Dr Simon Parsons
BA, MA, PhD
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Research interests
I am writing a monograph on the body of medieval texts which describe the events of the First Crusade (1096-99), and their interrelation and connection to traditions of oral epic narration. I co-edited, with Linda Paterson, Literature of the Crusades (2018, Boydell & Brewer), and I’m co-editing and translating, with Linda Paterson, Carol Sweetenham, and Lauren Mulholland, the Anglo-Norman Siège d’Antioche, a lengthy epic text about the First Crusade.
My publications include:
Peer-reviewed Articles:
‘The Inhabitants of the British Isles on the First Crusade: Medieval Perceptions and the Invention of a Pan-Angevin Crusading Heritage’, English Historical Review,134/567(2019), 273–301
‘The Letters of Stephen of Blois Reconsidered’, Crusades, 17 (2019), 1–29
‘The Gran Conquista de Ultramar, its Precursors, and the Counts of Saint-Pol’, Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture,5 (2019), 101–116
‘Crusading Participation in Normandy and its Borderlands: The Evidence from the Old French Traditions of the First Crusade’, Haskins Society Journal,29 (2018), 201–223, awarded the Denis Bethell Prize
Book Chapters:
‘Women at the Walls: Teichoscopy, Admiration, and Conversion on the First Crusade’, in Chronicle, Crusade, and the Latin East: Essays in Honour of Susan B. Edgington, Andrew D. Buck and Thomas W. Smith eds. (Brepols, forthcoming 2022)
‘The Influence of the Chansons de geste on Latin First Crusade Texts’, in Sources for the Crusades: Textual Traditions and Literary Influences, Natasha Hodgson & Léan ní Chléirigh eds. (Routledge, forthcoming 202?)
‘The Valiant Man and the Vilain in the Tradition of the Gesta Francorum: Overeating, Taunts, and Bohemond’s Heroic Status’, in Crusading and Masculinities,Matthew Mesley, Katherine Lewis and Natasha Hodgson eds. (Routledge, 2019), 36–52
‘A Unique Song of the First Crusade? New Observations on the Hatton 77 Manuscript of the Siège d’Antioche’, in Literature of the Crusades,Simon Parsons and Linda Paterson eds. (Boydell, 2018), 55–74
‘Making Heroes out of Crusaders: The Literary Afterlife of Crusade Participants in the Chanson d'Antioche’, in Jerusalem the Golden: The Origins and Impact of the First Crusade, Susan B. Edgington and Luis García-Guijarro eds. (Brepols, 2014), 291–305
I'm on twitter (vae mihi) at twitter.com/_simonparsons