Craig M Nakashian – författare

An examination of the actions of clerics in warfare in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, looking at the difference between their actions and prescriptions for behaviour.Christianity has had a problematic relationship with warfare throughout its history, with the middle ages being no exception. While warfare came to be accepted as a necessary activity for laymen, clerics were largely excluded frommilitary activity. Those who participated in war risked falling foul of a number of accepted canons of the church as well as the opinions of their peers. However, many continued to involve themselves in war - including active participation on battlefields.This book, focusing on a number of individual English clerics between 1000 and 1250, seeks to untangle the cultural debate surrounding this military behaviour. It sets its examination into a broader context, including the clerical reform movement of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the development of a more comprehensive canon law, and the popularization of chivalric ideology. Rather than portraying these clerics as anachronistic outliers or mere criminals, this study looks at how contemporaries understood their behaviour, arguing that there was a wide range of views - which often included praise for clerics who fought in licit causes. The picture which emerges is that clerical violence, despite its prescriptive condemnation, was often judged by how much it advanced the interests of the observer. Craig M. Nakashian is Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University-Texarkana.

An examination of the actions of clerics in warfare in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, looking at the difference between their actions and prescriptions for behaviour.Christianity has had a problematic relationship with warfare throughout its history, with the Middle Ages being no exception. While warfare came to be accepted as a necessary activity for laymen, clerics were largely excluded frommilitary activity. Those who participated in war risked falling foul of a number of accepted canons of the church as well as the opinions of their peers. However, many continued to involve themselves in war - including active participation on battlefields.This book, focusing on a number of individual English clerics between 1000 and 1250, seeks to untangle the cultural debate surrounding this military behaviour. It sets its examination into a broader context, including the clerical reform movement of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the development of a more comprehensive canon law, and the popularization of chivalric ideology. Rather than portraying these clerics as anachronistic outliers or mere criminals, this study looks at how contemporaries understood their behaviour, arguing that there was a wide range of views - which often included praise for clerics who fought in licit causes. The picture which emerges is that clerical violence, despite its prescriptive condemnation, was often judged by how much it advanced the interests of the observer. CRAIG M. NAKASHIAN is Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University-Texarkana.

"The leading academic vehicle for scholarly publication in the field of medieval warfare." Medieval WarfareThis volume examines the diverse ways in which medieval European cities, towns, and other urban communities engaged with warfare. For northern Europe, articles consider how subterfuge and betrayal were deployed to capture strongholds, the role of urban communities (large and small) in English warfare in the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, how morale was maintained (or undermined) during a siege, how Scottish cities and towns supported efforts to resist English invasion, the military agreements with magnates used by Rhineland cities to promote peace, and what economic evidence can show us about the contribution of French cities to war efforts in the later Middle Ages. Moving south, essays explore the nature of warfare in twelfth and thirteenth century Lombardy, the actions of the Angevin royal family in Tuscan urban warfare and politics, the composition of Italian armies (gleaned from cavalry musters from Bologna), the importance of the city of Murcia during the War of the Two Pedros, and the creation of chivalric spaces out of Andalucian cities.