Cursed Caitiffs: the English chronicles construction of the Scottish enemy in the Wars of Independence

• Grant number: 11/14735-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2011
• End date: September 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Susani Silveira Lemos Franca
• Grantee: Fernando Pereira dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Medievalist historiography has been pointing out that the War, during the Late Middle Ages, was a phenomenon with significant political and social impact, involving not only the warrior nobles but also, in a compulsory manner or not, the so-called "non-combatants". In England, specifically in the second half of the thirteenth century and the first half of the fourteenth century, a considerable number of those who in any way participated in the battles, directly or not told about their experience and helped to build an image about such martial events, at the same time they also helped to build the image of the fighting against the enemies. Among them, the chroniclers are distinctive, as they registered and helped to attest to the events as a memorable past. Whatever their motives might be, such reports have been allowed to configure good pieces of that historical scenario. Taking into consideration the role of the medieval historical construction, we intend to, in the present research, ask ourselves about the perspective about war cast in the Chronicle of Lanercost and Scalacronica, two versions of similar events that allow us to think about the strength of the warlike content on Medieval History, namely about the oscillations in the image of the enemy, in addition to the resources and possible paths of history writing at the end of the fourteenth century. War is a stable element in both reports, and for such reason, we propose to trace a parallel and shed light upon the way those men narrate and describe the conflicts, besides some of the motives for their choices. From these interrogations, we are going to inquire into how the war and the enemy are used to build the past and to fix social models the chroniclers intended to define their kingdom and, especially, the men that lead it.(AU)