- Department of Mediaeval History
University of St Andrews
Justine Firnhaber-Baker
University of St Andrews, History, Faculty Member
- Harvard University, History, Alumnusadd
- Political History, Medieval France, Medieval History, European History, Legal History, Social movements and revolution, and 18 moreLettres De Rémission, Feudalism and Lordship, Kingship (Medieval History), The Hundred Years War, Feuding, Medieval Nobility, Medieval Military History, Late Medieval History, Power and Authority in the Middle Ages, State Formation, Medieval Warfare, Medieval urban history, History of Violence, Diplomatics (Medieval), Late Middle Ages, Medieval Peasantry, Peasant Studies, and Peasant Movementsedit
- Professor of History, social historian of power, law, and violence, especially in medieval France.edit
The rise and rise of the Capetian dynasty is one of the great epics of European history. Starting in the tenth century, they built a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and from the Rhône to the Pyrenees. They... more
The rise and rise of the Capetian dynasty is one of the great epics of European history. Starting in the tenth century, they built a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and from the Rhône to the Pyrenees. They transformed Paris from a muddy backwater to a splendid metropole, and popularised the fleur-de-lys, the lily, as the emblem of France. Time and again, their opponents woefully misjudged who they were up against as, through ruthlessness, luck and marriage the Capetians disposed of them all.
This is the story of the most powerful kingdom in Christendom. It is a tale of religious upheaval, adulterous affairs, holy wars, pogroms and persecution. From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetians were men and women of vision and ambition, who considered themselves chosen by God to fulfil a great destiny. If they were mistaken in their assumptions and merciless in their methods, in one respect they were right. They did not simply rule France: they created it.
House of Lilies is a highly enjoyable account of this extraordinary sequence of events. Justine Firnhaber-Baker wonderfully evokes not only the sheer glamour of the French court, but also the intellectual achievements, the battles, and the series of catastrophes that led to the dynasty’s ultimate demise.
This is the story of the most powerful kingdom in Christendom. It is a tale of religious upheaval, adulterous affairs, holy wars, pogroms and persecution. From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetians were men and women of vision and ambition, who considered themselves chosen by God to fulfil a great destiny. If they were mistaken in their assumptions and merciless in their methods, in one respect they were right. They did not simply rule France: they created it.
House of Lilies is a highly enjoyable account of this extraordinary sequence of events. Justine Firnhaber-Baker wonderfully evokes not only the sheer glamour of the French court, but also the intellectual achievements, the battles, and the series of catastrophes that led to the dynasty’s ultimate demise.
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The Jacquerie of 1358 is one of the most famous and mysterious peasant uprisings of the Middle Ages. Beginning in a small village but eventually overrunning most of northern France, the Jacquerie rebels destroyed noble castles and killed... more
The Jacquerie of 1358 is one of the most famous and mysterious peasant uprisings of the Middle Ages. Beginning in a small village but eventually overrunning most of northern France, the Jacquerie rebels destroyed noble castles and killed dozens of noblemen before being put down in a bloody wave of suppression. The revolt occurred in the wake of the Black Death and during the Hundred Years War, and it was closely connected to a rebellion in Paris against the French crown. This book, the first extended study of the Jacquerie in over a century, resolves long-standing controversies about whether the revolt was just an irrational explosion of peasant hatred or simply an extension of the Parisian revolt. It shows that these apparently contradcitory conclusions are based on the illusory assumption that the revolt was a unified movement with a single goal. In fact, the Jacquerie has to be understood as a constellation of many events that evolved over time. It involved thousands of people, who understood what they were doing in different and changing ways. The story of the Jacquerie is about how individuals and communities navigated their specific political, social, and military dilemmas, how they reacted to events as they unfolded, and how they chose to remember (or to forget) in its aftermath. The Jacquerie Revolt of 1358 re-writes the narrative of this tumultuous period and gives special attention to how violence and social relationships were harnessed to mobilize popular rebellion.
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The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt charts the history of medieval rebellion from Spain to Bohemia and from Italy to England, and includes chapters spanning the centuries between Imperial Rome and the Reformation. Drawing... more
The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt charts the history of medieval rebellion from Spain to Bohemia and from Italy to England, and includes chapters spanning the centuries between Imperial Rome and the Reformation. Drawing together an international group of leading scholars, chapters consider how uprisings worked, why they happened, whom they implicated, what they meant to contemporaries, and how we might understand them now.
