CfP: Understanding the Sources for the Crusades: New Approaches – deadline 13 September

Date / time: 22 January, All day

CfP: Understanding the Sources for the Crusades: New Approaches - deadline 13 September

 

CALL FOR PAPERS: DEADLINE 13 September 2021

This event will be held online via Zoom.

The crusades generated a rich and varied corpus of sources, although a ‘traditional canon’ has been afforded a privileged position since the nineteenth century. In recent years, however, the source base for the study of the crusades has expanded considerably, with detailed analyses of previously marginalised texts (e.g., lyrics, chansons de geste, liturgy) and pioneering investigations into various features of the surviving corpus, such as the category of ‘eyewitness’ and approaches to the miraculous in narrative texts.

In addition, the last decade has seen a diversification in the methodologies utilised within crusade studies and a growing willingness to set the extant source material in a wider context, so much so that we may question the validity of the label ‘crusade source’. This conference seeks to build upon these developments by showcasing innovative research on, and approaches to, all manner of crusade sources.

We therefore invite proposals for twenty-minute papers (to be delivered in English) which shed new light on the source material pertaining to the crusades—broadly defined to encompass crusading activity in all regions—before 1500. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Definitions of ‘crusade sources’
  • Methodologies for studying crusade sources, especially newer approaches
  • Undervalued sources and new discoveries
  • Textual evidence (chronicles, charters, letters, chansons de geste, lyrics, etc.) in any language
  • Under-explored features of the extant corpus
  • Manuscript evidence and dissemination
  • Material/visual culture
  • The interconnectivity of sources

Please send paper proposals, including a title, abstract of c.150 words, and a short bio, to stephen.spencer@kcl.ac.uk or andrew.buck@ucd.ie by Monday 13 September 2021.

If you would like any further information, please contact the organisers via the email addresses above. We are delighted to announce that Dr Simon Parsons will deliver the keynote, chaired by Prof Jonathan Phillips