Articles by Anais Waag
Anglo-Norman Studies XLIV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2021, 2022
Thirteenth-Century England XVII: Proceedings of the Cambridge Conference 2017, 2021
Journal of Medieval History, 2019
This article re-examines epistolary accounts by Berenguela and Blanche of Castile of the Battle o... more This article re-examines epistolary accounts by Berenguela and Blanche of Castile of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. Building on previous assertions that Berenguela's letter is a forgery, and through close comparison with the three surviving male eyewitness accounts, this article argues the letters of Berenguela and Blanche - in the form in which they survive - are confections based on original letters. The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa's mythical status and standing as a watershed event within the narrative of 'Gran Reconquista' is understood to have been largely shaped by three male-authored chronicle accounts: 'Chronica Latina regum Castelle' (1239), 'Chronicon mundi' (1239) and 'De rebus Hispaniae' (1243). In asserting these letters are confected accounts, in circulation by the 1220s, this article argues that battle commemoration began in the immediate aftermath of the Christian victory, and that female voices were recognised by contemporaries as a viable tool for commemoration.
Historical Research, 2019
This article examines how the ars dictaminis, the conventions which governed medieval letter writ... more This article examines how the ars dictaminis, the conventions which governed medieval letter writing, was used within a selection of thirteenth‐century royal letters written in the names of Berenguela of Castile, Blanche of Castile, Violant of Hungary, Marguerite of Provence, Eleanor of Provence, Blanche of Navarre and some of the men with whom they most frequently corresponded. In setting out contemporary usage of the ars dictaminis within this selection, this article proffers an examination of formal and public expression of power (both female and male) in thirteenth‐century letters – an expression which was articulated surprisingly similarly – and highlights the complexities of female political dialogue.
Conference Papers by Anais Waag
Conference Organisation by Anais Waag
Rethinking Heiresses and Female Rulers (c.1000-c.1400): The Theory and Practice of Hereditary Roy... more Rethinking Heiresses and Female Rulers (c.1000-c.1400): The Theory and Practice of Hereditary Royal Rulership in Medieval Europe and Beyond
Online workshop, September 6 and 7 2023
Female royal rulership is a phenomenon still largely associated with the Early Modern period. Yet throughout the High and Later Middle Ages, more than forty royal heiresses either asserted claims or were acclaimed to thrones across Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond, with varying degrees of success. While dynastic contingency led to female succession in the Middle Ages, less clear are how, why, and when female claims to thrones and female royal rulership were experienced. This two-day workshop addresses these questions by bringing together scholars with a range of expertise in Medieval Studies to examine and discuss the position, perception, and actual power of royal heiresses and female rulers in Medieval Europe and beyond, between c.1000 and c.1400. This workshop will lay the foundation for an online interdisciplinary international conference, 'Gender and the Exercise of Medieval Power: Europe and Beyond', hosted by University of Lincoln in 2024.
This workshop has two overarching aims. First, to examine and understand how far an heiress' access to, or baring from the throne was determined by contemporary politics rather than by fundamental principles of opposition to female rulers. Second, to examine different aspects of 'female sovereignty'. Interdisciplinary approaches and non-Eurocentric perspectives are both welcomed and encouraged.
This one-day workshop on epistolary culture seeks to provide a forum for the discussion of mediev... more This one-day workshop on epistolary culture seeks to provide a forum for the discussion of medieval letters, an essential tool for communication in the Middle Ages. While letters are a crucial historical source, broadly and frequently used by medievalists, there is still much to understand about them and the letter writing process. Very frequently, editions of letters were established in the nineteenth century, when they were considered unproblematic bearers of reportage or historical truth in contrast to more fictive historical or literary texts. Current research is beginning to address this, but though letters seem to pop up in others contexts, very rarely are events dedicated to their study exclusively. The innovative work currently being carried out in this field is changing the analytical approach medievalists have to such material.
The workshop will be a one-day event, taking place on Thursday 20 June 2019. Through small panels, consisting of two or three papers each, and a final roundtable discussion, conference participants and attendees will discuss the pre-circulated papers and engage not only with one another’s work but the wider implications this research might have for the ongoing study of medieval epistolography. This will represent what we hope is the opening of a new chapter in the study of medieval epistolography, which considers these letters less as simplistic manifestations of unproblematically ‘real’ personal sentiments and as quotidian correspondance, but instead as complex composed texts which embody political, ideological, and religious aims.
