Minutes from the De Re Militari Business Meeting (2004)

Held on Thursday, May 6, 2004

1. Report on the De Re Militari sessions, by Prof. Kelly DeVries, Coordinator

There were four sessions for De Re Militari at this year's congress, all of which had full participation.  For the following year, members have urged that the International Congress for Medieval Studies allow for five sessions.  It was also agreed that the number of speakers per session be limited to no more than three.  John Gillingham has agreed to be the speaker at next year's 'Journal of Medieval Military History Annual Lecture'.

2. Report on The Journal of Medieval Military History (JMMH), by Prof. Clifford Rogers

De Re Militari has accepted the resignation of Bernard S. Bachrach from the board of editors from The Journal of Medieval Military History.  The members unanimously voted to choose Professor John France to fill the vacant position on the editorial board.  The second issue of the JMMH has now been published in Europe, and will be available in North America within the next couple of weeks.  The editors have now finalized the selections for the third issue of the journal, and are looking for submissions for the fourth issue.

3. Report on the website, by Peter Konieczny

The website now averages 200 hits per day.  The number of pages on this website has reached 711, with additions coming every few weeks.  Primary Sources, Articles and Book Reviews are all regularly added, and a new section of Syllabus' is now operational.  The website editor will create a listserv on H-Net to better communicate with members, and serve as a further vehicle to promote this website.  Clifford Rogers suggests that website editor set up a page for member access only, which would include email addresses and links to c.v.'s through either personal or departmental websites.  It was also advised that website editor seek to have CHOICE Magazine review this site, and furthermore, to seek out the possibility of entering this site for various internet awards.  Many of the attendees expressed their appreciation of the website and its resources.

4. Report on Book Reviews, by Steven Walton

Steve Walton mentioned the backlog of outstanding reviews, with the admonition that the authors need to get these done. Several publishers have notified De Re Militari of books they would like to have reviewed, including Global Academic Publishing, Chivalry Bookshelf, and Osprey.  Some of the reviews from De Re Militari have been republished in Medieval History Magazine.

5. Treasurer's Report, by Carroll Gillmor

Notes
1. The amounts on the oral report did not include the ending balance of 308.46
2. A check drawn to Richard Kaeuper for a $150 honorarium has been redeposited, as Boydell and Brewer will pay this (according to Kelly Devries)

6. The Verbruggen Prize, by Professor Paul Gans

The three members of the Verbruggen Prize committee, Paul Gans, Richard Abels and John France, have not come to a decision on who will be this year's winner of the prize, but promise to have announcement before the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds.

7. Announcements

De Re Militari would like to congratulate Jay Roberts on the success of last year's presentation of the Ballista project because of its involvement in the wider community.

There are several publishing opportunities in medieval military history. These include Boydell and Brewer, the Chivalry Bookshelf, Brill (Kelly Devries is an editor), and Ashgate which has a Crusade line. Anne Curry is now the editor of Journal of Medieval History and would like to receive submissions in military history. Finally, the Royal Armouries is launching a new journal on arms and armour.

We thank Carroll Gillmor and Peter Konieczny for providing the minutes to this meeting.