The Battle Conference itinerated for a second year in succession in 2010 because of the continuing closure of its long-standing base at Pyke House in Battle. The 33rd Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies was thus held at the University of East Anglia in Norwich from 29 July to 2 August 2010. Conference accommodation at UEA was secured though Professor David Bates, who had the sense to make a provisional booking many months earlier. As all students of the Middle Ages know, ‘twice makes a custom’, and it seems unlikely that ‘Battle’ will return to Battle in the foreseeable future.

The efficient planning and smooth running of the conference at UEA were handled in exemplary fashion by Natalie Mitchell and Natalie Orr (Arts and Humanities Faculty Office), and Professors Bates and Stephen Church also did a great deal to help. Hetty Kaye and Emily Ward gave additional assistance during the conference. Their attendance and other costs were met by a generous grant from the School of History, for which Professor John Charmley is warmly thanked.

Seven of the eleven papers read at the conference are published here, alongside Julian Munby’s from the 2009 conference. The other papers read in 2010 were by Thomas Roche on the Norman dukes and dispute settlement, Manuel Rojas Gabriel on Norman and Anglo-Norman warriors in the Iberian peninsula, Shaun Tyas on the Anglo-Norman period in medievalism, and Stephen D. White on the fables depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.

The conference opened with the Allen Brown Memorial Lecture, honouring the memory of the founder of Battle, Professor R. Allen Brown of King’s College London. It was delivered by Professor Anne Duggan, also of King’s, in Norwich cathedral’s newly opened Hostry Education Centre, followed by dinner in the adjoining cathedral refectory. The lecture is supported by the R. Allen Brown Memorial Trust, a registered charity, and is in the nature of a public occasion. This year we were delighted to have as our guests the associate members of the university’s Centre of East Anglian Studies and other local historians. Further details of the Trust and the conference may be seen at www.battleconference.com.

Besides the lecture programme, conference delegates enjoyed two outings: on the Friday evening a walking tour of Anglo-Norman Norwich led by Brian Ayers (Butrint Foundation), and on Saturday a visit to Castle Acre, conducted by Sandy Heslop and Rob Liddiard (both UEA).