Lawrence McCrank addresses here the processes and consequences of the Christian reconquests in Northeastern Spain during the 12th century, focusing specifically on 'New Catalonia' then being won back from the Muslims. The history of this region, he argues, can be analysed best in terms of the concepts of frontier historiography because this frontier context gave the institutions and organizations that emerged there a distinctive and persistent character. In particular, these studies look at the role of the Cistercians of Poblet and Santes Creus and the Church of Tarragona as colonial agents fostering the resettlement and reorganization of the frontier. This consolidation prepared the way for the next wave of Reconquest.

This book presents an innovative and detailed study of the ports of the Crown of Aragon in the initial stage of the maritime expansion of medieval Catalonia, comparing them to the Tuscan coast and port-city of Pisa in the decades that witnessed the apogee of its power in the Mediterranean, and looking for common, or contrasting, traits and patterns of development. The approach is multilevel and multidisciplinary, stressing geomorphological, geographical, political, and commercial factors, and drawing on archaeological investigations as well as published ad unpublished historical documents.

Examines the role of written agreements in eleventh- and twelfth-century Catalonia, and how they determined the social and political order. However, in addressing feudalism, the 'transformation of the year 1000', medieval literacy, and the nature of Mediterranean societies, it has wide implications for the history of medieval Europe.

This volume consists of the work of eighteen established and younger scholars and focuses on the Mediterranean as a military arena during the Middle Ages. The essays center on several pillars of Mediterranean warfare: the crusading movement including the Spanish reconquista, the development of gunpowder weaponry, the widespread use of mercenaries, and warfare as understood by the lawcodes and intellectuals of the period. A number of articles in this collection present new answers to old historiographical questions.

Drawing from both Christian and Islamic sources, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain demonstrates that the clash of arms between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula that began in the early eighth century was transformed into a crusade by the papacy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Successive popes accorded to Christian warriors willing to participate in the peninsular wars against Islam the same crusading benefits offered to those going to the Holy Land. Joseph F. O'Callaghan clearly demonstrates that any study of the history of the crusades must take a broader view of the Mediterranean to include medieval Spain. Following a chronological overview of crusading in the Iberian peninsula from the late eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century, O'Callaghan proceeds to the study of warfare, military finance, and the liturgy of reconquest and crusading. He concludes his book with a consideration of the later stages of reconquest and crusade up to and including the fall of Granada in 1492, while noting that the spiritual benefits of crusading bulls were still offered to the Spanish until the Second Vatican Council of 1963. Although the conflict described in this book occurred more than eight hundred years ago, recent events remind the world that the intensity of belief, rhetoric, and action that gave birth to crusade, holy war, and jihad remains a powerful force in the twenty-first century.

This collection of eighteen essays focuses on various phases of warfare around the medieval Mediterranean. Topics of these essays range from crusading activity to the increasing use of mercenaries to the spread of gunpowder weaponry.

This fourth Variorum collection of articles by Peter Linehan comprises items largely from the past decade. The studies represent further investigation of themes broached in earlier works, in particular the latest report on the movements of Cardinal John of Abbeville, and the related subjects of historiography and historians, the interplay of history and government, and aspects of sacral monarchy. Articles on Zamora's frustrated legal history and Zamora's cardinal extend the Castilian theme across the territorial frontier into the kingdom of Portugal, and two other items explore English ramifications and developments in papal procedures.

Drawing on an extensive study of the primary sources, Damian Smith explores the relationship between the Roman Curia and Aragon-Catalonia in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. His focus is the pontificate of Innocent III, the most politically influential medieval Pope, and the reign of King Peter II of Aragon and the first years of King James I. By analysing the practical example of papal actions towards one of its closest secular allies, the work deepens our understanding of the objectives and limits of the Papacy, while making clear the Pope's profound influence on the realm's political development. Marriage affairs and politics, the Spanish Reconquista, with the campaign of Las Navas, and the Albigensian Crusade, in which King Peter met his death at the battle of Muret, are all covered. The final chapters turn more specifically to Church affairs, looking at the relations between the papacy and the bishops of the province of Tarragona, and at the success of Innocent III's mission to reform religious life.

As put forth by Edwards, the eastern duchy and the western county of Burgundy constituted a frontier society from the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 until 1540. Through detailed case studies and family reconstructions of elites from the Saône River valley, specifically the cities of Dijon, Dole, and Besançon, this book examines the social, cultural, political, and economic relationships of the Burgundians on a local level. Edwards successfully challenges the national models still frequently used in modern historiography and offers a provocative alternative to better understand this anomalous area and the creation of pre-modern regional identity.

Over the past two decades or so, medieval geopolitics have come to occupy an increasingly prominent place in the collective imagination—and writings—of International Relations scholars. Although these accounts differ significantly in terms of their respective analytical assumptions, theoretical concerns and scholarly contributions, they share at least one common – arguably, defining – element: a belief that a careful study of medieval geopolitics can help resolve a number of important debates surrounding the nature and dynamics of "international" relations. There are however three generic weaknesses characterizing the extant literature: a general failure to examine the existing historiography of medieval geopolitics, an inadequate account of the material and ideational forces that create patterns of violent conflict in medieval Latin Christendom, and a failure to take seriously the role of "religion" in the geopolitical relations of medieval Latin Christendom. This book seeks to address these shortcomings by providing a theoretically guided and historically sensitive account of the geopolitical relations of medieval Latin Christendom. It does this by developing a theoretically informed picture of medieval geopolitics, theorizing the medieval-to-modern transition in a new and fruitful way, and suggesting ways in which a systematic analysis of medieval geopolitical relations can actually help to illuminate a range of contemporary geopolitical phenomena. Finally, it develops an historically sensitive conceptual framework for understanding geopolitical conflict and war more generally.