This colloquium will explore the various aspects of the knightly identities which emerged during the High Middle Ages. As the period progressed, the idea of knighthood grew more complex and diverse. Knights did not merely perceive themselves as professional horseback warriors, but increasingly associated their martial practice with a noble status as the high aristocracy embraced their martial ideals. Knights became noble warriors and knighthood gained a social, political, cultural and religious dimension in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. However, the idealized image of a noble warrior often masked the pragmatic reality of a warring noble. After all, the knight courageously upholding the peace in one chronicle, could become the plunderer or mercenary in the next.

The different aspects of the knightly identity elude any clear-cut definition of the medieval knight. Therefore, this colloquium pursues an inquiry into the variable nature of knightly identity on the edge of its innate ambiguity opposing the noble warrior to the warring noble.

Programme :

Thursday, December 10, 2015

11.30h: Registration

Session 1 – Moderator: Jeroen Deploige (Universiteit Gent)

12.00h: Opening address by Jeroen Deploige (Universiteit Gent)

12.10h: David Crouch (University of Hull) – When Was Chivalry: Evolution of a Code
13.00h: Lunch

Session 2 – Moderator: Dirk Heirbaut (Universiteit Gent)

14.00h: Dominique Barthélemy (Université Paris-Sorbonne, École Pratique des Hautes Études) – La mutation chevaleresque et les réactions contre elle
14.50h: Matthew Bennett (Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst) – Tournament to Tactics: Practical Aspects of Military Culture in Chivalric Literature
15.40h: Coffee break

Session 3 – Moderator: Els De Paermentier (Universiteit Gent)

16.00h: Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani (Université de Namur) – Both Lord and Poet: Castellan Hugh III of Cambrai ( † 1189) between Flanders and Champagne
16.50h: Martin Aurell (Université de Poitiers) – Aristocratic Literacy, Arthurian Legend and Settlement of Knightly Values

Friday, December 11, 2015

Session 4 – Moderator: Thérèse de Hemptinne (Universiteit Gent)

9.00h: Xavier Baecke (Universiteit Gent) – The Problematic ‘Knight’. Understanding Early Knighthood in Flanders
9.50h: Jean-François Nieus (Université de Namur) – Quidam Sigardus militaris cingulo laboris innexus. The Flemish Family of Chocques.
10.40h: Coffee break

Session 5 – Moderator: Jan Dumolyn (Universiteit Gent)

11.00h: Eljas Oksanen (University College, London) – Knights, Paid Soldiers or Mercenaries: Flemish Identities in Twelfth-Century
England
11.50h: John D. Hosler (Morgan State University, Baltimore) – Knightly Ideals on the Third Crusade: Behavior, Combat, and Faith
12.40h: Lunch

Session 6 – Moderator: Frederik Buylaert (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

13.30h: Nicholas Paul (Fordham University, New York) – Writing the Knight: Manasses of Hierges and the Monks of Brogne

14.20h: Peter Hoppenbrouwers (Universiteit Leiden) – Conclusions and final discussion
15.00h: Tour and drink in the historical city centre

Informations pratiques :
Ghent, December 10-11, 2015
STAM – Hert van Maria conference room Godshuizenlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Please register before 7 December 2015 by email: xavier.Baecke@UGent.be

The registration fee of 15 euro per day includes lunch and is payable upon arrival.

Organisers: Xavier Baecke (Universiteit Gent), David Crouch (University of Hull /Leverhulme Trust) and Jeroen Deploige (Universiteit Gent), in collaboration with Jean-François Nieus (Université de Namur) and Frederik Buylaert (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

The colloquium is funded by the Flemish Research Foundation (FWO) as well as by the Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies and the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at Ghent University. It is also supported by the project “Les élites guerrières du monde medieval” of the Institut Universitaire de France (directed by Dominique Barthélemy).

Source : Universiteit Gent