Prof Björn Weiler

MA, PhD (St. Andrews)

Contact

Email: bkw@aber.ac.uk
Office: C42
Phone: 1823

Profile

Dr Björn Weiler’s chief interests lie in the political, cultural and religious history of Europe in the high Middle Ages (c.950 – c. 1300), with a particular focus on the comparative history of England in the twelfth and thirteenth century, the history of political culture and political thought, and of historical writing. He is currently writing a study on the theory and practice of kingship in the high Middle Ages (to be published by Cambridge University Press). Future projects include one on the relationship between religion and power in the twelfth century; a comparative study of politics in Byzantium, Islam and the West; and a book on Matthew Paris, a thirteenth-century English monk who was perhaps one of the most influential writers of history in England between Bede and Gibbon. Dr Weiler has held fellowships at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge (summer 2005), the Centre for Medieval Studies at Bergen (September 2006), the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard (2008-9), and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (2010-11). He sits on the editorial board of The Medieval Journal, and, since September 2011, is co-director of the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Projects Political Culture in Three Spheres: Byzantium, Islam and the West British Academy Research Network, Political Culture in Norman and Angevin England in Comparative Perspective

Teaching Areas

Please note that not all of these modules will run every year. Check the current modules section for details.

HY 13720 Early Medieval Germany

HY 32820 Myth and History of the Viking Age: Saga & Society in Medieval Iceland

HY 35230 The Age of Crusades: East & West c. 1070 – c. 1290

HY 30230 Special Subject: Politics and Power in England, c. 1066-1215

HYM History and Identity in the Age of Magna Carta: the world of Matthew Paris

Team taught:

HY 12120 Introduction to History

HY 30020 Historians and the Writing of History

HY 30340 Dissertation

HY 31320 The Making of Christendom, 800-1215

HY 31020 The Challenge to Christendom

HYM 2030 England in Context in the Long Thirteenth Century

Staff Publications

Books

Kingship, Rebellion and Political Culture: England and Germany, c. 1215 – c. 1250 (Palgrave, 2007); ISBN: 1403911673. Revised paperback edition published September 2011
Henry III and the Staufen Empire; 1216-1272 , Royal Historical Society Studies in History. ( Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2006); ISBN: 0861932803
Political Culture in Three Spheres: Byzantium, Islam and the West, c. 650 – c. 1500, ed. with Catherine Holmes, Jonathan Shepard, and Jo Van Steenbergen (forthcoming)
Representations of Power in Medieval Germany, c. 700 - c. 1500, ed. with Simon Maclean (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006). ISBN: 2-503-51815-X
England and Europe in the Reign of Henry III (1216-1272), ed. With I.W. Rowlands, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002); ISBN: 0-7546-0467-5
Thirteenth-Century England 14. Proceedings of the 2011 Aberystwyth and Lampeter Conference, ed. Janet Burton, Phillipp Schofield, Karen Stöber and Björn Weiler (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, forthcoming May 2013)
Thirteenth-Century England 13. Proceedings of the 2009 Paris Conference, ed. Janet Burton, Frederique Lachaud, Phillipp Schofield, Karen Stöber and Björn Weiler (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2011), ISBN: 978-1843836186
Thirteenth-Century England 12. Proceedings of the 2007 Gregynog Conference , ed.Janet Burton, Phillipp Schofield and Björn Weiler (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2009), ISBN: 9781843834472
Thirteenth-Century England 11. Proceedings of the 2005 Gregynog Conference, ed. with J. Burton, K. Stöber, and P.R. Schofield (Boydell & Brewer, 2007), xvi + 229 pp. ISBN: 1843832852

Journal Articles

‘Matthew Paris in Norway’, Revue Bénédictine (forthcoming 2012).
‘Crown-giving and king-making in the west, c. 1000 – c. 1250’, Viator 41 (2010), 57-88.
'Rebellious sons: revolt, succession and the culture of kingship in Western Europe, c.1170 - c.1280', Historical Research 82 (2009), 17-40.
'Matthew Paris on the Writing of History', Journal of Medieval History 35 (2009), 254-78.
'William of Malmesbury, Henry I, and the Gesta Regum Anglorum', Anglo-Norman Studies 31 (2009), 157-76.
'Review article: Politics and power in Europe, c.850-1170', Early Medieval Europe 16 (2008), 474-93.
'Knighting, Homage and the Meaning of Ritual: the kings of England and their neighbours in the thirteenth century', Viator 37 (2006), 275-300
'William of Malmesbury on Kingship', History 90 (2005), 3-22
'Henry III and the Sicilian Business - A Re-Interpretation', Historical Research 74 (2001), 127-150
'Kingship, Usurpation and Propaganda in Twelfth-Century Europe: the Case of Stephen', Anglo-Norman Studies 23 (2001), 299-326
'Matthew Paris, Richard of Cornwall's Candidacy for the German Throne, and the Sicilian Business', Journal of Medieval History 26 (2000), 71-92
'The Rex renitens and the Medieval Ideal of Kingship, c. 900 - c. 1250', Viator 31 (2000), 1-42
'Gregory IX, Frederick II and the Liberation of the Holy Land, 1230-9', Studies in Church History 36 (2000), 192-206
'Image and 'reality' in Richard of Cornwall's German Career', English Historical Review 113 (1998), 1111-1142

