Books by Mike Horswell
This new volume explores the ways in which significant crusading figures have been employed as he... more This new volume explores the ways in which significant crusading figures have been employed as heroes and villains, and by whom. Each chapter analyses a case study relating to a key historical figure including the First Crusader Tancred; ‘villains’ Reynald of Châtillon and Conrad of Montferrat; the oft-overlooked Queen Melisende of Jerusalem; the entangled memories of Richard ‘the Lionheart’ and Saladin; and the appropriation of St Louis IX by the British. Through fresh approaches, such as a new translation of the inscriptions on the wreath laid on Saladin’s tomb by Kaiser Wilhelm II, this book represents a significant cutting-edge intervention in thinking about memory, crusader medievalism, and the processes of making heroes and villains.
This book investigates the uses of crusader medievalism – the memory of the crusades and crusadin... more This book investigates the uses of crusader medievalism – the memory of the crusades and crusading rhetoric and imagery – in Britain, from Walter Scott’s The Talisman (1825) to the end of the Second World War. It seeks to understand why and when the crusades and crusading were popular, how they fitted with other cultural trends of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, how their use was affected by the turmoil of the First World War and whether they were differently employed in the interwar years and in the 1939-45 conflict. Building on existing studies and contributing the fruits of fresh research, it brings together examples of the uses of the crusades from disparate contexts and integrates them into the story of the rise and fall crusader medievalism in Britain.
Journal Articles by Mike Horswell
Práticas da História, 2019
The nine-hundredth anniversary of the First Crusade (1095-99) saw hundreds of evangelical Western... more The nine-hundredth anniversary of the First Crusade (1095-99) saw hundreds of evangelical Western Christians trace the route of the medieval expedition apologising to local communities for the violence of the crusades. The Reconciliation Walk embodied an active and direct engagement with the crusading past and an attempt to defuse its perceived toxic legacies. The criticisms of the walk by crusade historian Jonathan Riley-Smith went beyond factual disagreement and illustrate tensions at the interface of popular and academic perceptions of the past. This article revisits Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s analysis of the rhetorical structure of an historical apology and his application to the Reconciliation Walk to reveal the ways in which both the organisers of the walk and their critics constructed continuities and discontinuities between communities over time. Rather than agreeing with Trouillot that the walk constituted an “abortive ritual”, I suggest that the performance and reception of the apology demonstrate the affective power of perceptions of the past, and reinforce the need for historians to take these – often factually inaccurate – collective memories seriously in considering the presentist significance of the past.
Studies in Medievalism, 2016
Chapters by Mike Horswell
Perceptions of the Crusades from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century: Engaging the Crusades, Volume One, 2018
The Crusades and the Modern World: Engaging the Crusades, Volume Two, 2019
What is the version of crusading and the crusades presented by Wikipedia? This chapter presents a... more What is the version of crusading and the crusades presented by Wikipedia? This chapter presents a necessarily limited sketch of crusading ‘WikiKnowledge’ and is concerned with mapping two topographies: the epistemological dimensions of Wikipedia’s ‘Crusades’ article and ‘Talk’ pages and the ethnographic geography of the community engaged in their creation.
Perceptions of the Crusades from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century: Engaging the Crusades, Volume One, 2018
The crusades and crusaders resonated with imperial Britons and were depicted with regularity in l... more The crusades and crusaders resonated with imperial Britons and were depicted with regularity in literature through the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This chapter examines crusading fiction written by prominent author-educators from 1825 to 1917 (Walter Scott, Charlotte M. Yonge, George A. Henty and Henry Newbolt) and demonstrates how the crusades served as a vehicle of enculturation for the empire’s youth: crusader medievalism can be seen to have borne the weight of complementary attempts to educate young readers in what it meant to be a patriotic, chivalrous and pious Briton in the century leading up to the First World War.
