To the modern observer there seems to have been quite a large grey area between private and public warfare in the late middle-ages. It is often quite hard to distinguish between violence committed...Show moreTo the modern observer there seems to have been quite a large grey area between private and public warfare in the late middle-ages. It is often quite hard to distinguish between violence committed in name of a public authority and violence on a private title. This thesis uses a case-study of a violent conflict in the border region between Holland and the Sticht (Utrecht) ca. 1420, to explore if it is possible and useful to distinguish between the private and public elements in late medieval warfare. A large number of the border lords where able to wage war under their own banner for their own goals, and without guidance or direction of the central authority. Based on my findings I argue that private and public forms of warfare went hand in hand in the late middle-ages. Princes where more interested in channelling this violence towards their opponents, than in establishing a monopoly on violence.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
open access
2013-10-03T00:00:00Z, 2013-10-03T00:00:00Z
The thesis presents an introduction and edition of the Chronicon Moissiacense, a Carolingian world chronicle as contained in BN lat. 4886. The various manuscripts related to this text are explored...Show moreThe thesis presents an introduction and edition of the Chronicon Moissiacense, a Carolingian world chronicle as contained in BN lat. 4886. The various manuscripts related to this text are explored and placed in a stemma, followed by a review of previous editions and a short exploration of Merovingian and Carolingian historiography, with particular focus on world and universal chronicles. The Chronicon Moissiacense is mainly interesting because of its highly composite nature; it expands on an older, 8th century text that records history up to the year 741 and is a composition of ancient as well as early medieval authors. Bede's 66th chapter of De Temporum Ratione forms the spine of the chronicle, but this text is heavily interpolated with fragments from Flavius Josephus, Eusebius, Jerome, Orosius, Fredegar, the Liber Historiae Francorum, and other sources. The Chronicon Moissiacense presents a continuation of this text up to the year 818, drawing on other sources such as the Annales Laureshamenses, multiple minor annals, and a 'southern source' believed to be lost today. The text attempts to connect Roman with Merovingian and Carolingian history in various ways, such as through the inclusion of a shared Trojan heritage, but also through a reworking of the chronology.Show less
