Richard Abels

"Raoul de Cambrai" (I) is among the most violent and illuminating of the twelfth-century epic poems of chivalry known as the chansons de geste. The poem is preserved in a thirteenth-century manuscript, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (BN fr. 2493), that consists of 8542 lines of poetry distributed over 150 folios. Two manuscript fragments of the poem, preserving different recensions of the tale, also survive. As it stands, BN fr. 2493 is a composite work. The first 5374 lines (Raoul I) are in verse, and the remainder (Raoul II) is in assonance, a substitute for rhyme in which the vowels are the same but the consonants differ. The character of the poem also abruptly changes with the shift in versification, going from a realistic tale of war and vengeance to a courtly romance. The most reasonable explanation for the change is that lines 5375 to 8542 represent a later continuation of the story. They are, in effect, a different poem. For historians Raoul I, with its brutally realistic depiction of warfare, politics, and feudal relations, is of far greater interest than Raoul II. Miss Crosland chose to translate only the former and I have not thought to challenge her decision.
    Raoul I is a tale of vengeance, vendetta, and betrayal, arising from a dispute over the inheritance of a county, in which the basic bonds of society--feudal loyalty, family, and friendship--come into conflict. The central dilemma in the poem has to do with loyalty. Bernier, the illegitimate son of Count Ybert of Ribemont, is the best household knight and closest friend of Raoul of Cambrai. He had been brought up as a foster son in the household of Lady Alice, Raoul's mother, and had been knighted by his lord Raoul. By the mores of the day, he owes his lord Raoul both love and loyalty. But Bernier's sense of obligation toward Raoul is tested when Raoul accepts King Louis's grant of the county of Vermandois, a fief that had once been held by Bernier's grandfather and which now belonged to his father and uncles. Compelled by his oath of fealty, Bernier reluctanty accompanies his lord in his invasion of Vermandois. Only after Raoul burns Bernier's mother to death during a brutal sack of the city of Origny and adds insult to injury by striking Bernier in public, does Bernier formally renounce his allegiance to Raoul and join his kinsmen against his former lord. In the ensuing battle Bernier slays Raoul. The remainder of the poem tells how Raoul's uncle Guerri the Red and his nephew Gautier pursue vengeance against Bernier, and how, in the end, the warring parties reconciled and forged an alliance against King Louis.
The poet poses key questions for the feudal society to which he belongs: which is the higher duty, loyalty to a lord or obligation to one's family? how far may a lord push his vassal before that vassal may legitimately renounce his oath of loyalty? what powers and authority do kings legitimately possess? is nobility a matter of birth or of character? is bravery sufficient to make a knight chivalrous? The result is a moral puzzle which neither the poet or his heroes/anti-heroes, Raoul, Bernier, Guerri, and Gautier can fully resolve.
    Though the world of Raoul is violent and brutal, the ethos of chivalry and courtliness (courtoise) still informs the poem. Chivalry was a contested ethos in the late twelfth century, and the poet’s attitude toward that ethos is ambivalent and complex. He simultaneously celebrates the cult of prowess and honor and criticizes the violence that it generates. As Richard Kaeuper observes, the poet preaches mesure in knights and restraint in warfare. But although he criticizes warfare fought merely out of pride, he does not condemn warfare itself, and lavishes attention on the courage and prowess of knights in combat. The importance to the poet of courtliness as a check upon  the violence inherent in chivalry is underscored by the failure of the poem's main characters to adhere to its strictures. Raoul of Cambrai is presented as a brave and resourceful knight. Though we mainly see him breaking heads on the battlefield, we catch glimpses of another Raoul, Raoul the royal courtier who plays chess masterfully, who dresses elegantly, who is generous to his household knights, and who has earned the love of a beautiful lady. But Raoul is a hero with a fatal flaw--his lack of moderation. As in a Greek tragedy, the horrors of the poem are the result of overweening pride and lack of moderation. The poem, in essence, is a meditation upon the fragility of chivalric society and the necessity of restraint.

This is pure silliness. It is my first published book. Unfortunately, the publisher, Laranmark, went out of business just as the book came out. I wrote it under a pen name because, as a newly employed academic, I didn't think that a book of humor would be career enhancing. The publisher's bankruptcy saved me from putting that to the test.

This biography of Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons (871-899), combines a sensitive reading of the primary sources with a careful evaluation of the most recent scholarly research on the history and archaeology of ninth-century England. Alfred emerges from the pages of this biography as a great warlord, an effective and inventive ruler, and a passionate scholar whose piety and intellectual curiosity led him to sponsor a cultural and spiritual renaissance. Alfred's victories on the battlefield and his sweeping administrative innovations not only preserved his native Wessex from viking conquest, but began the process of political consolidation that would culminate in the creation of the kingdom of England.

Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England strips away the varnish of later interpretations to recover the historical Alfred, pragmatic, generous, brutal, pious, scholarly, within the context of his own age.

... 609, there were six such houses for men and women in Montesquieu around 1209,72 while Saint-Martin-de-la-Lande boasted ten at that time.73 Similar establishments were reported inLe-Mas-Saintes-66 William of Puylaurens, Chronica, ed. J. Beyssier (Paris, 1904), p. 435 ...

The scene is familiar to most students of English history. In 664 A.D. the Northumbrian kings Oswiu and his son Alhfrith met with their clergy at Whitby to resolve (in Bede's words) “a great and active controversy about the keeping of Easter.” Oswiu, who presided over the council, listened patiently to a long and often bitter debate between the Irish and Roman advocates. On the surface, it was an unequal contest, for the traditions of Iona were upheld by the king's own bishop, Colman, while those of Rome were championed by a young abbot, Wilfrid, a protege of Alhfrith. But once again David slew Goliath. Oswiu, fearing for the welfare of his soul, pronounced in favor of the Apostle Peter, the “hostiarius … qui claues tenere probatur,” thus turning his back on his own childhood teachings. “When the king had spoken, all who were seated there or standing by, both high and low, gave up their imperfect rules, and readily accepted in their place those which they recognized to be be...

"This biography of Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons (871-899), combines a sensitive reading of the primary sources with a careful evaluation of the most recent scholarly research on the history and archaeology of ninth-century England. Alfred emerges from the pages of this biography as a great warlord, an effective and inventive ruler, and a passionate scholar whose piety and intellectual curiosity led him to sponsor a cultural and spiritual renaissance. Alfred's victories on the battlefield and his sweeping administrative innovations not only preserved his native Wessex from viking conquest, but began the process of political consolidation that would culminate in the creation of the kingdom of England. Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England strips away the varnish of later interpretations to recover the historical Alfred, pragmatic, generous, brutal, pious, scholarly, within the context of his own age."

... Lordship and military obligation in Anglo-Saxon England. Post a Comment. CONTRIBUTORS: ... PAGES (INTRO/BODY): xii,. SUBJECT(S): Great Britain; History, Military; History; 449-1066;Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066; Land tenure; Feudalism; Anglo-Saxons; To 1500; England. ...

This paper considers King Alfred the Great's and Æthelred II’s evolving strategies in their wars against vikings. Alfred's success, it is suggested, was based on his ability to plan strategically on a grand scale; Æthelred II’s failure was due, at least in part, to his and his advisors’ inability to develop a coherent strategy against a similar threat.

Cultural considerations and constraints fundamentally shaped medieval warfare on all levels, from defining casus belli, to strategic and tactical decision-making, to the conduct and experiences of ordinary soldiers. Fear of death, the desire for victory, material conditions, technology, economic development, and individual genius, have certainly conditioned the historical development of the practice of war. But culture has played an equally, perhaps even more, important role. The causes of war—what is deemed worth killing and dying for—are defined by culture. Culture also dictates who fights and why, draws distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate conduct in war, and defines what constitutes victory. Culture even shapes how the physiological and psychological states associated with war—fear, excitement, joy—are understood and experienced as " emotions. " The acceptance of war waged upon peasant noncombatants in the Middle Ages was as much a matter of culture as was the chivalric ideal that enjoined nobles to capture and ransom others of their own social class rather than kill them. That a society as hierarchical as that of France and England in the late twelfth century should have created a code of war in which the lives and welfare of aristocratic warriors were privileged over those of ordinary combatants and even non-combatants should come as no shock. Nor should it be surprising to a student of medieval religion, society, and culture that medieval commanders could engage in military actions as a matter of course that today would be deemed atrocities, or even that commanders who failed to massacre an enemy thought deserving of such treatment might be castigated by Christian clerics for a lack of moral zeal. These are simply reminders that why and how men fought in the Middle Ages were shaped by values peculiar to that culture.

