is a forthcoming monograph with Oxford University Press on the memorialisation of the Third Crusade – and a Past & Present Fellow (2017–19) at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. My first book, Emotions in a Crusading Context, 1095–1291, appeared with Oxford University Press in 2019. I completed my PhD at Queen Mary University of London in 2015, after which I was Postdoctoral Research Assistant on a collaborative project between QMUL and The National Archives, entitled '1217: The Making of Medieval England'.edit
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Research Interests:
Research Interests: Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Manuscript Studies, Memory Studies, History of Crusades, and 11 moreAnglo-Norman literature and culture, Crusades and the Latin East, Frederick I Barbarossa, Latin historiography, Anglo-Norman history, Third Crusade, Saladin, Anglo Norman and Angevin England, Memory in Medieval Culture, Philip II Augustus, and Richard I The Lionheart
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Research Interests: Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Anger, Medieval French Literature, Medieval Studies, and 15 moreCrusades, Fear, Medieval Latin Literature, History Of Emotions, Chansons De Geste, History of Crusades, Crusades and the Latin East, Power and jurisdiction in Medieval history, Anger Management, Medieval Chronicles, Medieval Devotional Culture, Medieval Preaching, Troubadour and Trouvère Song, Medieval Women and Gender, and History of Tears
Emotions in a Crusading Context is the first book-length study of the emotional rhetoric of crusading. It investigates the ways in which a number of emotions and affective displays — primarily fear, anger, and weeping — were understood,... more
Emotions in a Crusading Context is the first book-length study of the emotional rhetoric of crusading. It investigates the ways in which a number of emotions and affective displays — primarily fear, anger, and weeping — were understood, represented, and utilized in twelfth- and thirteenth-century western narratives of the crusades, making use of a broad range of comparative material to gauge the distinctiveness of those texts: crusader letters, papal encyclicals, model sermons, chansons de geste, lyrics, and an array of theological and philosophical treatises. In addition to charting continuities and changes over time in the emotional landscape of crusading, this study identifies the underlying influences which shaped how medieval authors represented and used emotions; analyzes the passions crusade participants were expected to embrace and reject; and assesses whether the idea of crusading created a profoundly new set of attitudes towards emotions.
Emotions in a Crusading Context calls on scholars of the crusades to reject the traditional methodological approach of taking the emotional descriptions embedded within historical narratives as straightforward reflections of protagonists' lived feelings, and in so doing challenges the long historiographical tradition of reconstructing participants' beliefs and experiences from these texts. Within the history of emotions, Stephen J. Spencer demonstrates that, despite the ongoing drive to develop new methodologies for studying the emotional standards of the past, typified by experiments in 'neurohistory', the social constructionist (or cultural-historical) approach still has much to offer the historian of medieval emotions.
Emotions in a Crusading Context calls on scholars of the crusades to reject the traditional methodological approach of taking the emotional descriptions embedded within historical narratives as straightforward reflections of protagonists' lived feelings, and in so doing challenges the long historiographical tradition of reconstructing participants' beliefs and experiences from these texts. Within the history of emotions, Stephen J. Spencer demonstrates that, despite the ongoing drive to develop new methodologies for studying the emotional standards of the past, typified by experiments in 'neurohistory', the social constructionist (or cultural-historical) approach still has much to offer the historian of medieval emotions.
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‘Albert of Aachen, the Gesta Francorum, and the Fall of Antioch: A Reflection on the Textual Independence of Albert’s Historia Ierosolimitana’, in Chronicle, Crusade, and the Latin East: Essays in Honour of Susan B. Edgington, ed. Andrew D. Buck and Thomas W. Smith (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), 71–87.more
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The Third Crusade (1187–1192) is renowned as a conflict between King Richard I of England and the Muslim Sultan Saladin—a reductionist perspective that reflects an enduring fascination with these protagonists both inside and outside... more
The Third Crusade (1187–1192) is renowned as a conflict between King Richard I of England and the Muslim Sultan Saladin—a reductionist perspective that reflects an enduring fascination with these protagonists both inside and outside academia. In fact, the expedition was significantly more diverse, with the German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and the king of France, Philip Augustus, leading major contingents to the East, while a number of smaller-scale expeditions also constituted part of the overall Third Crusade. This article surveys key developments in the enterprise's historiography—focusing primarily on the crusading careers of Richard, Frederick and Philip—and introduces the main sources. It suggests that hindsight has played a surprisingly prominent role in directing scholarly interpretations and that historiography has gradually diversified during the 20th and 21st centuries, moving away from the traditional Richard versus Saladin narrative to explore understudied individuals, events and themes.