Book Reviews by Mike Horswell
English Historical Review, 2018
Papers by Mike Horswell
CALLS FOR PAPERS: JUNE - JULY 2020
SSCLE:
29 June – 3 July 2020, Royal Holloway, University of ... more CALLS FOR PAPERS: JUNE - JULY 2020
SSCLE:
29 June – 3 July 2020, Royal Holloway, University of London
Organiser: The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East w: www.sscle2020.com | t: @latineast
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2019
MAMO
The Middle Ages in the Modern World
1-3 July 2020, Institute for Historical Research, Senate House, London
w: themamo.org | t: @TheMamoConf
The Middle Ages in the Modern World is a biennial conference about the ways in which the Middle Ages have been received, imagined, invoked, relived, used, abused, and refashioned in the modern and contemporary worlds.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2019
MYTH, MEMORY & HISTORIOGRAPHY
Proposals for papers are sought on any aspect of the memory of the crusade, modern crusade historiography and crusading myths.
They could address:
- Prevalent myths of the crusades and crusading
- The influence of historians, institutions, or publications on visions of the crusade
- The interaction between popular and academic perceptions of crusading
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades
– e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians
- The physical and material heritage (e.g. castles, collections) of crusading
- National memories of the crusades, crusaders, or use of crusader medievalism
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading, representations in art, literature, com-puter games, or other media
- Crusader dreams, proposals (however practical), and fantasies
- The construction of the crusades in encyclopaedias, documentaries and textbooks
Please submit 300-word abstracts and a short bio (indicating which conference you will be attending), to [email protected]
Sessions organised by Kristin Skottki & Mike Horswell
The 2018 International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds (2-5 July 2018) will have a s... more The 2018 International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds (2-5 July 2018) will have a special thematic strand of ‘Memory’. In light of this focus, we invite proposals for 20-minute papers on the Memory, Legacy and Reception of the Crusades in the modern era.
Quintessentially medieval, the crusades and crusading proved both flexible and durable in popular, political and scholarly memory. We welcome proposals for papers on any aspect of the memory of the crusades or crusading since 1700 including (but not limited to):
- National memories of the crusades or crusaders, or use of crusading rhetoric or imagery;
- Political uses of crusading;
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading; whether literary, artistic, entertainment or pastime;
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades – e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians, etc;
- Academic crusade historiography;
- Theoretical dimensions of crusader medievalism and collective memory;
- Religious reflections, refractions and re-purposing of the crusades;
- The modern history of crusader objects or collections;
- Representations of the crusades in art, literature, computer games, or other media;
- Groups for whom crusading or the crusades form a central aspect of their identity, informing their purpose and self-expression;
- Crusader dreams – crusade proposals, however practical
- Considerations of the entanglement of the above aspects.
Please send an abstract of no more than 200 words, and a short bio, to:
[email protected] by Monday 18th September 2017.
Organisers: Jonathan Phillips, Mike Horswell
(Royal Holloway, University of London) and
Kristin Skottki (University of Bayreuth)
Website: www.engagingthecrusades.com
Thesis Chapters by Mike Horswell
This thesis looks at British uses of the crusades in the C19th and first half of the C20th, concl... more This thesis looks at British uses of the crusades in the C19th and first half of the C20th, concluding that the chivalric/romantic use petered out during the Second World War rather than after the First.
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Books by Mike Horswell
Journal Articles by Mike Horswell
Chapters by Mike Horswell
Book Reviews by Mike Horswell
Papers by Mike Horswell
SSCLE:
29 June – 3 July 2020, Royal Holloway, University of London
Organiser: The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East w: www.sscle2020.com | t: @latineast
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2019
MAMO
The Middle Ages in the Modern World
1-3 July 2020, Institute for Historical Research, Senate House, London
w: themamo.org | t: @TheMamoConf
The Middle Ages in the Modern World is a biennial conference about the ways in which the Middle Ages have been received, imagined, invoked, relived, used, abused, and refashioned in the modern and contemporary worlds.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2019
MYTH, MEMORY & HISTORIOGRAPHY
Proposals for papers are sought on any aspect of the memory of the crusade, modern crusade historiography and crusading myths.
