Free
- Meeting
Armouries Interest Group
First Wednesday of every month, 7:30pm to 9pm
Weapons in Society Conference
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Since 2019, the Royal Armouries’ Weapons in Society conference has showcased the varied interactions between arms, armour, and culture. Now in its sixth event, it will once again provide an opportunity for early career and postgraduate researchers to mix with academic and heritage professionals, allowing a collaborative dialogue between the worlds of academia and heritage.
Weapons in Society VI will feature a varied programme of talks aimed exploring the social, cultural, and political contexts of arms and armour, and the roles these have played throughout history. There will also be a handling session with objects from the museum’s collection and a workshop on creative methods for researching arms and armour, hosted by Professor Catherine Fletcher (Manchester Metropolitan University). See the full programme below.
This year's conference will be held at the Royal Armouries, Leeds, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.
Conference Programme
9:40am Panel One: Beyond the Battlefield: Weapons as Cultural Objects
- Is this a dagger which I see before me? Reframing regimental museum collections
Sophie Anderton, Lancaster University - Weapons, warfare and the material culture of disability
Dr Julie Holder, National Museums Scotland - The language of steel: Warfare, status and symbolism of Hospitaller arms and armour
Raymond Howard, Heritage Malta - Making the Lightning Gun: Percussion firearm development in the last years of the Edo Period
Joe Ford, Royal Armouries
11am Coffee
11:15am Panel Two: Social and spatial histories of warfare
- ‘Once a tankie, always a tankie:" Society Inside a British tank, 1937-1947
Oliver Winder, University of York - More than beasts of burden: Analyzing the Wehrmacht's weaponization of horses in the German-Soviet war 1941-1945
Charlie Molony, Lancaster University - From weapons to walls: Artillery and the reconstruction of Niš Fortress, 1719–1723
Dr Ceren Tuğçe Varol Koyuncu, Ankara University
Dr Muhammed Topdaş, Hacı Bayram Veli University
12:35pm Lunch
1:20pm Gallery tours and handling sessions
1:20pm to 2pm Group A to tour galleries | Group B to attend handling session
2pm to 2:40pm Group A to attend handling session | Group B to tour galleries
2:40pm Panel Three: New perspectives on martial culture
- To fight like Sir Gawain: The study of late-medieval arms and armour through middle-English literature
Dr Przemysław Grabowski-Górniak, University of Warsaw - ‘Modern' polearms and the skill of their use
Guy Reynolds, Manchester Metropolitan University - Archery as an art and science for war and peace: Demilitarising archery in medieval and early modern history
Rik Janssen, University of Edinburgh
4pm Coffee
4:15pm Workshop: Creative methods for the history of arms and armour
Professor Catherine Fletcher, Professor of History, Manchester Metropolitan University
Guy Reynolds, Manchester Metropolitan University
5:15pm Closing address.
For a full programme of the day with abstracts; or for any other questions related to the conference, contact Samantha Vaughan
Book now
- Tickets: £20 - includes lunch and refreshments.
- Concessionary rate: £12
This available for early career researchers (within five years of doctoral award, not counting career breaks) and those in full-time education or part-time education while otherwise unwaged. Booking code required - see below. - Post conference meal: There will be an optional self-funded conference meal after the event. Please register your interest - see below.
- Bursaries
We anticipate making four bursaries of up to £150 available, to support speakers in attending the event. Delegates can also apply for these bursaries.
To demonstrate eligibility and access the concessionary rate; to register for the self-funded post-conference meal, or for any other questions related to the conference and bursaries, email Samantha Vaughan
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