Battles have long featured prominently in historical consciousness, as moments when the balance of power was seen to have tipped, or when aspects of collective identity were shaped. But how have perspectives on warfare changed? How similar are present day ideologies of warfare to those of the medieval period?
Looking back over a thousand years of British, Irish and Scandinavian battles, this significant collection of essays examines how different times and cultures have reacted to war, considering the changing roles of religion and technology in the experience and memorialisation of conflict. While fighting and killing have been deplored, glorified and everything in between across the ages, Writing Battles reminds us of the visceral impact left on those who come after.
Table of contents
Author(s): Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Rory Naismith, Elizabeth Ashman Rowe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2020
Language: English
City: London
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Figures
Contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: Medieval battles, model and myth
Chapter 1: ‘What is this Castle call’d that stands hard by?: ’The naming of battles in the Middle Ages
Chapter 2: Battle-writing and commemoration: The transition from conflict to peace
Chapter 3: ‘Undying glory by the sword’s edge’: Writing and remembering battle in Anglo-Saxon England
Chapter 4: Fortress London: War and the making of an Anglo-Saxon city
Chapter 5: ‘Axe-age, sword-age: ’Writing battles in Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia
Chapter 6: Medieval Irish battle narratives and the construction of the past
Chapter 7: Which ‘pagans’?: The influence of the crusades on battle narratives in Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia
Chapter 8: Writing a battle: The case of Stamford Bridge (1066)
Chapter 9: Shooting arrows: Cinematic representations of medieval battles
Chapter 10: A troubled memory: Battles of the First World War
Afterword: The companionship of battle-writers
Bibliography
Index