They could address:
- Prevalent myths of the crusades and crusading
- The influence of historians, institutions, or publications on visions of the crusade
- The interaction between popular and academic perceptions of crusading
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades
– e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians
- The physical and material heritage (e.g. castles, collections) of crusading
- National memories of the crusades, crusaders, or use of crusader medievalism
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading, representations in art, literature, com-puter games, or other media
- Crusader dreams, proposals (however practical), and fantasies
- The construction of the crusades in encyclopaedias, documentaries and textbooks
Please submit 300-word abstracts and a short bio (indicating which conference you will be attending), to [email protected]
Sessions organised by Kristin Skottki & Mike Horswell
Quintessentially medieval, the crusades and crusading proved both flexible and durable in popular, political and scholarly memory. We welcome proposals for papers on any aspect of the memory of the crusades or crusading since 1700 including (but not limited to):
- National memories of the crusades or crusaders, or use of crusading rhetoric or imagery;
- Political uses of crusading;
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading; whether literary, artistic, entertainment or pastime;
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades – e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians, etc;
- Academic crusade historiography;
- Theoretical dimensions of crusader medievalism and collective memory;
- Religious reflections, refractions and re-purposing of the crusades;
- The modern history of crusader objects or collections;
- Representations of the crusades in art, literature, computer games, or other media;
- Groups for whom crusading or the crusades form a central aspect of their identity, informing their purpose and self-expression;
- Crusader dreams – crusade proposals, however practical
- Considerations of the entanglement of the above aspects.
Please send an abstract of no more than 200 words, and a short bio, to:
[email protected] by Monday 18th September 2017.
Organisers: Jonathan Phillips, Mike Horswell
(Royal Holloway, University of London) and
Kristin Skottki (University of Bayreuth)
Website: www.engagingthecrusades.com
Thesis Chapters by Mike Horswell
SSCLE:
29 June – 3 July 2020, Royal Holloway, University of London
Organiser: The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East w: www.sscle2020.com | t: @latineast
Deadline for abstracts: 30 September 2019
MAMO
The Middle Ages in the Modern World
1-3 July 2020, Institute for Historical Research, Senate House, London
w: themamo.org | t: @TheMamoConf
The Middle Ages in the Modern World is a biennial conference about the ways in which the Middle Ages have been received, imagined, invoked, relived, used, abused, and refashioned in the modern and contemporary worlds.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 November 2019
MYTH, MEMORY & HISTORIOGRAPHY
Proposals for papers are sought on any aspect of the memory of the crusade, modern crusade historiography and crusading myths.
They could address:
- Prevalent myths of the crusades and crusading
- The influence of historians, institutions, or publications on visions of the crusade
- The interaction between popular and academic perceptions of crusading
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades
– e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians
- The physical and material heritage (e.g. castles, collections) of crusading
- National memories of the crusades, crusaders, or use of crusader medievalism
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading, representations in art, literature, com-puter games, or other media
- Crusader dreams, proposals (however practical), and fantasies
- The construction of the crusades in encyclopaedias, documentaries and textbooks
Please submit 300-word abstracts and a short bio (indicating which conference you will be attending), to [email protected]
Sessions organised by Kristin Skottki & Mike Horswell
Quintessentially medieval, the crusades and crusading proved both flexible and durable in popular, political and scholarly memory. We welcome proposals for papers on any aspect of the memory of the crusades or crusading since 1700 including (but not limited to):
- National memories of the crusades or crusaders, or use of crusading rhetoric or imagery;
- Political uses of crusading;
- Popular images of the crusades and crusading; whether literary, artistic, entertainment or pastime;
- The cultural impact and memory of crusading of recipients of crusades – e.g. Muslims, Middle Eastern peoples, Baltic territories, Orthodox Christians, etc;
- Academic crusade historiography;
- Theoretical dimensions of crusader medievalism and collective memory;
- Religious reflections, refractions and re-purposing of the crusades;
- The modern history of crusader objects or collections;
- Representations of the crusades in art, literature, computer games, or other media;
- Groups for whom crusading or the crusades form a central aspect of their identity, informing their purpose and self-expression;
- Crusader dreams – crusade proposals, however practical
- Considerations of the entanglement of the above aspects.
Please send an abstract of no more than 200 words, and a short bio, to:
[email protected] by Monday 18th September 2017.
Organisers: Jonathan Phillips, Mike Horswell
(Royal Holloway, University of London) and
Kristin Skottki (University of Bayreuth)
Website: www.engagingthecrusades.com