The Song of Simon de Montfort launched at The Ruskin
Guests from across and beyond the university gathered on 31 October to celebrate the Lancaster launch of The Song of Simon de Montfort: England's First Revolutionary and the Death of Chivalry, by CWD Deputy Director Sophie Thérèse Ambler, at The Ruskin.
The Song is a history of the nobleman who, between 1258 and 1265, seized power from King Henry III and established a radical regime to govern in his stead. Examining the revolution in the context of crusading culture across Europe and the Middle East, the book shows how Montfort cultivated his reputation as leader and came to amass a vast following, before he and a host of his men were cut down on the battlefield at Evesham in 1265.
The launch marked the US publication of The Song by Oxford University Press, following publication in the UK and Commonwealth by Picador in May 2019.
The book was introduced by Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia and a Fellow of the British Academy. Professor Vincent is a leading authority on the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, having published a dozen books and some hundred academic articles on various aspects of English and European history. In 2012-15, he led the AHRC's path-finding Magna Carta Project, and is currently leading the British Academy's Angevin Acta Project.
The launch was preceded by a talk from Professor Vincent on 'The Acta of Henry II', in which he shared the new research and many discoveries made during the course of the Angevin Acta Project.
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