The study of historical phases of upheaval and transformation remains a central topic for medieval studies. However, despite the social and academic relevance of conquests as a constant phenomenon of medieval history, the perspective of the conquered has hardly been systematically researched to date. However, the conquered were and are not merely passive victims, but actors capable of making decisions who knew how to consciously and deliberately influence the newly created situation in their favour and actively helped to shape it. The perception of the conquered is thus constitutive for the understanding and negotiation of conquest: Only by including their perspective can the phenomenon of conquest be grasped and researched as a multi-perspective construct.

In a broad chronological and geographical approach, the anthology focuses on the experiences, coping strategies and agency of the conquered in their exchange with their (supposed) conquerors. In doing so, conquest proves to be an unstable and transformative construct that must be continuously negotiated and is subject to constant adaptation.