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Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis

Iason Eleftherios Tzouriadis is Curator of European Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries.

Iason graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2011 with a Degree in History, Archaeology and History of Art. During his undergraduate studies he participated in archaeological excavations in northern Greece and in research programmes that focused on museum studies and the heritage sector. Iason pursued an MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds (2011-2012) where he also completed his PhD studies (2012-2017).

He is an active researcher, with a passion for art, particularly arms and armour, and has lectured in numerous international conferences, public engagement events and university seminars. He is one of the founders of the ‘Medieval Culture and War’ international conference platform. In 2021 he delivered a series of accredited specialised workshops on the study of arms and armour for the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His research interests revolve around the study of arms and armour, their decoration, use and portrayal in art, foot combat tournaments, the equipment of martial elites and non-elites, typologies, European martial arts, martial identities, and the interpretation of objects as tangible products of martial culture.

He has previously worked as an assistant archivist for the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers, and as a freelance consultant for private collections and royal households. He has curated international and local exhibitions in Italy, Belarus and Greece, on subjects such as European martial arts, arms and armour, and the soldier experience while working for the Martial Art Museum and regimental collections. Besides his experience in heritage, he has worked as an online editor for the ‘Martial Culture in Medieval Towns’ research project at the University of Bern. He joined the Royal Armouries as a Curatorial Assistant in March 2022 and later worked as the Assistant Curator of European Edged Weapons.

In April 2024 Iason Tzouriadis was appointed Curator of European Edged Weapons.

Current research activities

  • European staff weapons c. 1350 - c. 1800.
  • Typological systems and methodologies in the context of research and museum studies.
  • Tracing trends of exported edged weapons from northern Italy.

Recent publications

  • ‘An Italian partizan in London: The Bolognese type partizan and its place in staff weapon typology’, in At the sign of the Dragon. Celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Armourers and Brasiers Company of London, ed. by K. D. Smith and R. R. Brown (forthcoming Leeds: Basiliscoe, 2023).
  • ‘Toponymic prefixes in European staff weapon typology and scholarship’, in Martial Culture in Medieval Towns, ed. by Regula Schmid and Daniel Jaquet (forthcoming by Boydell).
  • ‘The Buckingham dagger’, The Field, July 2023, p.127.
  • 'A true son of Mars': Ascanio della Corgna’s urban duels’, in Martial Culture in Medieval Towns: An Anthology, ed. by Daniel Jaquet, Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis and Regula Schmid (Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2023).
  • Daniel Jaquet, Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis and Regula Schmid (editors), Martial Culture in Medieval Towns: An Anthology (Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2023).
  • ‘A Proto-Halberd from the Luigi Marzoli Museum’, in Heavy Metal, ed. by Marco Merlo (Brescia: Skira, 2022).
  • ‘Foot Combat Tournaments: Formats, Evolution and Equipment’, in The Medieval Tournament as Spectacle: Tourneys, Jousts and Pas d'Armes, 1100-1600, ed. by Alan V. Murray and Karen Watts (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020).
  • Daniel Jaquet and Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis, Historical European Martial Arts: An International Overview (Centre of Martial Arts Studies under the auspice of UNESCO, 2020).
  • Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis and Jacob H. Deacon, ‘A Long Distance Relationship: Staff Weapons as a Microcosm of Research within the Fight-Book Genre’, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 1 (2020).
  • Daniel Jaquet, Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis and Roberto Gotti, European Martial Arts (Botticino: Gairethinx, 2019).
  • Jacob H. Deacon and Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis, ‘Reaching Excellence: Staff Weapon Typologies, Contexts, and Fighting Techniques in the Collectanea of Pietro Monte’, Acta Periodica Duellatorum, 1 (2019).
  • 'What is the Riddle of Steel ?': Problems of Classification and Terminology in the Study of Late Medieval Swords’, in The Sword: Form and Thought, ed. by Lisa Deutscher, Mirjam Kaiser, Sixt Wetzler (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2019).
  • ‘Post-Byzantine Art and Western Influences in Military Iconography: The Case of Staff Weapons in the Work of Michael Damaskenos’, in A Military History of the Mediterranean Sea: Aspects of War, Diplomacy and Military Elites, ed. by Georgios Theotokis and Aysel Yildiz (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
  • ‘The Typology and Use of Staff Weapons in Western Europe: c. 1400- c. 1550’, PhD Thesis (Leeds: University of Leeds, 2017).
  • ‘Anti-War Propaganda in the 16th-Century: Death, Violence and Sex’, Medieval Warfare, 6, 2016.
  • Karen Watts and Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis, ‘Les armes d’hast médiévales: Maniement et typologie’, in D’Azincourt à Marignan: Chevaliers et bombardes, 1415-1515, ed. by A. Leduc/ S. Leluc/ O. Renaudeau (Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 2015).
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