It seems that there were numerous groups with an axe to grind in the early and central Middle Ages. Magnates and disinherited members of royal families, minor nobles caught by the winds of change, disaffected bourgeoisie, and irritated peasants alike were rarely backward in making their feelings known. That much is clear and generally well known from the evidence of the period. Although one might look at the ninth through to the twelfth centuries and see peace, contentedness, and compassion in many quarters, this work focuses on conflicts within groups. It is the central thesis of this book that by considering the conflicts in terms of where those axe-grinders declared their sense of discontent or even where those malcontents faced the axe themselves, we can get closer to understanding the motivations behind the conflicts. And if the motivations themselves cannot be deciphered, then it can be useful to look at the ways in which certain places, both specific locations and wider landscapes, were employed to convey a particular meaning to the conflict, as is the case in other studies of ‘contested space’ from the Middle Ages and beyond. Furthermore, the use of these sites could add meaning, sometimes more than one meaning, to the sites themselves.

In following this line of enquiry, this book endeavours to grapple with the many different forms that political conflict could take and the many problems that arise from considering these forms. It is difficult, for example, to define what is meant by ‘rebellion’, one of my main concerns in the investigation of in-group conflict. The disparity in power between a ‘legitimate’ authority and the party contesting that authority can determine many actions as rebellion; there is some consensus that such actions as those of the northern English nobility in 1069–70 were rebellion. Of course, what determined other actions as ‘rebellion’ is open to debate. Some parties were evenly matched in terms of political and social capital, such as the ‘Leader of the Franks’ (dux francorum), Count Hugh the Great, and his king, Louis IV (936–54) in tenth-century West Francia.