Papers to be pre-circulated:
Anaïs Waag - Women’s Letters and the Manufacture of Memory
Kathleen Neal - Probing recipients’ identities through senders’ epistolary rhetoric
Thomas W. Smith - Letters of the First Crusade
Lucy Hennings - The Ars Dictaminis, Learned Law and the Performance of Kingship through Epistolography in the Reign of Henry III
Francesca Battista - Gender Constructions and Women’s Voices in the Artes Dictandi and Model Letter Collections
Laura Morreale - A Voice in the East: Francophone Leaders and Lettres in the Late Thirteenth Century
David d’Avray - From Letter to Law: the earliest papal decretals
Hailey Ogle - Emotions, Orality and the Medieval Letter: Radulfus Tortarius’ Version of Amicus et Amilius
Helen Birkett - News in the Middle Ages: News, Communications, and the Launch of the Third Crusade in 1187-88
REGISTER BY 17 JUNE 2019
If you would like to join the speakers for the conference dinner, please contact Simon Parsons via email (simon.1.parsons) by 14 June 2019.
For any further queries, please contact the organisers: Anaïs Waag ([email protected]), Simon Parsons ([email protected]), or Thomas W. Smith ([email protected])
As an essential tool for communication in the Middle Ages, letters are a crucial historical sourc... more As an essential tool for communication in the Middle Ages, letters are a crucial historical source, broadly and frequently used by medievalists. And yet, there is still much to understand about medieval letters and the letter writing process. How exactly were medieval letters, particularly missives, composed and created? What was the relationship between sender, scribe and chancery? How do epistolary theory and practice intersect?
To explore and answer these questions, and to find common ground between medievalists’ many ways of approaching letters, we are organising a strand and roundtable discussion on medieval epistolography. To this end, we welcome proposals for 20-minute papers on any and all aspects of letters and letter writing. Topics could include, but are in no way limited to:
∞ letter composition and medieval chanceries
∞ epistolary theory and practice
∞ letters patent and missive
∞ the ars dictaminis
∞ epistolary discourse
∞ social diplomatics
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to Anais Waag at [email protected] or to Dr Thomas Smith at [email protected] by Sunday, 2 September 2018
Seminar Papers by Anais Waag
Talks by Anais Waag
SMM Webinar - The Medieval Mediterranean: Local & Global Perspectives
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Articles by Anais Waag
Conference Papers by Anais Waag
Conference Organisation by Anais Waag
Online workshop, September 6 and 7 2023
Female royal rulership is a phenomenon still largely associated with the Early Modern period. Yet throughout the High and Later Middle Ages, more than forty royal heiresses either asserted claims or were acclaimed to thrones across Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond, with varying degrees of success. While dynastic contingency led to female succession in the Middle Ages, less clear are how, why, and when female claims to thrones and female royal rulership were experienced. This two-day workshop addresses these questions by bringing together scholars with a range of expertise in Medieval Studies to examine and discuss the position, perception, and actual power of royal heiresses and female rulers in Medieval Europe and beyond, between c.1000 and c.1400. This workshop will lay the foundation for an online interdisciplinary international conference, 'Gender and the Exercise of Medieval Power: Europe and Beyond', hosted by University of Lincoln in 2024.
This workshop has two overarching aims. First, to examine and understand how far an heiress' access to, or baring from the throne was determined by contemporary politics rather than by fundamental principles of opposition to female rulers. Second, to examine different aspects of 'female sovereignty'. Interdisciplinary approaches and non-Eurocentric perspectives are both welcomed and encouraged.
The workshop will be a one-day event, taking place on Thursday 20 June 2019. Through small panels, consisting of two or three papers each, and a final roundtable discussion, conference participants and attendees will discuss the pre-circulated papers and engage not only with one another’s work but the wider implications this research might have for the ongoing study of medieval epistolography. This will represent what we hope is the opening of a new chapter in the study of medieval epistolography, which considers these letters less as simplistic manifestations of unproblematically ‘real’ personal sentiments and as quotidian correspondance, but instead as complex composed texts which embody political, ideological, and religious aims.
Papers to be pre-circulated:
Anaïs Waag - Women’s Letters and the Manufacture of Memory
Kathleen Neal - Probing recipients’ identities through senders’ epistolary rhetoric
Thomas W. Smith - Letters of the First Crusade
Lucy Hennings - The Ars Dictaminis, Learned Law and the Performance of Kingship through Epistolography in the Reign of Henry III
Francesca Battista - Gender Constructions and Women’s Voices in the Artes Dictandi and Model Letter Collections
Laura Morreale - A Voice in the East: Francophone Leaders and Lettres in the Late Thirteenth Century
David d’Avray - From Letter to Law: the earliest papal decretals
Hailey Ogle - Emotions, Orality and the Medieval Letter: Radulfus Tortarius’ Version of Amicus et Amilius
Helen Birkett - News in the Middle Ages: News, Communications, and the Launch of the Third Crusade in 1187-88
REGISTER BY 17 JUNE 2019
If you would like to join the speakers for the conference dinner, please contact Simon Parsons via email (simon.1.parsons) by 14 June 2019.
