Loyalty in the Medieval World

5th-7th April 2024, University of Lincoln

Loyalty has long been recognised as a crucial medieval concept, being invoked by contemporaries in such widely spaced contexts as political struggles, state-building, courtly romance, group solidarities, and marital and kinship bonds. This conference will build on sessions at Leeds IMC to bring together fresh approaches to loyalty in practice and as an ethical bond, and foster a deeper understanding of emotion, behaviour, and social and political structures across the medieval world. We are delighted to have Professor David Stocker (University of Leeds) and Professor Alice Taylor (King’s College London) as keynotes.
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers, which could address questions including (but not limited to): How was loyalty harnessed within lordship and kingship as a tool of peace-keeping or state-building? How did ideas of loyalty become regularised through oaths? How did contemporaries understand loyalty and disloyalty? How was loyalty to a place experienced and expressed? How did societies understand and regulate loyalty within kin-groups and marriage? What was the language of loyalty?

Please submit a proposal of up to 250 words, and a short biography, to Chris Lewis (Chris.Lewis@sas.ac.uk) or Hannah Boston (hboston@lincoln.ac.uk) by 16 October 2023.
We will have a limited number of bursaries available for student and low-waged individuals. Please indicate on your proposal if you would like to be considered for one of these.
Kindly sponsored by the Haskins Society, the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Lincoln Record Society.