Sawyer 877, a memorandum issued by King Æthelred II in 993, is an account of how the lands of a thegn named Wulfbald came into the hands of the king. This charter sheds light on the limits of the power of the late Anglo-Saxon state. Tenth- and eleventh-century English kings were capable, if they chose, of intruding into the lives of their subjects and, in particular, of extracting monies from them to an extent greater than in any other contemporary polity in Western Europe. Nevertheless, we ought not to exaggerate their power. Nor should we assume that Anglo-Saxon kings or their agents always felt obliged to execute the judgments of royal courts. Whether a court’s judgment was executed could depend upon whether the king or his local agent perceived a direct interest in the suit. An individual with wealth and power, such as Wulfbald, could defy with impunity the decision of a court if the
dispute was internal to his family — and did not culminate in a major breach of the king’s peace. Even in cases of this sort, the resolution of disputes ultimately lay in the consensus of the political community.
of the local community

This is a teaching document that I wrote for my war in the Middle Ages class. It summarizes my thoughts about the Viking wars in England. As I am currently preparing a revised edition of my biography of Alfred the Great and am writing a short biography of  Æthelred the Unready for Penguin, I welcome comments and criticisms. I am particularly interested in recent trends in viking studies.

I prepared this as a "read ahead" for a seminar on crusades and holy war that I gave at the U.S. Naval Academy's Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership in fall 2014. It is based on teaching materials I prepared for my survey course on war in the middle ages and for seminars on the crusades

COURSE DESCRIPTION HH337 " England in the Viking Age " is a survey of the history of Anglo-Saxon England from the initial appearance of viking raiders in Britain, c. 800, to the last " viking " invasion of England, the Norman Conquest of 1066. Among the topics covered are the transformation of " England " from a patchwork of small, independent kingdoms at the beginning of the ninth century into a centralized monarchical state by end of the tenth century, and the role played by viking wars and Scandinavian settlement in that process. Special attention will paid to the pivotal reigns of King Alfred the Great of Wessex (r. 871-899) and King AEthelred II " the Unready " (r. 978-1016). More generally, the course surveys the key political, military, social, economic, and religious developments in England during this period, with an emphasis on Anglo-Scandinavian cultural and social interactions.

The Second Viking War dominated and doomed the reign of King Æthelred II “the Unready.”  A prosperous and militarily ill-prepared England proved an irresistible attraction for rival Scandinavian warlords striving to consolidate power in Denmark and Norway. Æthelred and his councilors tried various means to oppose the raiders, sometimes fighting them, sometimes paying them, while undertaking ambitious and costly military programs reminiscent of Alfred.  Nothing worked, and raiding once again gave way to invasion. Between 1013 and 1016 England was conquered twice, first by the Danish king Swein Forkbeard and then by his son Cnut.  Cnut, however, chose not to rule  England as a conqueror. Appreciating the power to be had by maintaining England’s administrative institutions and theocratic political ideology, Cnut reinvented himself as a pious English king. Cnut conquered England, but in a sense, it also conquered him.

Between 865 and 874, a viking army labeled “the Great Heathen Army” in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle had conquered all but one English kingdom of England, which were now ruled by native kings. The exception was Wessex ruled by King Alfred of Wessex (871-899).  Facing the same challenge as these other English rulers, Alfred not not only ensured the survival of Wessex but increased the power of his monarchy. In doing so,, he laid the foundations for what would become the Kingdom of England seven decades or so after his death. Alfred in 871 was king of Wessex, the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom which then extended over England south of the Thames and parts of southern Essex. In the winter of 877/878 he almost lost that kingdom and was forced to take refuge in the marshes of Somerset. But by his death in 899 he claimed the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons," a title which perhaps exaggerated his actual power--he ruled only Wessex and western Mercia-- but which accurately reflects the new status of kingship in England.

In the late eighth century, there was no kingdom of England. What we call “England” was a patchwork of kingdoms ruled by Germanic dynasties that identified themselves as Saxon, Angle, or, in the case of Kent and Sussex, Jute. These kingdoms warred with one another, with the victor establishing overlordship and imposing tribute. The most powerful of these kingdoms in the early eighth century was Northumbria. By the end of the century, that role was taken over by Mercia, and in the ninth century, by Wessex. The internal dynamics of the Anglo-Saxon political world was disrupted by the advent of raiders from Scandinavia.  The viking raids of the late eighth and early ninth centuries were small but grew increasingly larger over the first half of the ninth century, as viking bands coalesced into large raiding armies numbering in the thousands. Vikings came for to acquire wealth and found it in the vulnerable monasteries and towns of England and Francia.  The arrival in East Anglia in 865 of what an English chronicler called ‘the Great Heathen Army’ signaled a profound change in motivation. These viking came not to raid but to conquer and settler.  By 874 viking kings were ruling either directly or through native clients all the old kingdoms of England with the exception of Wessex.  The challenge faced by its ruler, King Alfred, was survival.

