The Crusades and the Medieval Mediterranean

Friday 27th May 2022, Nottingham Trent University, UK

We invite proposals for 20 minute papers from postgraduate, ECR and established scholars from the fields of history, literature, art history, archaeology, music or any other relevant discipline. The NNSC links together scholars working on all aspects of the Crusades in the Midlands and the North of England but proposals are welcomed from anyone currently working on a related topic. Pending any future coronavirus restrictions, it is envisaged that this will be an in-person event hosted at Nottingham Trent University in the UK with a view to offering opportunities to scholars, ECRs and PhD students to develop their in-person presentation skills and network with each other, though there may be options for online provision. Postgraduate students and academics who are developing papers for future conferences are welcome to attend and present working papers in a welcoming and friendly environment.

Papers may consider any aspect or area of crusading activity, with a special emphasis on those which explore the Mediterranean settings of crusading activity, whether contributing to or impacted by crusading across any chronological or geographical field of enquiry.

Themes could include but are not limited to:

• New encounters and interactions with cultures and societies.

• Crossing or living in border and frontier zones both real and imagined.

• Narratives of invasion, conquest and displacement.

• Diplomacy, communication between peoples, borders, languages.

• Environmental cultures: impacts of and recovery from natural and human-generated crises.

• Belonging, exclusion and marginalisation, gender and identity.

• Performance and memory of crusading in Mediterranean contexts.

• Material evidence and culture.

• Travel by land and sea, migration, trade, slavery, pilgrimage and cross-cultural interaction.

Proposals should include a title and abstract of c.200 words, together with your name, institutional affiliation, and email address to Adam.Simmons@ntu.ac.uk by Friday 22nd April 2022.

Please also list any additional equipment required for your presentation. All papers presented should last for no more than 20 minutes.

This NNSC event will be co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict at NTU.