This collection builds upon new approaches to political history and communication, and provides new insights into revolt as integral to medieval political life. Drawing upon research from the social sciences and literary theory, the essays use revolts and their sources to explore questions of meaning and communication, identity and mobilization, the use of violence and the construction of power. The authors emphasize historical actors’ agency, but argue that access to these actors and their actions is mediated and often obscured by the texts that report them.
Supported by an introduction and conclusion which survey the previous historiography of medieval revolt and envisage future directions in the field, The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt will be an essential reference for students and scholars of medieval political history
This collection builds upon new approaches to political history and communication, and provides new insights into revolt as integral to medieval political life. Drawing upon research from the social sciences and literary theory, the essays use revolts and their sources to explore questions of meaning and communication, identity and mobilization, the use of violence and the construction of power. The authors emphasize historical actors’ agency, but argue that access to these actors and their actions is mediated and often obscured by the texts that report them.
Supported by an introduction and conclusion which survey the previous historiography of medieval revolt and envisage future directions in the field, The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt will be an essential reference for students and scholars of medieval political history
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This book reassesses the relationship between the late medieval rise of the state in France and aristocratic violence. Although it is often assumed that resurgent royal government eliminated so-called private warfare, the French judicial... more
This book reassesses the relationship between the late medieval rise of the state in France and aristocratic violence. Although it is often assumed that resurgent royal government eliminated so-called private warfare, the French judicial archives reveal nearly 100 such wars waged in Languedoc and the Auvergne from the mid-thirteenth through the fourteenth century. Royal administrators often intervened in these wars, but not always in order to suppress ‘private violence’ in favour of ‘public justice’. Their efforts were strongly shaped by the recognition of elites’ own power and legitimate prerogatives, and elites were often fully complicit with royal intervention. Much of the engagement between royal officers and local elites came through informal processes of negotiation and settlement, rather than through the coercive imposition of official justice. The expansion of royal authority was due as much to local cooperation as to conflict, a fact that ensured its survival during the fourteenth-century’s crises
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The essays in this collection focus on how identity and difference functioned in communities ranging from that of seventh-century Frankish monasteries to thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Paris. While difference and identity have become... more
The essays in this collection focus on how identity and difference functioned in communities ranging from that of seventh-century Frankish monasteries to thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Paris. While difference and identity have become popular topics in medieval studies, most work has concentrated on the negative consequences that social, religious and other distinctions could have for the marked population. This collection departs from that paradigm to argue that while difference is by definition a relational quality, it did not always create diametrical opposites leading to grave social consequences for those deemed "different." Rather, difference of many kinds, including ethnicity, disability, and disease, could function to strengthen social ties between the normative and supposedly marginalized groups. Medieval society’s “others” frequently lived within the community and functioned as a vital part of it, creating solidarity and acceptance, rather than marginalization.
Introduction (by Justine Firnhaber-Baker)
http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Difference_and_Identity_in_Francia_and_Medieval_France_Intro.pdf
H-France review: http://www.h-france.net/vol11reviews/vol11no120Smith.pdf
The Medieval review: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/14396"
Introduction (by Justine Firnhaber-Baker)
http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Difference_and_Identity_in_Francia_and_Medieval_France_Intro.pdf
H-France review: http://www.h-france.net/vol11reviews/vol11no120Smith.pdf
The Medieval review: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/14396"
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Esta monografía tiene por objetivo común el análisis de las intersecciones entre el individuo y sus comunidades, y cómo la inclusión y la exclusión se manifestó en las ciudades bajomedievales europeas. En la Baja Edad Media, los discursos... more
Esta monografía tiene por objetivo común el análisis de las intersecciones entre el individuo y sus comunidades, y cómo la inclusión y la exclusión se manifestó en las ciudades bajomedievales europeas. En la Baja Edad Media, los discursos de exclusión/ inclusión social se convirtieron en un instrumento básico para el
gobierno urbano, ya que permitió a los líderes laicos y eclesiásticos mantener el control de los habitantes de los centros urbanos sobre la base del mantenimiento
de una determinada disciplina social y de una sociedad “ordenada”. Así, se definió la sociedad urbana medieval como una comunidad de valores acorde a la legislación
eclesiástica y secular, y se articuló un discurso político, que se incorporó a la esfera de lo público. La comunidad urbana se tuvo que acomodar a un marco legal e ideológico y a unos parámetros de comportamiento, en el que la exclusión y la inclusión de la comunidad fueron una poderosa herramienta de comunicación de la disciplina social.