For any further queries, please contact the organisers: Anaïs Waag ([email protected]), Simon Parsons ([email protected]), or Thomas W. Smith ([email protected])
To explore and answer these questions, and to find common ground between medievalists’ many ways of approaching letters, we are organising a strand and roundtable discussion on medieval epistolography. To this end, we welcome proposals for 20-minute papers on any and all aspects of letters and letter writing. Topics could include, but are in no way limited to:
∞ letter composition and medieval chanceries
∞ epistolary theory and practice
∞ letters patent and missive
∞ the ars dictaminis
∞ epistolary discourse
∞ social diplomatics
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to Anais Waag at [email protected] or to Dr Thomas Smith at [email protected] by Sunday, 2 September 2018
Seminar Papers by Anais Waag
Talks by Anais Waag
Online workshop, September 6 and 7 2023
Female royal rulership is a phenomenon still largely associated with the Early Modern period. Yet throughout the High and Later Middle Ages, more than forty royal heiresses either asserted claims or were acclaimed to thrones across Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond, with varying degrees of success. While dynastic contingency led to female succession in the Middle Ages, less clear are how, why, and when female claims to thrones and female royal rulership were experienced. This two-day workshop addresses these questions by bringing together scholars with a range of expertise in Medieval Studies to examine and discuss the position, perception, and actual power of royal heiresses and female rulers in Medieval Europe and beyond, between c.1000 and c.1400. This workshop will lay the foundation for an online interdisciplinary international conference, 'Gender and the Exercise of Medieval Power: Europe and Beyond', hosted by University of Lincoln in 2024.
This workshop has two overarching aims. First, to examine and understand how far an heiress' access to, or baring from the throne was determined by contemporary politics rather than by fundamental principles of opposition to female rulers. Second, to examine different aspects of 'female sovereignty'. Interdisciplinary approaches and non-Eurocentric perspectives are both welcomed and encouraged.
The workshop will be a one-day event, taking place on Thursday 20 June 2019. Through small panels, consisting of two or three papers each, and a final roundtable discussion, conference participants and attendees will discuss the pre-circulated papers and engage not only with one another’s work but the wider implications this research might have for the ongoing study of medieval epistolography. This will represent what we hope is the opening of a new chapter in the study of medieval epistolography, which considers these letters less as simplistic manifestations of unproblematically ‘real’ personal sentiments and as quotidian correspondance, but instead as complex composed texts which embody political, ideological, and religious aims.
Papers to be pre-circulated:
Anaïs Waag - Women’s Letters and the Manufacture of Memory
Kathleen Neal - Probing recipients’ identities through senders’ epistolary rhetoric
Thomas W. Smith - Letters of the First Crusade
Lucy Hennings - The Ars Dictaminis, Learned Law and the Performance of Kingship through Epistolography in the Reign of Henry III
Francesca Battista - Gender Constructions and Women’s Voices in the Artes Dictandi and Model Letter Collections
Laura Morreale - A Voice in the East: Francophone Leaders and Lettres in the Late Thirteenth Century
David d’Avray - From Letter to Law: the earliest papal decretals
Hailey Ogle - Emotions, Orality and the Medieval Letter: Radulfus Tortarius’ Version of Amicus et Amilius
Helen Birkett - News in the Middle Ages: News, Communications, and the Launch of the Third Crusade in 1187-88
REGISTER BY 17 JUNE 2019
If you would like to join the speakers for the conference dinner, please contact Simon Parsons via email (simon.1.parsons) by 14 June 2019.
For any further queries, please contact the organisers: Anaïs Waag ([email protected]), Simon Parsons ([email protected]), or Thomas W. Smith ([email protected])
To explore and answer these questions, and to find common ground between medievalists’ many ways of approaching letters, we are organising a strand and roundtable discussion on medieval epistolography. To this end, we welcome proposals for 20-minute papers on any and all aspects of letters and letter writing. Topics could include, but are in no way limited to:
∞ letter composition and medieval chanceries
∞ epistolary theory and practice
∞ letters patent and missive
∞ the ars dictaminis
∞ epistolary discourse
∞ social diplomatics
Please send abstracts of 250-300 words to Anais Waag at [email protected] or to Dr Thomas Smith at [email protected] by Sunday, 2 September 2018