Using Concepts in Medieval History

Perspectives on Britain and Ireland, 1100-1500
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-3-030-77279-6
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 201 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 330 g

This book is the first of its kind to engage explicitly with the practice of conceptual history as it relates to the study of the Middle Ages, exploring the pay-offs and pitfalls of using concepts in medieval history. Concepts are indispensable to historians as a means of understanding past societies, but those concepts conjured in an effort to bring order to the infinite complexity of the past have a bad habit of taking on a life of their own and inordinately influencing historical interpretation. The most famous example is ‘feudalism’, whose fate as a concept is reviewed here by E.A.R. Brown nearly fifty years after her seminal article on the topic. The volume’s contributors offer a series of case studies of other concepts – 'colony', 'crisis', 'frontier', 'identity', 'magic', 'networks' and 'politics' – that have been influential, particularly among historians of Britain and Ireland in the later Middle Ages. The book explores the creative friction between historical ideas and analytical categories, and the potential for fresh and meaningful understandings to emerge from their dialogue.

Zielgruppe

Upper undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Armstrong, Jackson W.

Ruddick, Andrea

Crooks, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Geschichtswissenschaft: Theorie und Methoden
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I.- 1. ‘Tyrannous Constructs’ or Tools of The Trade? The Use and Abuse of Concepts in Medieval History - Jackson W. Armstrong, Peter Crooks, Andrea Ruddick.- 2. Feudalism: Reflections on a Tyrannical Construct’s Fate, from Paradigm to Personae - E.A.R. Brown.- Part II.- 3. Colony - Peter Crooks.- 4. Crisis - Carl Watkins.- 5. Frontier - Jackson W. Armstrong.- 6. Identity - Andrea Ruddick.- 7. Magic - Sophie Page.- 8. Networks - Eliza Hartrich.- 9. Politics - Chris Fletcher.- Part III.- 10. Reflections on Using Concepts - John Watts.

Über Autor(innen)

Jackson W. Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Aberdeen, UK. 

Peter Crooks is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Ireland.

Andrea Ruddick is a History teacher at St Paul’s School, London, UK. She previously worked as a lecturer and research fellow at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford.