One of his main research interests is the impact of war on society and how communities and political authorities responded to military violence. His first book, Pour nous servir en l’armée (Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2014), based on his master’s thesis, investigates the application of justice in the Burgundian armies during the 1460s and 1470s. His second book, Crimes et gens de guerre au Moyen Âge (Presses universitaires de France, 2023), builds on that work to trace the gradual criminalization of certain acts of violence by soldiers in fifteenth-century France, England, and the Low Countries. It highlights a core tension of the time: monarchs regularly granted pardons to military offenders, yet increasingly sought to enforce discipline and expand judicial coercion over their armies in the aftermath of the Hundred Years’ War.

Current project

Quentin’s current research project focuses on how war-affected communities turned to the courts in pursuit of justice and reparation. Centered on the contested frontier regions between France, the English Pale of Calais, and the Low Countries, this research explores the strategies used by survivors of military atrocities to seek legal redress. By tracing these efforts to assert rights and demand accountability, this project aims to shed light on how fifteenth- and sixteenth-century responses to wartime violence contributed to the shaping of principles we now associate with international law.