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Guild Webinar “When Sources Are Limited and Downright Confusing! A Channel Islands’ Perspective”

January 13th, 2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

This, another in our series of Guild webinars, will be delivered by Marc Yates, the Guild’s Governance Director.

When faced with having to guide battlefields and describe events several hundred years ago, sources can be scarce, in another language and difficult to find.  So often published popular history usually repeats the most well-known previous account such that it becomes the “true story” even if is wrong or thoroughly misleading.  It is repeated on site information boards, in museums and on the Internet – so what chance does a visitor have of really understanding what happened unless the guide does his or her homework thoroughly?

The Hundred Years War (or strictly at least three long periods of warfare with intermittent periods of peace) starting nearly 700 years ago is often overlooked with no real justification in favour of more recent history.  Campaigning was typically by “chevauchée” (a good word to look up!) and long sieges and tales of derring-do abound.  The battles were fought from Scotland in the north, and on the European continent from what is modern day Belgium and the Netherlands to southern France and Spain – they had lasting effects on both England and France for the centuries which followed and these ought to be better known and understood.

In the webinar, we will look how the wars came to the Channel Islands, just a small area within the larger arena of those wars.  The Channel Islands (the last remnant of the Normandy of William the Conqueror held by English monarchs) had already been on the front line between warring England and France for over a hundred years since King John (a.k.a. Jean, Duc de Normandie) had lost continental Normandy in 1204 and been thrown out by Philippe, Roi de France, and that hostile front line would continue until entente was finally made with France in the nineteenth century .

We will also examine examples of the difficulties encountered by a guide when facts are thin on the ground, although physical remains like fortifications are plentiful, and you have to reach conclusions as to exactly what happened with the benefit of limited primary written sources!  Sometimes you have to resort to some unlikely other methods and become a medieval detective.  And that’s where the fun starts as you become the expert and “writing” the history because no one else has done it before!

Details

Date January 13th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Categories

Venue

Online

Organiser

Education Director
Email education@gbg-international.com