By the reign of Edgar the Peacemaker, Alfred’s “kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons” had become the Kingdom of England. Alfred’s successors forged this kingdom through military conquest, which they secured through oaths of loyalty and garrisoned burhs that served as islands of royal power. The West Saxon dynasty enhanced its authority by defining the king as the personal lord of all freemen and by promoting a theocratic ideology based on a partnership between Crown and Church reformers. Most critically, they established institutions of government that allowed a West Saxon king based in southern England to be able to impose his will throughout a kingdom that reached north into what is now Scotland. The ‘Danelaw’ was integrated into this kingdom politically and judicially, but retained a regional character based on its hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture. The commercial culture of the Danelaw and changes in estate management spurred the growth of the economy.

The following postings are my notes and slides for a Smithsonian Associates lecture series that I gave on the Crusades in fall 2014. Each lecture was about an hour and a half long, followed by questions and discussion. I make no pretense that the lectures are "scholarly." They were intended as an introduction to the Crusades for a general audience and are an extension of my undergraduate teaching at the Naval Academy.  This gives me an opportunity to thank those who enrolled in the lecture series. When I agreed to give this course, I underestimated how time consuming it would be to prepare a public lecture series while performing my regular duties at the Naval Academy, but the enthusiasm, engagement, and intellectual curiosity of the audience made it worthwhile.

Sept. 15:  What Is a Crusade?

The evolution of Christian ideas about war and violence from the church fathers to Pope Urban II and the Council of Clermont; four main schools of crusading historians  (traditionalists, pluralists, generalists, and popularists).

Sept. 22:  The  First Crusade

From the Council of Clermont and the origins of Pope Urban II's call for crusade in 1095 to the "Crusade of the Faint-Hearted" of 1101; pogroms against the Jews.

Sept. 29:  Crusading in the 12th Century

The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Latin Principalities in the East; Arabic and Turkish responses to the First Crusade; the disastrous Second Crusade; the rise of Saladin and the retaking of Jerusalem; the Third Crusade, which pitted Richard the Lionheart against Saladin.

Oct. 6:  Early Crusaders and the Military Orders

Intentions and motivations of those who took the cross in the first century of crusading: Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights.

Oct. 20:  Crusades in Europe

Transformation of the Spanish "reconquest" into a crusade; crusades against pagans in the Baltic; the brutal Albigensian Crusade against heretics in Southern France; and political crusades against enemies of the papacy.

Oct. 27:  The Later Crusades and the Legacy of Crusading

The unsuccessful crusades of Louis IX; the last crusade; the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588; the fall of the Latin Crusader states; the fall of Acre in 1291; crusading in the late 14th and 15th centuries; the afterlife of the Crusades in the West and the Muslim world.

This podcast compares popular conceptions of the Middle Ages to their underlying historical reality. The co-hosts are Dr. Richard Abels and Carol Fletcher. Richard is professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy, where he taught medieval history for 35 years. He has written extensively on medieval military history and on England in the early Middle Ages. Carol is associate professor of journalism and media studies at Hofstra University. They have been friends since approximately the Middle Ages. Among the subjects we will discuss are why there are so few historically accurate medieval movies, medieval warfare, Crusades, the Black Death, the evolving character of chivalry, King Arthur, and Vikings. The title comes from one of Richard’s favorite ‘medieval films,’ “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a parody of chivalry that is unnervingly close to its twelfth-century reality. Arthur (having lopped off the right arm of the Black Knight, who has refused to allow him to pass without a fight): “Now stand aside, worthy adversary”The Black Knight: “’Tis but a scratch”Arthur: “A SCRATCH? Your arms off!”The Black Knight: “No it isn’t”Arthur: “Well, what’s that then?” (pointing at the arm)The Black Knight: “I’ve had worse.”

The podcast is based on the biography I wrote of Æthelred “the Unready” for Penguin and a Smithsonian Associates lecture I gave last January. Nick Barksdale, who maintains “The Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages” channel, edited the podcast and added the pictures and videos. He is posting the lecture in several installments. The first, an overview, is now on the web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqrT_nVKRGM

This podcast compares popular conceptions of the Middle Ages to their underlying historical reality. The title is from the Black Knight scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a truly funny parody of chivalry that is unnervingly close to its twelfth-century reality. The host is Dr. Richard Abels, professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy, where he taught medieval history for 35 years. He has written extensively on war and culture in the Middle Ages and on Anglo-Saxon England. Most episodes will feature a co-host. Episodes will cover a variety of topics, including why there are so few historically accurate movies about the Middle Ages, the Holy Grail, medieval chivalry, the nature of war in the Middle Ages. Crusades, the Black Death, Vikings, and maybe even King Arthur and Robin Hood..