gobierno urbano, ya que permitió a los líderes laicos y eclesiásticos mantener el control de los habitantes de los centros urbanos sobre la base del mantenimiento
de una determinada disciplina social y de una sociedad “ordenada”. Así, se definió la sociedad urbana medieval como una comunidad de valores acorde a la legislación
eclesiástica y secular, y se articuló un discurso político, que se incorporó a la esfera de lo público. La comunidad urbana se tuvo que acomodar a un marco legal e ideológico y a unos parámetros de comportamiento, en el que la exclusión y la inclusión de la comunidad fueron una poderosa herramienta de comunicación de la disciplina social.
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This chapter is concerned with a dispute over customary dues that took place in the second quarter of the fourteenth century between the villagers of Saint-Leu d’Esserent and their lords, the monks of the Cluniac priory of Saint-Leu... more
This chapter is concerned with a dispute over customary dues that took place in the second quarter of the fourteenth century between the villagers of Saint-Leu d’Esserent and their lords, the monks of the Cluniac priory of Saint-Leu d’Esserent. The conflict elucidates the contours of this community and how it defined itself, revealing its ability to identify and assert its self-interest and providing a starting point for thinking about rural politics and village protagonism in the absence of communal institutions.
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In the judicial duel, procedure and ceremony collapsed into one another in a way that had powerful resonances for the later Capetians kings of France. What bothered King Louis IX and his grandson Philip IV about duel was its violent and... more
In the judicial duel, procedure and ceremony collapsed into one another in a way that had powerful resonances for the later Capetians kings of France. What bothered King Louis IX and his grandson Philip IV about duel was its violent and vengeful aspects. What allowed Philip IV and his son Philip V to reconsider was duel’s discrete and formal practice. It was this that allowed their governments to decouple judicial duel from seigneurial (private) war. Although war was similar to duel in being an avenue for the violent pursuit of one’s rights, it differed in its wider scope and therefore essentially uncontrollable nature. Duel’s dual nature as ritual and procedure thus ensured its survival in the courts of later medieval France. Duel’s formalism also meant that it could serve to express chivalric values like honour, bravery, and luxury. These aspects may help to explain duel’s renewed efflorescence in the early modern period, in which duelling became an avenue for the vindication of aristocratic honour. The development of an elaborate, aristocratic ceremonial practice, however, happened much later than has been previously understood. Indeed, chivalric spectacle is only one aspect of the later medieval history of duel, a subject that requires fuller study.
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This article looks at the role of freedom as a motivation for rural rebellion in northern Europe from c. 1200-1450. It focuses comparatively on the English Rising of 1381 and revolts in France with some further comparison to other... more
This article looks at the role of freedom as a motivation for rural rebellion in northern Europe from c. 1200-1450. It focuses comparatively on the English Rising of 1381 and revolts in France with some further comparison to other regions. While discourses of freedom were important in 1381 both in the chronicle texts and to the rebels themselves, most rebels did not articulate their demands in terms of liberty. The last section demonstrates that although demands for freedom were rare in revolts, the social networks through which uprisings were organized show that rural communal practices constituted a kind freedom, enabling peasants to engage in socio-political action.
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This article uses the information available about 488 individuals involved in the Jacquerie of 1358 to demonstrate how much we can -- and cannot -- learn about the men and women who participated in the revolt. It demonstrates that the... more
This article uses the information available about 488 individuals involved in the Jacquerie of 1358 to demonstrate how much we can -- and cannot -- learn about the men and women who participated in the revolt. It demonstrates that the revolt was more predominantly rural than has previously been shown and argues that we must distinguish carefully between the wealthy and educated leaders of the revolt and its "rank and file." Both hierarchically organized and communally based, the revolt wove together people and communities in concerted action, but it was also subject to fissures and tensions between insiders and outsiders and between leaders and followers. A central contention of the article, however, is that the wealth of information we can find in the sources should not obscure how limited our knowledge is or how the disposition of the sources shapes the knowledge that we do have. To that end, the final section of the essay explores the gendering of the sources and of late medieval life to argue that the small number of rebel women found in the documents should not lead us to deny their participation in or their importance to the revolt. Rather, it should invite us to imagine what the rebellion meant to women and how it was experienced by them, probably in ways different to their male counterparts.
