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Medieval Ecclesiastical Studies in Honour of Dorothy M. Owen
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00Dorothy Owen has made a major contribution over half a century to our knowledge of the history of the English church, especially but not exclusively in the middle ages. While her published work has focused largely on eastern England, she has never lost sight of the wider universal context, and is one of the leading scholars of medieval canon law. This volume of essays on English medieval ecclesiastical history is presented to her as a tribute from friends,colleagues and former pupils; their contents range from the pre-Conquest period to the eve of the Reformation, but are all concerned with the practicalities of ecclesiastical administration and jurisdiction.
Contributors: JOAN VARLEY, DAVID CHAMBERS, C.N.L. BROOKE, MARK BAILEY, MARTIN BRETT, M.J. FRANKLIN, CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL, ROSALIND HILL, RALPH HOULBROOKE, BRIAN KEMP, F. DONALD LOGAN, A.K. McHARDY, SANDRA RABAN, DAVID M. SMITH, R.L. STOREY, R.N. SWANSON, PAMELA TAYLOR, P.N.R. ZUTSHI, ARTHUR OWEN
William Waynflete
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00This is the first modern study of William Waynflete, powerful and influential bishop of Winchester from 1447 to 1486. Waynflete was one of the great educationalists and patrons of learning of late medieval England, and his careerwas dominated by an interest in education. He played a leading role in some of the changes which transformed education in 15th-century England: the emergence in Oxford and Cambridge of new and larger colleges; the influence of continental humanist ideas which reshaped English thought; the introduction of the teaching of Greek; the composition of new grammars; and the introduction of printing as a means of disseminating the new learning.
Through her examination of Waynflete's career, Davis challenges the received view of the gangrenous corruption of the medieval church and instead supports recent research which suggests the truth to have been far more complex. As this biographyrecords, Waynflete himself was politically linked to Henry VI and the Lancastrian administration and most of his time was spent in southern England, However, he retained close links with his native Lincolnshire, and his committments there are also fully considered.
VIRGINIA DAVIS is lecturer in history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.
Gruffudd ap Cynan
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00The reign of the North Welsh king Gruffudd ap Cynan [1075-1135] marked the culmination of a century of rapid social and political change. A product of three cultures [Welsh, Irish and Scandinavian], Gruffudd faced a Wales dividedby Norman incursion and dynastic rivalry; his re-creation of his kingdom saw him acting on the wider (and often deadly) stage of Anglo-Norman politics, and surviving where more `traditional' Welsh rulers failed. His reign encouraged a new growth in Welsh literature and creativity, and is often looked upon as a literary `golden age'. This collaborative biography analyses key aspects of the career and context of this remarkable king.
Dr K.L. MAUNDteaches in the School of History and Archaeology, University of Wales, Cardiff. Other contributors: DAVID MOORE, C.P. LEWIS, DAVID E. THORNTON, K.L. MAUND, JUDITH JESCH, NERYS ANN JONES, CERI DAVIES, J.E. CAERWYN WILLIAMS
Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00This study of literature by clerics who were writing to, for, or about Anglo-Saxon women in the 8th and early 9th centuries suggests that the position of women had already declined sharply before the Conquest a claim at variance with the traditional scholarly view. Stephanie Hollis argues that Pope Gregory's letter to Augustine and Theodore's Penitential implicitly convey the early church's view of women as subordinate to men, and maintains that much early church writing reflects conceptions of womanhood that had hardened into established commonplace by the later middle ages.
To support her argument the author examines the indigenous position of women prior to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, and considers reasons for the early church's concessions in respect of women. Emblematic of developments in the conversion period, the establishment and eventual suppression of abbess-ruled double monasteries forms a special focus of this study.
STEPHANIE HOLLIS is Senior Lecturer in Early English, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury: Church and Endowment
Regular price $170.00 Save $-170.00The early history of the religious community at Glastonbury has been the subject of much speculation and imaginative writing, but there are few sources which genuinely further our knowledge of Glastonbury Abbey in the Anglo-Saxonperiod. This has resulted in a lack of serious historical research and hence the neglect of an important ecclesiastical establishment. This study brings together the evidence of royal and episcopal grants of land and combines it with material from Domesday Book, to produce a survey of the landed endowment of Glastonbury Abbey before 1066, and an analysis of the history of its Anglo-Saxon estates. Although there is too little data to formulate a complete account of the Abbey's early landholdings, the surviving evidence, collected together here, outlines a history for each place named in connection with the pre-Conquest religious house; in addition, each case helps to establish an overall framework for the life-cycle of the Anglo-Saxon estate, building on our understanding of actual conditions of tenure and of the various fortunes ecclesiastical land might experience.
LESLEY ABRAMS is Lecturer in History, Brasenose College, and Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University.
Anglo-Norman Studies XV
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00Papers here have as a general theme the "Norman Age", with a special slant towards the Mediterranean world. Subjects treated include the policies of the Norman rulers, their military and naval organisation and coinage, chronicle sources and aspects of church history in their principalities, and the relations of the Normans with Byzantium, the Fatimid rulers and the crusading states. Other papers treat more generally of art, literature and language in the Norman period.
Listing: Adam of Balsham's Oratio de Utensilibus; Chronicle of Falco of Benevento; Coinages of Norman Apulia and Sicily; De Clericis et Rustico; Franks in 11cByzantium; Knight's Arms and Armour 1150-1250; Marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily; Military Combat in Anglo-Norman Art; Nobilità e Parentela nell'Italia Normanna; Norman Kings of Sicily and the Fatimid Caliphate; Norman Naval Activity in the Mediterranean c.1060-c.1108. Normans through their Languages; Richard of Salerno 1097-1112; Simon Magus in S. Italy; Tomb of King John in Worcester Cathedral; Tombs of Roger II in Cefalù.
