NNOVATION DURING THE LATER CRUSADES: WAR & SOCIETY

edited by Martin Neuding Skoog and Stefan Stantchev

CALL FOR PAPERS
proposals due August 31, 2025

Contacts: martin.neudingskoog@fhs.se and stefan.stantchev@asu.edu

INNOVATION DURING THE LATER CRUSADES: WAR & SOCIETY will explore the changing character of warfare and statecraft as they relate to the history of crusades after 1291. This volume aims to synthesize current scholarship, present informative case studies, and refine methodologies for studying innovation during the Later Crusades. The volume’s intended audience is broad: specialists, generalist historians, political scientists, students, and anyone with an interest in the history of crusades. We welcome proposals that engage directly with the volume’s theme or offer fresh perspectives on its broader implications. Our goal is to produce a topically and conceptually coherent volume. Accordingly, we reserve the right to narrow its focus once all received proposals are reviewed. The editors will do their best to organize a workshop in support of the effort.

Proposals: We welcome submissions from advanced PhD candidates and established scholars. Authors are expected to submit a proposal that either summarizes the “state of the art” on a related subject or that offers a study based on their own work with primary sources. The volume languages will be English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Submissions will be assessed on the grounds of both promise and fit; chapter submissions will be peer-reviewed first by the editors and then by reviewers commissioned by the press.

Publication agreements will be contingent upon strict adherence to submission deadlines.

Timeline: proposals are due August 31, 2025. Chapters will be due December 31, 2027. Brief proposals (400–700 words) need to articulate the question(s) of interest and introduce the source base. Overview chapters need to be in the 6,000–8,000-word range; case studies should be under 10,000 words.

Topics of interest: We envisage extensive geographical, topical, and temporal frames. The main themes include, but are not limited to:

Part I, introductory: we seek a limited number of surveys of the dynamics of evolutionary and revolutionary change (as well as resistance to change) within Latin Christendom and across targets of crusading, both during the “Classical Period” (to 1291) and during the Later Crusades (after 1291). We are particularly interested in studies that explore the interconnections of political, social, economic, and military structures.

Part II, main part: narrowly defined surveys and case studies on innovation and resistance to change within and beyond Latin Christendom: from the Maghrib to the Near East and the steppes of Eurasia, including, among others, Byzantium, the Seljuk Turks, the Mamluks, the Mongols, and the Ottomans. Samples:

– Innovation relating to political and military organization, its impact on social structures.

– Military technology: emergence vs impact, interconnections with political and social change.

– Women’s roles in the Later Crusades: continuity, change, resistance to change.

– Open field battle tactics, fortifications and siege warfare, naval warfare.

– Logistics, financing, recruitment.

These are sample areas, submissions on any other related topics are welcome. Potential contributors are encouraged to reach out to the editors with preliminary ideas before the submission deadline.