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This chapter discusses violence associated with the exercise of lordship and the culture of nobility in Europe from ca. 500-1500. For most of the twentieth century, historians argued that lordly violence rose and fell in inverse... more
This chapter discusses violence associated with the exercise of lordship and the culture of nobility in Europe from ca. 500-1500. For most of the twentieth century, historians argued that lordly violence rose and fell in inverse proportion to the power of ‘sovereign’ rulers, such as kings and emperors. It is now recognized that aristocrats in general and lords in particular played roles in medieval societies and polities that made their use of violence not just tolerable but also necessary. The practice of ‘feud’ has also come in for reassessment, increasingly understood not as anarchic or usurpatory, but re-envisaged as rule-based and self-limiting. Yet, if seigneurial violence now appears much more socially productive and politically intelligible to historians, it is important to realize that the exercise and experience of seigneurial violence varied a great deal according to social position and context. Aristocratic women were less likely than aristocratic men to be involved in such conflicts, and non-aristocrats, of both sexes, bore the brunt of the violence. This essay proceeds chronologically, examining changes in the ideas and practices that shaped how lords and nobles used violence in different regions.
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Royal documents issued after the Jacquerie and the Parisian revolt led by Étienne Marcel employ affective language to facilitate rebels’ reintegration into the political community and to encourage reconciliation between parties. These... more
Royal documents issued after the Jacquerie and the Parisian revolt led by Étienne Marcel employ affective language to facilitate rebels’ reintegration into the political community and to encourage reconciliation between parties. These efforts may have succeeded in repairing the relationship between crown and subjects, but subjects’ emotions towards one another were less amenable to control.
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This map shows those places with documented involvement in the Jacquerie revolt of 1358, one of the great medieval rural uprisings. Each point or line has been annotated with the source of the information. (A list of abbreviations can be... more
This map shows those places with documented involvement in the Jacquerie revolt of 1358, one of the great medieval rural uprisings. Each point or line has been annotated with the source of the information. (A list of abbreviations can be found below.) In some cases, a short vignette or commentary has also been included.
Citation format: Justine Firnhaber-Baker, ‘Annotated Map of the Jacquerie Revolt of 1358’ (Cambridge, MA, 2020) http://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/Jacquerie_1358
Citation format: Justine Firnhaber-Baker, ‘Annotated Map of the Jacquerie Revolt of 1358’ (Cambridge, MA, 2020) http://worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/Jacquerie_1358
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Job Description The postdoctoral researcher will participate in an ERC-funded research project that pursues a new interpretation of state formation in Western Europe between 1300 and 1600. This period is considered as a key phase in the... more
Job Description The postdoctoral researcher will participate in an ERC-funded research project that pursues a new interpretation of state formation in Western Europe between 1300 and 1600. This period is considered as a key phase in the genesis of the modern state, as various polities now centralized fiscal and military resources under their command. While there is debate whether this was primarily a top-down process carried out by princes, or a bottom-up process carried out by popular representation, scholars tend to agree that state building was essentially a process of centralization. This assumption must be questioned, as recent studies have raised awkward questions that cannot be answered by the current paradigm. The research hypothesis is that the emerging states of Western Europe could only acquire sufficient support among established elites if they also decentralized much of their legal authority through a process of creating or endorsing a growing number of seigneuries as " states-within-states " for the benefit of elites who in turn contributed to state building. This project will study the interplay between states and seigneurial elites in five regions – two in the Low Countries, two in France, and one in England – to test whether fiscal and military centralization was facilitated by a progressively confederal organization of government. Together, the case studies cover four key variables that shaped the relations between princes and power elites in different combinations all over Europe: 1) state formation, 2) urbanization, 3) the socioeconomic organization of rural society, and 4) ideological dissent. The comparisons between the case studies are aimed at the development of an analytical framework to chart and to explain path-dependency in Europe. The postdoctoral researcher, starting 1 September 2017, will explore secular lordship in the Netherlandish principality of Guelders and the English shire of Warwickshire. The heuristic aim is to develop a snapshot survey of seigneuries/manors and their holders of a part of each region, combining earlier scholarship with primary sources such as manorial rolls and feudal registers that are preserved in various archives (travel expenses are borne by the ERC-project). The interpretative aim is to use these case studies to engage with current theories on state formation and elite formation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
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The 5 th Annual Late Medieval France and Burgundy Seminar brings together scholars of all disciplines who focus on any aspect of France and Burgundy in the 14 th and 15th centuries.