Steven Isaac has published an article in The Journal of Military History 79 (April 2015) titled “The Role of Towns in the Battle of Bouvines (1214).” Bouvines has long been recognized as “the battle that made France,” but this article looks at the social dynamics leading up to the day of actual fighting. The article argues that towns were the likely homes/sources/bases of many of the non-knightly combatants (who outnumbered knights in the battle by 5 or even 6:1). Further research in the first surviving financial accounts of the French monarchs reveals as well that the towns were vital as nodes of armaments production for the Capetian dynasty. Much of the article was built on research completed at the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Civilisation Médiévale in Poitiers, France.
Besides the help of external readers and fellow medieval historians, Isaac wants to thank as well his colleagues Jim Munson, Will Holliday, Mary Carver, and David Geraghty, members of the department’s informal research/reading circle, who all read the article in a very rough draft and gave most helpful comments and motivation.
Filed under: Faculty News Notes, History, Political Science, & Philosophy | Tagged: Bouvines, History, Military, Steven Isaac