Chapters in Books

'Kingship and lordship: kingship in 'dynastic' chronicles', in The Gallus Anonymus and his Chronicle in the light of recent research, ed. Jerzy Wieruszowski, POLSKA AKADEMIA UMIEJETNOSCI [Proceedings of the Polish Academy of Arts and Letters] (Kraków, 2010), 103-23.
“Richard von Cornwall und das Erbe Friedrichs II.”, in: Richard von Cornwall. Römisch-deutsches Kaisertum in nachstaufischer Zeit, ed. Alfons Neugebauer, Klaus Kremb, and Jürgen Keddigkeit (Kaiserslautern, 2010), 91-116.
'The King as Judge: Henry II and Frederick Barbarossa as seen by their contemporaries', in: P.J. Skinner (ed.), Challenging the Boundaries of Medieval History: the legacy of Timothy Reuter (Turnhout, 2009), 115-41.
'Suitability and right: imperial succession and the norms of politics in early Staufen Germany', in: Frédérique Lachaud and Michael Penman (eds.), Making and Breaking the Rules: Succession in Medieval Europe, c. 1000 - c. 1600: Établir et abolir les norms: la succession dans l'Europe médiévale, vers 1000 - vers 1600 (Turnhout, 2008), 71-86.
'The Commendatio Lamentabilis for Edward I, and Plantagenet kingship', in: War, Chivalry and Government, 1100-1500. Essays in Honour of Michael Prestwich , ed. L.E. Scales, Ann Kettle and Chris Given-Wilson (Boydell & Brewer, 2008), 114-130.
'Stupor Mundi : Matthäus Paris und die zeitgenössische Wahrnehmung Friedrichs II. in England', in Herrschaftsräume, Herrschaftspraxis und Kommunikation zur Zeit Friedrichs II , ed. Knut Görich, Jan Keupp and Theo Broekmann (Munich, 2008), 63-95.
'Politics', in: The Central Middle Ages, c. 950 - c. 1320, ed. D.J. Power, (Oxford, 2006), 91-120
'Re-asserting power: Frederick II in Germany (1235-6)', in: Representations of Power in Medieval Germany , 700-1500, ed. Simon MacLean and Björn Weiler (Turnhout, 2006), 241-270
'Royal Virtue and Royal Justice in Walter Map's De Nugis Curialium and William of Malmesbury's Historia Novella', in: Istvan Bejczy and Richard Newhauser (eds.), Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century ( Leiden, 2005), 317-39
'The Negotium Terrae Sanctae in the Political Discourse of Latin Christendom, 1215 - 1311', International History Review 25 (2003), 1-36 [reprinted in The Crusades: critical readings, ed. Andrew Jotischky (Routledge, 2008)]
'Symbolism and Politics in the Reign of Henry III', in: Thirteenth-Century England IX , ed. R.H. Britnell, R. Frame, M.C. Prestwich, ( Woodbridge, 2003), 15-41
'Introduction' and 'Henry III Through European Eyes - Communication and Historical Writing in Thirteenth-Century Europe', in England and Europe in the Reign of Henry III (1216-1272) ( Aldershot, 2002), 1-11, 137-161
'Henry III's Plans for a German Marriage (1225) and Their Context', Thirteenth Century England VII, ed. R.H. Britnell, R. Frame and M.C. Prestwich, ( Woodbridge, 1999), 173-188

Conferences Organised (selection)

March 2013 Huntington Library (Pasadena/CA), The Practice of Rulership, c. 950-c. 1250, organised jointly with Piotr Górecki (UC Riverside)

September 2011 Aberystwyth & Lampeter, Thirteenth-Century England 14, with Karen Stöber, Janet Burton and Phillipp Schofield

July 2011 Leeds, International Medieval Congress, sessions on 'Aspects of Rulership in Byantium, Islam, and the Latin West, c. 700 - c. 1450'

September 2009 Paris, Thirteenth-Century England 13, with Karen Stöber (Aberystwyth), Janet Burton (Lampeter), Frédérique Lachaud (Paris IV – Sorbonne) and Phillipp Schofield (Aberystwyth)

July 2008 Aberystwyth, colloquium on ‘Aspects of rulership in the Latin West, the Byzantine Commonwealth, and the Islamic World, c. 700 – c. 1400’

