Battle Conference 2010

This year’s Battle Conference was held in Norwich (UEA), Pyke House still being closed and liable to remain so for the medium term. Aside from the horrors of having to cross London, Norwich was not at all a bad substitute and the conference was, as always, excellent.

Battle conference 2009 report

This year, the Battle conference was at Gregynog in Powys due to the closure of the usual venue of Pyke House. Although beer in the Chequers was sorely missed, the conference itself was very interesting and, once I’d got my paper out of the way, enjoyable. I’m afraid tales of the social scene will have to come from someone else, as I was far too exhausted to stay up this year. So, what of the papers?

Looking ahead to Battle 2009

Next week sees my third, and hopefully final, conference of the summer – the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies 2009. Last year I commented on my experience of a past Battle and why I hadn’t been back to the conference for eight years. I also reported on what a good conference Battle 2008 turned out to be. This year, the conference will be in Gregynog (Powys) due to the closure of Pyke House. The observant among you will have noticed the slight change from my normal conference previews: I’m giving a paper this year and will no doubt look forward to the conference in retrospect!

Battle 2008: the social side

In my last post, I wrote that I did not expect to be playing Jenga in the dark at the Battle Conference and promised to say more about this after giving a snapshot of the papers discussed there. The reason behind this slightly odd behaviour lies in the difference between Battle and huge conferences like the IMC at Leeds, and also the blurring of boundaries between work done within the confines of sessions and networking outside (literally in this case).

Battle Conference 2008 report

It’s the day after the conference for five days before. The fact that I am exhausted, but more than content with life will tell the seasoned conference goers reading this that the 31st Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman studies was superb; the best conference I have been to in fact. I expected to hear some very well-argued papers; enjoy some stimulating conversation; and perhaps walk the battlefield at dusk, but I didn’t expect to play Jenga in the dark. More of that after giving you some idea of what was discussed.

Looking forward to Battle 2008

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I was also looking forward to attending the Battle conference on Anglo-Norman studies, which will be held later this month. Rumour has it that this will be the last time for a while that Pyke House (bordering the site of the actual Battle of ‘Hastings’ will host the conference, so it looks like the conference may be moving into a new era.

Looking forward to … IMC 2008

The teaching, marking and exams boards are all done for the year and it is time for me to switch my brain back to research mode for the next three months. Helping me to do this in the coming weeks is a couple of conferences: the International Medieval Congress held, as always at Leeds, and the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies held, unsurprisingly at Battle in East Sussex. More of that one later, but here’s what I’m looking forward to at Leeds.