Introduction

Veach, Colin

doi:10.7228/manchester/9780719089374.003.0001

Extract

Transnational aristocracy

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a complex network of lordship transcended traditional national boundaries. The cross-border connections of the men involved were invaluable to those at the top, such as the king of England, who could thus harness their service across several provinces. The aristocratic communities of north-western Europe were knit together in this way. The forces involved were not all to the king’s advantage, however. Bonds of allegiance could often lose focus for those holding lands in several realms. For those whose lands included significant frontier components, profiles could be raised, fortunes made and rebellion contemplated.

The field of medieval British history is currently led by historians who, eschewing to a greater or lesser extent traditional national boundaries, situate their studies within the interconnected histories of north-western Europe. Most full-length works of this genre tend to have rather broad scope, charting general themes over centuries of interaction. For instance, Rees Davies’s Domination and Conquest: The Experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1100–1300 (Cambridge, 1990) and The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093–1343 (Oxford, 2000) are unrivalled in their adroit handling of the complex history of the British Isles. Likewise, his final book Lords & Lordship in the British Isles in the Late Middle Ages (Oxford, 2009), though dealing with a later period, has a pertinence which transcends its chronological bookends. Robin Frame’s The Political Development of the British Isles, 1100–1400 (Oxford, 1995) perfectly complements Davies’s oeuvre by bringing the Irish dimension into sharper focus. David Carpenter’s The Struggle for Mastery: Britain1066–1284 (London, 2003) is a detailed and unified narrative of the medieval British Isles over two centuries.¹

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Introduction

Extract

Transnational aristocracy

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