Military asymmetry and the Laws of War in the Middle Ages

Speaker details
Dr Rory Cox St Peter's College, Oxford
Event contact
Ruth Henworth (r.henworth@soton.ac.uk) Southampton
Lead technician
Alex Hamilton (Serviceline@soton.ac.uk) Southampton

Abstract

Asymmetric warfare is understood as a conflict between belligerents with significantly differing military resources or strategy. However, the traditional model of strategic asymmetry fails to account for the numerous non-military disparities that were apparent in medieval warfare. A more complete sense of asymmetry is required, including social, religious, political, and ethnic inequalities, real as well as perceived. This paper will explore how asymmetries existed between opponents beyond purely military resources or strategy, and will consider the hypothesis that the power imbalances inherent in asymmetric warfare made it the most disruptive factor in the implementation of the laws of war during the middle ages.

Biography

Dr Rory Cox completed a BA in Ancient History at University College London in 2004. He returned to UCL in 2005 with funding from the AHRC to study an MA in Medieval Studies. In 2006, with the help of an award from the AHRC, Rory began a D. Phil. in History at the University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis explores John Wyclif’s rejection of just war theory, placing it within the context of fourteenth-century political thought. In 2009 Rory became a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London, and completed his doctorate in March 2010. Rory’s post-doctoral research explores the relationship between the evolution of just war theory and the practice of warfare throughout the late middle ages and into the early modern period.