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Special issue of The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture 5/2 (2019). This article explores the gendered presentation of the First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin East in Book 4 of William of Malmesbury’s... more
Special issue of The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture 5/2 (2019).
This article explores the gendered presentation of the First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin East in Book 4 of William of Malmesbury’s Gesta regum Anglorum. Building upon the seminal work of Kirsten Fenton, it argues that William’s preoccupation with masculinity, and specifically his intention of pitching the First Crusade as a model of male fortitude for future generations, had a far greater impact on his account of events in Outremer than has yet been acknowledged. The use of gendered language in Book 4 of the Gesta regum is considered first, before exploring two ways in which this concern for gender shaped William’s portrayal of events in the East: namely, the paucity of references to both deserters and instances of Latin fear. The article ends with a comparative case study, analysing how William approached his principal source for King Baldwin I of Jerusalem’s career to determine whether his omission of Latin fear was a deliberate narrative strategy. In so doing, this article seeks to advance our understanding of William’s account of the First Crusade and the early years of Latin settlement, which remains relatively understudied due to his lack of eyewitness credentials, and to contribute to the growing corpus of scholarship on the gendered presentation of crusading in historical narratives.
This article explores the gendered presentation of the First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin East in Book 4 of William of Malmesbury’s Gesta regum Anglorum. Building upon the seminal work of Kirsten Fenton, it argues that William’s preoccupation with masculinity, and specifically his intention of pitching the First Crusade as a model of male fortitude for future generations, had a far greater impact on his account of events in Outremer than has yet been acknowledged. The use of gendered language in Book 4 of the Gesta regum is considered first, before exploring two ways in which this concern for gender shaped William’s portrayal of events in the East: namely, the paucity of references to both deserters and instances of Latin fear. The article ends with a comparative case study, analysing how William approached his principal source for King Baldwin I of Jerusalem’s career to determine whether his omission of Latin fear was a deliberate narrative strategy. In so doing, this article seeks to advance our understanding of William’s account of the First Crusade and the early years of Latin settlement, which remains relatively understudied due to his lack of eyewitness credentials, and to contribute to the growing corpus of scholarship on the gendered presentation of crusading in historical narratives.
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Latin Literature, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Crusades, and 9 moreHistory Of Emotions, Memory Studies, Masculinities, Anglo-Norman literature and culture, Crusades and the Latin East, William of Malmesbury, Medieval Masculinities, CRUSADER KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM, and Medieval Women and Gender
This article seeks to shed light on the literary agenda of Odo of Deuil, author of the most detailed Latin account of the Levantine branch of the Second Crusade. It calls for scholars to reinstate Odo’s vilification of the Byzantines as a... more
This article seeks to shed light on the literary agenda of Odo of Deuil, author of the most detailed Latin account of the Levantine branch of the Second Crusade. It calls for scholars to reinstate Odo’s vilification of the Byzantines as a primary, rather than secondary, objective and proposes a new explanation for his stringent anti-Greek tone. It first extends our knowledge of Odo’s engagement with the historiographical tradition of the First Crusade, before drawing attention to a hitherto unappreciated layer in his vilification of the Byzantines: his use of emotional language.
