Places of Contested Power - by Ryan Lavelle (Hardcover)

About the Book

First full examination of why and how certain locations were chosen for opposition to power, and the meaning they conveyed.

Book Synopsis

First full examination of why and how certain locations were chosen for opposition to power, and the meaning they conveyed.

The direct contestation of power played a crucial role in early medieval politics. Such actions, often expressed through violence, reveal much about established authorities, power and lordship.
Here the hitherto neglected role of place and landscape in acts of opposition and rebellion is explored for its meaning and significance to the protagonists. The book includes consideration of a range of factors relevant to the choice of location for such events, and examines the declarations and motivations of political actors, from disaffected princes to independently minded nobles, as well as those who responded to rebellion, to show how places and landscapes became used in political disputes. These include both "public" and "private", religious, urban and rural space. Covering a long period in England and northern France, from the late Carolingian period through to the emergence of cross-Channel polities in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest, this book casts valuable light on the political relations of the early and central Middle Ages.

Review Quotes

Ryan Lavelle's excellent monograph addresses well-established questions of medieval studies--warfare, violence, rebellion--in a new and innovative manner that will prove enlightening for scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. . . . Lavelle writes with verve and humor, deftly balancing his variety of approaches while maintaining his core focus on the centrality of space. This book is a triumph of interdisciplinary scholarship and a welcome addition to the study of medieval England and France.-- "THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW"