Ship to Shore: Battles of Lincoln & Sandwich (1217) in Matthew Paris’ Chronica Maiora II

Hosted by Nick Pisano

 
Episode Summary: Matthew Paris was a thirteenth century English chronicler, cartographer, artist, illustrator, and Benedictine monk. Paris’ thirteenth-century history, Chronica Maiora, is a major source in the study of medieval English history. Within this work, Matthew Paris chronicled centuries of English history including events that occurred during his lifetime. Among these events he chronicled was the First Barons’ War during the period of the Angevin Empire. This war was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France, alongside English barons opposed to the reign of King John of England, from 1215 to 1217. Two notable items in his chronicle of the First Barons’ War are illustrations of the 1217 Battles of Lincoln and Sandwich. These illustrations depict warfare on land and at sea, respectively, and align with Matthew Paris’ written chronicle in the text of Chronica Maiora II. In this episode, Nick Pisano examines Matthew Paris’ illustrations of the Battles of Lincoln and Sandwich. He discusses the broader historical context of the First Barons’ War, emphasizing the importance and value of these items and the larger source in their chronicle of events in the history of the Angevin Empire.   
 

Bibliography

​Primary Sources
 
Paris, Matthew. Chronica Maiora II. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 016II: Matthew Paris OSB, Chronica maiora II. https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/rb378fk5493
 
Paris, Matthew, and Henry Richards Luard, ed. Matthaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora. Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, or Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages. Burlington, Ont: TannerRitchie Publishing, 2008
 
Battle of Lincoln (1217) and the Death of Count Thomas of Perche, Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora II, f. 51v. Battle of Lincoln (1217)
 
Battle of Sandwich (1217) and the Execution of Eustace the Monk, Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora II, f. 52r. Battle of Sandwich (1217)
 
Scholarship & Secondary Sources
 
Hanely, Catherine. 1217: The Battles that Saved England. Oxford: Osprey, 2024
 
Lewis, Suzanne. The Art of Matthew Paris in the Chronica Majora. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987
 
McGlynn, Sean. Blood Cries Afar: The Magna Carta War and the Invasion of England, 1215-1217. United Kingdom: History Press, 2013.
 
Stanton, Charles D. Medieval Maritime Warfare. South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2015
 
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