Research Interests: Emotion, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Crusades, and 11 moreMedieval Latin Literature, History Of Emotions, Byzantine Studies, Memory Studies, Medieval France, Crusades and the Latin East, Emotions, First Crusade, Second Crusade, Memory in Medieval Culture, and Suger of Saint-Denis
This article draws attention to two unexplored witnesses to Ralph of Coggeshall’s Chronicon Anglicanum in London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 371, which are important evidence for the reception of the Chronicon in medieval England and its... more
This article draws attention to two unexplored witnesses to Ralph of Coggeshall’s Chronicon Anglicanum in London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 371, which are important evidence for the reception of the Chronicon in medieval England and its role in shaping monastic interpretations of Richard I’s reign, particularly his crusading career.
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Historians have almost universally characterised King Richard I of England, otherwise known as ‘the Lionheart’, as an intemperate hothead, whose anger was both uncontrollable and socially dysfunctional. This article seeks to test the... more
Historians have almost universally characterised King Richard I of England, otherwise known as ‘the Lionheart’, as an intemperate hothead, whose anger was both uncontrollable and socially dysfunctional. This article seeks to test the evidential foundations of this longstanding view, and to explain its genesis, by analysing descriptions of Richard I’s anger in the narratives of the Third Crusade—narratives which have been foundational in formulating such assessments. It does not argue that Richard was a meek or tranquil king, or even that he was always in control of his passions. Rather, it contends that there exists a disparity between how most medieval chroniclers perceived Richard’s wrath and the evaluations of modern historians. The main conclusion reached is that the nature of the source material, which was not only polarised between the king’s supporters and detractors but also witnessed the incorporation of legendary material from an early stage, curtails any attempt to reconstruct the ‘reality’ of Richard’s temperament. After mapping the evolution of attitudes towards anger in the Middle Ages and scrutinising the twelfth- and thirteenth-century narrative accounts of the Lionheart’s wrath, the article seeks to explain why scholars have persisted in casting Richard as an individual who was unusually susceptible to irrational fits of rage and, in so doing, calls for greater sensitivity to the role of memory in future studies of medieval emotions.
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This article explores the role and significance of emotions in the Historia Ierosolimitana attributed to Albert of Aachen, long recognised as one of the most detailed and colourful histories of the First Crusade and the early years of... more
This article explores the role and significance of emotions in the Historia Ierosolimitana attributed to Albert of Aachen, long recognised as one of the most detailed and colourful histories of the First Crusade and the early years of Latin settlement in the East. Rather than attempting to reconstruct the crusaders’ lived passions, it analyses the comments the author made about emotions and the ways in which emotion terms functioned in his history. It will be argued that emotions interacted with, and helped to communicate, a number of key themes in Albert’s Historia, three of which are discussed here: crusader piety; Christian brotherhood; and power. At the same time, through a comparison with contemporaneous narratives of the First Crusade, it will be suggested that the emotional content of Albert’s Historia is not without historical value, for it offers a window onto wider social and cultural conceptions of emotions in the twelfth century.
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Over thirty years ago, Jonathan Riley-Smith demonstrated how crusading was preached and conceived as an act of Christian charity, encompassing both the love of God and love of neighbour. By analysing representations of fear and weeping in... more
Over thirty years ago, Jonathan Riley-Smith demonstrated how crusading was preached and conceived as an act of Christian charity, encompassing both the love of God and love of neighbour. By analysing representations of fear and weeping in the Latin narratives of the First Crusade, this article argues that a broader spectrum of emotions and emotional displays functioned as markers of crusader spirituality. It firstly suggests that, rather than fearing death, the ideal miles Christi discernible in the sources unreservedly placed his hope in God and, in several of the texts, unflinchingly accepted martyrdom in imitation of Christ. It then explores depictions of weeping as an expression of crusader piety, focusing specifically on tears shed over Jerusalem.