February 2008 Aberystwyth, workshop ‘Perspectives on ritual’ (workshop with and guest lecture by Gerd Althoff)

September 2007 Gregynog, conference on, Thirteenth-Century England 12: Plantagenet Britain and Its Neighbours, c.1180 – c. 1330 (co-organised with Janet Burton and Phillipp Schofield) we

June 2007 Bergen, Centre for Medieval Studies, conference on Politics and Political Culture in Western Europe, 1000-1300 (co-organised with Leidulf Melve)

September 2005 Gregynog, conference on Thirteenth-Century England 11. Plantagenet Britain and Its Neighbours, c. 1180- c. 1330 (co-organised with Janet Burton, Phillipp Schofield and Karen Stöber) web page:

July 2003 Gregynog, conference on Representations of Power in Medieval Germany, 500-1500

April 2000 Swansea, conference on England and Europe in the Reign of Henry III

Papers delivered (selection since 2006)

August 2011 Sofia, International Congress of Byzantine Studies

Roundtable, ‘Politics and political culture: Byzantium, Islam and the West’

May 2011 Bergen, Centre of Medieval Studies, Conference on Figures of History, 1000-1200

‘Narratives of first kings and the culture of kingship, c. 1050 – c. 1200’

April 2011 Harvard, Miranda Humanities Center. Colloquium on Writing Politics and Religion in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Concluding commentary

March 2011 Warsaw, German Historical Institute, Konferenz Macht und der Spiegel der Macht: Herrschaft in Europa im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert vor dem Hintergrund der Chronistik

„Herrschaftsstrukturen in England“

November 2010 Heidelberg, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Historisches Seminar, Gastvortrag (invited public lecture)

‘Bischöflicher Rat und königliche Herrschaft in England, 1066-1215’

November 2010 Nicosia, University of Cyprus, Conference on Ritual and Ceremonial in the medieval Mediterranean

‘Rituals of succession, c. 1000 – c. 1200’

September 2010 Coburg, Konferenz Macht und Religion im Mittelalter,

‘Bischof und Herrscher in England, c. 1066 – c. 1215’

June 2010 Cambridge, Colloquium Ideology and Political Culture in Medieval Europe, Byzantium and Islam, ‘Ideology and political culture in the Latin West’

March 2010 Pomona College, Claremont/CA, Conference on Bishops and Power in Europe, 900-1300

‘Kings and bishops, 950 – 1250’

February 2010 St Albans, Conference on “Matthew Paris and the Inheritance of History”

‘Matthew Paris and Europe’

September 2009 Kaiserslautern, Konferenz ‘Richard von Cornwall als Mittler Europas’

‘Das Königtum Richards von Cornwall im europäischen Zusammenhang’

March 2009 Harvard University, Medieval History Seminar

‘Advising the king, c. 1050 – c. 1200’

February 2009 San Jose State University, Gelsinger Lecture in Medieval Studies

‘Making kings in the Latin West, 1000 - 1200’

February 2009 Stanford University, Center for European Studies, Seminar paper

‘Images of kingship in the Central Middle Ages’

February 2009 Huntington Library, California Medieval History Seminar

‘Matthew Paris on the Writing of History’

February 2009 University of California Riverside, The Mellon Workshop on Medieval and Postmodern Legacies, Invited Lecture

‘Giving crowns and making kings, c. 1000-1200’

December 2008 Minneapolis/St Paul, University of Minnesota Centre for Medieval Studies,

‘Crown-giving and king-making in the Latin West, c. 950 – c. 1250’

November 2008 Bergen, Centre for Medieval Studies, Conference on Tradition and the Individual Talent: Modes of Authorship in the Middle Ages

‘Authorship in Matthew Paris’

July 2008 Battle, Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies

‘William of Malmesbury and his contemporaries: writing regnal history, c. 1100 – c. 1150’

October 2007 London, Westminster Abbey, Conference on Henry III (1207-1272),’Henry III and Europe’

June 2007 Bergen, Centre of Medieval Studies, Conference on Political Culture in Latin Europe, c. 1100- c. 1300, ‘The emergence of kingship, c. 900 – c. 1200’

April 2007 Kraków, Polish Academy of Arts and Letters, Conference on History & Identity, ‘Images of kingship in dynastic chronicles’

März 2007 Munich, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität, Konferenz Herrschaftsräume, Herrschaftspraxis und Kommunikation zur Zeit Friedrichs II, ‘Die Wahrnehmung Friedrichs II. in England’

July 2006 London, Anglo-American Conference of Historians

“Sacral kingship and the Hohenstaufen emperors”

May 2006 Paris, Sorbonne, Franco-British History Seminar & Doctoral seminar (D. Barthélémy), ‘Eglise et societé du Vie au XIIIe siècle’, “Rebellion, Succession and the Culture of Kingship in Europe, c. 1170 – c. 1280”