The defensive function of medieval cities in war has traditionally received less attention than the rest of the urban functions (economic, commercial, fiscal, political, cultural...) — with the exception of medieval urban studies, which have analyzed the defensive townscape — because this used to occur more sporadically than the rest and, therefore, its effects are more difficult to analyze. The three major objectives of this conference are: the effects of the war on urbanscape, the ability of the population to recover and adapt to new circumstances with positive results and the collective memory from a comparative and transregional perspective.  

Argument

The International Meetings of the Middle Ages of Nájera is proposed as an international conference in the field of study and spread of Medieval History since its beginning in 2003, promoted by the City Council of Nájera and the Government of La Rioja.

The 20^th edition of Najera’s  Meetings is devoted to the theme: War and City in the Middle Ages: consequences, resilience and collective memory

The city has historically been a primary objective of conquest and an object of defense, consequently, it has been a type of human settlement that has suffered, periodically, the more or less systematic, partial or total destruction by means of maritime and land sieges, commercial blockades, use of biological warfare,  pillages,  massacres of the population and, even, the total catastrophe has occurred, that is, its disappearance.

Firstly, cities were at the core  of the defense strategy of the rulers in medieval Europe, as the location of most cities reveals, since they clearly perceived that the best means of defending their border or limits with respect to other alien powers was not by singular fortifications.  but with the foundation of urban centers, since a small number of cities could be exercised an effective control of the territory. Likewise, the defensive strategy determined the milestones of the townscape (walls, castles, docks, bastides, watchtowers, shipyards, warehouses and fort houses).

Secondly, urban societies, the civitas, have always tended to overcome the effects of wars by various means such as the creation of political-economic federations of the Hanseatic type, the establishment of diplomatic relations, the signing of alliances and peace agreements that favor mutual commitment to avoid confrontations, giving priority to human, commercial and cultural relations over conflict relations.

Third, the memory of the war was intertwined with social, political and cultural practices and thus with collective and individual identifications. Urban society was a community of memories and war was integrated into the collective memory in different ways to strengthen citizen ties, since the memory of the war went beyond the individual to be transferred to the collective memory for generations.

In short, the defensive function of cities has traditionally received less attention than the rest of the urban functions (economic, commercial, fiscal, political, cultural ...) — with the exception of medieval urban studies, which have analyzed the defensive townscape — because this used to occur more sporadically than the rest and, therefore, its effects are more difficult to analyze. The three major  objectives of this conference are: The effects of the war on urbanscape, the ability of the population to recover and adapt to new circumstances with positive results and the collective memory from a comparative and transregional perspective.   

Submission guidelines

Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and should clearly state the purpose, thesis, sources, methodology, and principal findings of the paper to be presented, and short BIO (250 words). This information should be submitted electronically by email at: neim@unican.es

The deadline for submissions is October 30^th 2023.

The scientific languages of the meetings are Spanish, English, German, French, Portuguese and Italian. The texts of the power points presentation must be in English.

The Meetings will be held in a hybrid way (face-to-face and virtual)

Each presentation may be a maximum of 20 minutes long.

Venue: Nájera (La Rioja, Spain)  

Successful proposals will be published in 2023 after the peer reviewed process in a monograph.

Registration and attendance

This year’s hybrid meeting provides the utmost flexibility for members to connect in ways never before possible, explore ideas, and actively learn in a new online environment.

For registration, all participants (except speakers) should send: name, surname/s, address, e-mail to: neim@unican.es

The deadline for registration will be on November 30^st, 2023

Chairs

• Jesús Ángel Solórzano Telechea. Universidad de Cantabria
• Jelle Haemers. Universiteit Leuven
• Philipp Höhn. Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

Organizing Committee

• María Álvarez Fernández, Universidad de Oviedo
• Iñaki Bazán Díaz, Universidad de País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
• Gilberto Fernández Escalante, Universidad de Cantabria
• Andrea Fernández García. Universidad de Oviedo
• Pablo García Fuente. Universidad de Cantabria
• José Damián González Arce, Universidad de Murcia
• Ángel Martínez Abascal. Universidad de Cantabria
• Cristian Rivero Zerpa. Universidad de Cantabria

Scientific Committee

• Amélia Aguiar Andrade. Universidade Nova de Lisboa
• María Asenjo González. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• Iñaki Bazán Díaz. Universidad del País Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
• Michel Bochaca. Université de La Rochelle
• Roman Czaja. Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu / University Nicolaus Copernicus in Torun
• David Ditchburn. Trinity College Dublin
• Gisela Naegle. Dr. Universität Gießen
• Ariel Guiance. CONICET-Universidad de Córdoba de Argentina
• Ricardo Izquierdo Benito. Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
• Juan Francisco Jiménez Alcázar. Universidad de Murcia
• Christian Liddy. University of Durham
• Marcelo Lima Pereira. Universidade Federal de Bahía
• Gladys Lizabe (Universidad de Cuyo)
• Denis Menjot. Université de Lyon II
• Germán Navarro Espinach. Universidad de Zaragoza
• Giuliano Pinto. Universitá degli studi di Firenze
• Sarah Rees Jones. University of York
• Ana María Rivera Medina. Universidad Nacional a Distancia UNED
• Teófilo F. Ruiz. University of California-Los Ángeles
• Vicente Salvatierra Cuenca. Universidad de Jaén
• Louis Sicking. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/ Universiteit Leiden
• Urszula Sowina. Polska Akademia Nauk /Polish Academy of Sciences. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology
• Mª Isabel del Val Valdivieso. Universidad de Valladolid
• Hermínia Vilar. Universidade de Evora
• Andrea Zorzi (Universitá degli studi di Firenze)

Honorary Committee of Former chairs

• Beatriz Arízaga Bolumburu. Universidad de Cantabria
• Marcelo Lima Pereira. Universidade Federal de Bahía