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The Emotions of Medieval Crises The Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME) is organising a series of in-person sessions for Leeds International Medieval Congress 2024 (1-4 July 2024). In line with the IMC's special thematic... more
The Emotions of Medieval Crises The Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME) is organising a series of in-person sessions for Leeds International Medieval Congress 2024 (1-4 July 2024). In line with the IMC's special thematic strand of 'crisis', we are seeking proposals for 20-minute papers which consider the emotional aspects of medieval crises, broadly conceived. Papers could consider medieval emotional responses to and/or representations of political, social, environmental, or religious crises in any geographic setting, from personal crises (such as the death of a friend or relative), to spiritual crises (such as the prospect of the impending Apocalypse), to major societal crises (such as the Black Death). The history of emotions has an important part to play in discussions of medieval crisis and vice versa, not least because any consideration of emotional change over time-which has emerged as a rich vein of research in recent years-must navigate, and understand the impact of, the major crises of the medieval world. As such, we particularly welcome proposals that engage with continuity and change over time, for example by exploring whether or how major medieval crises, like the Black Death or the Hundred Years' War, altered (or failed to alter) the emotional evaluations of medieval societies.
Please send paper proposals, including a title, abstract of c.150 words, and a short bio, to socmedievalemotions@gmail.com by
4 September 2023.
Organisers: Hailey O’Harrow (St Andrews), Stephen Spencer (Northeastern University London), Ana del Campo (St Andrews)
Please send paper proposals, including a title, abstract of c.150 words, and a short bio, to socmedievalemotions@gmail.com by
4 September 2023.
Organisers: Hailey O’Harrow (St Andrews), Stephen Spencer (Northeastern University London), Ana del Campo (St Andrews)
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Feeling Medieval, the inaugural conference of the Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions, is taking place on Tuesday 31 May–Wednesday 1 June 2022. The conference will be held in a hybrid format, and we therefore welcome online... more
Feeling Medieval, the inaugural conference of the Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions, is taking place on Tuesday 31 May–Wednesday 1 June 2022. The conference will be held in a hybrid format, and we therefore welcome online attendance.
It is free to attend online via Microsoft Teams, but please register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feeling-medieval-the-inaugural-conference-of-ssme-tickets-332609382617. The link will be disseminated 24 hours before the conference. Please find the conference programme attached (all timings are UK time), and please forward it to anyone you think may be interested.
We would like to thank the following institutions, whose generous funding has made this event possible: the Past & Present Society; Royal Historical Society; St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies; School of History, St Andrews; St Leonard’s Doctoral and Postgraduate College; Department of History, King’s College London.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at socmedievalemotions@gmail.com.
It is free to attend online via Microsoft Teams, but please register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/feeling-medieval-the-inaugural-conference-of-ssme-tickets-332609382617. The link will be disseminated 24 hours before the conference. Please find the conference programme attached (all timings are UK time), and please forward it to anyone you think may be interested.
We would like to thank the following institutions, whose generous funding has made this event possible: the Past & Present Society; Royal Historical Society; St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies; School of History, St Andrews; St Leonard’s Doctoral and Postgraduate College; Department of History, King’s College London.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at socmedievalemotions@gmail.com.
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Research Interests: Medieval Literature, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Chansons De Geste, Manuscript Studies, and 8 moreHistory of Crusades, Charters and Paleography, Crusades and the Latin East, Medieval Chronicles, Medieval Visual Culture, Medieval Material Culture, Sources (Medieval Studies), and Medieval Historical Writing
The Feeling Medieval conference launches the newly formed Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME) - the first society in the UK devoted to understanding medieval emotional experiences and standards. Twenty-minute papers (to be... more
The Feeling Medieval conference launches the newly formed Society for the Study of Medieval Emotions (SSME) - the first society in the UK devoted to understanding medieval emotional experiences and standards. Twenty-minute papers (to be delivered in English) are invited on any topic relating to the emotions and affective displays (real or imagined) of the Middle Ages (500-1500 CE) in any geographic setting.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
• Emotional gestures/facial expressions, such as weeping, smiling, laughing
• Medieval theological and philosophical theories of emotion
• Individual emotions, such as fear, anger, shame, jealousy, joy
• Emotional lexicons
• Emotions and the vices/virtues
• Methodologies and sources for studying medieval emotions
• The depiction of emotions in literature
• Visual representations of emotions in art and material culture • Religious emotions
• Emotions and warfare
• Gender and emotions
• Emotions, politics and power
• Emotional changes during the Middle Ages
Please send paper proposals, including a title, abstract of c.150 words, and a short bio, to socmedievalemotions@gmail.com by 31 October 2019. If you would like any further information, please contact the conference organisers, Hailey Ogle (St Andrews) and Stephen Spencer (KCL), via the email address above.
