Comité organisateur : Eric Bousmar, Michael Depreter, Perrine Stennier, Christophe Masson et Quentin Verreycken.

This research workshop, organised as part of the F.R.S.-FNRS Welchange Project À l’origine du crime de guerre/The Cradle of War Crimes, seeks to address a crucial question regarding the conduct of war: how could military personnel, active in territorial control missions or armed occupations, be legally sanctioned? Late medieval and early modern occupations provide particularly fertile ground for studying the various processes of regulation between soldiers and local populations. These processes involve not only local authorities, military justice systems, or sovereign jurisdictions, but also more informal methods of conflict resolution. While regions such as Normandy and English-occupied Calais have been extensively studied, recent research has also highlighted other areas, such as the Boulonnais region invaded by Henry VIII, as well as the military conquests of colonial empires. Examining the regulation of military violence within contexts of occupation requires particular focus on the distinctions between ordinary wartime violence and war crimes. This workshop aims, in particular, to explore how the often-blurred line between the two is influenced by both the necessity of maintaining order and the occupying power’s need to present itself as a legitimate authority. As such, the aim of this workshop is to facilitate a collective discussion on justice practices and the regulation of military violence in contexts of occupation. We seek to consider the long-term impact of these judicial practices on perceptions of armed violence, the customs of war, and ultimately, the development of international law.

10:00: Welcoming coffee

10:30: Eric Bousmar (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Introduction

10:40: Christophe Masson (ULiège) & Quentin Verreycken (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Doing Historical Research with a Social Impact: The ‘Cradle of War Crimes’ Project

10:55: Michael Depreter (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – The Political Trial of History's First War Criminal? Peter von Hagenbach Facing Historical and Historiographical Judgment

11:10: Perrine Stennier (ULiège) – A Journey Through the Archives of Communal Trials of the Papal Soldiers in Central Italy during the 15th Century

11:25: Discussions on the project

11:35: Coffee break

11:45: Anne Curry (University of Southampton) – English Military Disciplinary Ordinances, Late 14th-Early 16th Centuries

12:35: Lunch break

14:00: Rémy Ambühl (University of Southampton) – Recriminations Against English Captains After the Fall of Lancastrian Normandy (Around the Early 1450s)

14:50: Neil Murphy (Northumbria University) – Soldiers, Civilians and Henry VIII's Wars of Occupation

15:40: Coffee break

16:00-17:00: Final discussions

Friday, 21 March 2025

UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles

43 boulevard du Jardin botanique – 1000 Bruxelles

Room P61 (Préfecture, 6th floor)

Contact : quentin.verreycken@uclouvain.be