Overview

Essays exploring the dynamics of rebellion across Europe - from Sweden and Slovakia to the Iberian Peninsula and Hungary - over five centuries. Rebellion was a fundamental part of the political ecosystem of the Middle Ages. Medieval Europe witnessed numerous instances of noble rebellion, popular protest and communal resistance against political authority. However, most scholarship has focused on the causes and/or life cycle of the most famous individual movements, such as the Barons' War in England, the Hussites in Bohemia and the Burgundian-Armagnac conflict in France, and there has been relatively little comparative analysis of political protest across both time and "national" borders. Where it exists, it tends to favour a thematic approach and be narrowly focused in terms of geographical coverage. Conversely, this book breaks new ground in its wide geographical and chronological range, from twelfth-century Sicily to late fifteenth-century Ireland, exploring the various forms that active resistance could take. Its essays offer fresh perspectives on rebellion: as a political act, its theoretical justifications, the role of language and propaganda, the royal counter-responses that it provoked, and its ramifications, both personal and communal. Together they shine a new light on the complex interrelationship between legal authority, violence and politics, and significantly enhance our understanding of rebellion during this period.