Membership of SSME is free. To join, please visit https://socmedievalemotion.wixsite.com/website
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
• Emotional gestures/facial expressions, such as weeping, smiling, laughing
• Medieval theological and philosophical theories of emotion
• Individual emotions, such as fear, anger, shame, jealousy, joy
• Emotional lexicons
• Emotions and the vices/virtues
• Methodologies and sources for studying medieval emotions
• The depiction of emotions in literature
• Visual representations of emotions in art and material culture • Religious emotions
• Emotions and warfare
• Gender and emotions
• Emotions, politics and power
• Emotional changes during the Middle Ages
Please send paper proposals, including a title, abstract of c.150 words, and a short bio, to socmedievalemotions@gmail.com by 31 October 2019. If you would like any further information, please contact the conference organisers, Hailey Ogle (St Andrews) and Stephen Spencer (KCL), via the email address above.
Membership of SSME is free. To join, please visit https://socmedievalemotion.wixsite.com/website
Research Interests: Emotion, Gender Studies, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, History of Religion, and 10 moreGender History, Material Culture Studies, Medieval Studies, Medieval Theology, History Of Emotions, Power and Authority in the Middle Ages, History of Religion (Medieval Studies), Virtues and Vices, Affect/Emotion, and Medieval Warfare
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Order in US: https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo50460202.html Order in UK: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/remembering-the-crusades-in-medieval-texts-and-songs-ebook-pdf/ Exploring Latin texts, as well as Old... more
Order in US: https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/R/bo50460202.html
Order in UK: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/remembering-the-crusades-in-medieval-texts-and-songs-ebook-pdf/
Exploring Latin texts, as well as Old French, Castilian and Occitan songs and lyrics, Remembering the Crusades in Medieval Texts and Songs takes inspiration from the new ways scholars are looking to trace the dissemination and influence of the memories and narratives surrounding the crusading past in medieval Europe. It contributes to these new directions in crusade studies by offering a more nuanced understanding of the diverse ways in which medieval authors presented events, people and places central to the crusading movement. This volume investigates how the transmission of stories related to suffering, heroism, the miraculous and ideals of masculinity helped to shape ideas of crusading presented in narratives produced in both the Latin East and the West, as well as the importance of Jerusalem in the lyric cultures of southern France, and how the narrative arc of the First Crusade developed from the earliest written and oral responses to the venture.
'This book is a very welcome addition to the new historiography on memory and the crusades. In focusing closely on particular texts and contexts, it brings innovative and important insights into how the crusades were represented and remembered in a variety of ways during the Middle Ages and beyond.'-Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch, University of Queensland
Order in UK: https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/remembering-the-crusades-in-medieval-texts-and-songs-ebook-pdf/
Exploring Latin texts, as well as Old French, Castilian and Occitan songs and lyrics, Remembering the Crusades in Medieval Texts and Songs takes inspiration from the new ways scholars are looking to trace the dissemination and influence of the memories and narratives surrounding the crusading past in medieval Europe. It contributes to these new directions in crusade studies by offering a more nuanced understanding of the diverse ways in which medieval authors presented events, people and places central to the crusading movement. This volume investigates how the transmission of stories related to suffering, heroism, the miraculous and ideals of masculinity helped to shape ideas of crusading presented in narratives produced in both the Latin East and the West, as well as the importance of Jerusalem in the lyric cultures of southern France, and how the narrative arc of the First Crusade developed from the earliest written and oral responses to the venture.
'This book is a very welcome addition to the new historiography on memory and the crusades. In focusing closely on particular texts and contexts, it brings innovative and important insights into how the crusades were represented and remembered in a variety of ways during the Middle Ages and beyond.'-Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch, University of Queensland