Contributors: J.J.G. ALEXANDER, GEORGE BEECH, MATTHEW BENNETT,ARMANDO BISANTI, H.E.J. COWDREY, VINCENZO D'ALESSANDRO, WALTER FRÖÖHLICH, PHILIP GRIERSON, JEREMY JOHNS, PATRIZIA LENDINARA, G.A. LOUD, JANE MARTINDALE, LUCIO MELAZZO, IAN PEIRCE, JONATHAN SHEPARD, LIVIA VARGA.
The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00The close ties between Gaels of Ireland and Scotland are well known, but in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the elite in the core areas of the kingdom of the Scots apparently turned their backs on Gaelic culture. This book takes a new look at the issue, investigating the extent to which Scottish men of letters of the period identified the Scottish kingdom and its inhabitants with Ireland, and exploring the function of the kingdom's Irish identity. DrBroun argues that a perceived historical link with Ireland was a fundamental feature of the kingdom's identity throughout the period, and discusses the beginnings of a Scottish national identity in the 1290s and early 1300s. His evidence is based on a thorough examination of accounts of Scottish origins, the royal genealogy, and regnal lists, which articulated perceptions of the kingdom's identity; included are new editions of the origin-legend material inBook I of Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scottorum; hitherto unknown witnesses of Scottish king-lists; and texts of the royal genealogy.
Dr DAUVIT BROUNis lecturer in Scottish history at the University of Glasgow.
Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar
Regular price $85.00 Save $-85.00This book is concerned with aspects of the revival of English military,ecclesiastical, and intellectual strength in the period from King Alfred's defeat of the Great Danish Army at Edington in 878 to that of the triumph of Benedictinism in the of Edgar, king of England959-975. Studying intellectual developments of the first half of the10th century, Dr Dumville argues that those decades were a period of continuation of the Alfredian renascence and he looks back into that king's troubled but productive reign to discover new aspects of his thinking and to offer some new interpretations of his actions.These were also the years in which the kingdom of England was formed:attention is therefore given to King Æthelstan, its creator. This series of new studies draws on fresh manuscript-evidence as well as reinterpreting texts long known to historians. By bringing together the testimonies of a wide variety of sources, it seeks to provide the basis on which a new history of the period may be written.
DAVID N. DUMVILLE is Reader in the Early Mediaeval History and Culture of the British Isles at the University of Cambridge.
Arthurian Poets: John Masefield
Regular price $45.95 Save $-45.95At the end of the nineteenth century, a homeless runaway teenager in New York found a job in a bar and discovered Malory. So began the lifelong interest of the future Poet Laureate, John Masefield (1878-1967), in the story of KingArthur. After becoming a popular, successful narrative poet and playwright, Masefield turned to the Arthurian material in earnest, producing the verse drama Tristan and Isolt in 1927 and Midsummer Night a year laterwith its Arthurian cycle.
All29 of Masefield's previously published Arthurian poems from the Ballad of Sir Bors (1903) to Caer Ocvran (1966) are collected here in addition to the full-length tragi-comedy When Good King Arthur. Also included are nine poems never before published which, together with prose notes, reveal Masefield undertaking an ambitious retelling of the Arthurian myth.
Arms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95The Hundred Years War embraced warfare in all aspects, from the grand set pieces of Crecy and Agincourt to the pillaged lands of the dispossessed population. What makes this book different from previous studies emphasising the great battles is its use of less familiar evidence, such as administrative records and landscape archaeology, to gain a truer picture of the realities of medieval warfare. From a general review of battle tactics, the book turns to examine (at points enlisting computer analysis) a number of issues: the composition of the English army, the management of affairs in Aquitaine, the response in England at large to the war and the consequent propaganda and hardship,and the impact of warfare on local communities. Close study of surviving artefacts - weapons, fortifications - also allows realistic assessments of military and naval experiences.
Contributors: ANDREW AYTON, MATTHEW BENNETT,ANNE CURRY, IAN FRIEL, ROBERT HARDY, MICHAEL HUGHES, MICHAEL JONES, BRIAN KEMP, JOHN KENYON, MARK ORMROD, ROBERT SMITH, MALCOLM VALE.
Anglo-Norman Warfare
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95The influence of war on late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman society was dominant and all-pervasive. Here in this book, gathered together for the first time, are fundamental articles on warfare in England and Normandy in the 11th and12th centuries, combining the work of some of the foremost scholars in the field.
Redressing the tendency to study military institutions and obligations in isolation from the practice of war, equal emphasis is given both to organisation and composition of forces, and to strategy, tactics and conduct of war. The result is not only an in-depth analysis of the nature of war itself, but a study of warfare in a broader social, political and cultural context. The Themes dealt with largely span the period of the Conquest, offering an assessment of the extent to which the Norman invasion marked radical change or a degree of continuity in the composition of armies and in methods offighting.
This important collection, with an introduction and select bibliography, will be is essential not simply for the student of medieval warfare, but for all studying Anglo-Norman society and its ruling warrior aristocracy whose raison d'être was war.
Contributors: NICHOLAS HOOPER, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, J.C. HOLT, J.O. PRESTWICH, R. ALLEN BROWN, JOHN GILLINGHAM, JIM BRADBURY, MATTHEW STRICKLAND, MATTHEW BENNETT.
Religious Belief and Ecclesiastical Careers in Late Medieval England
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00This book derives from a conference held in 1989. It reflects current research on ecclesiastical organisation and on aspects of religious belief from the Black Death to the English Reformation. On the wider front, there is an account of the diplomatic relations between the Pope and those who ruled for the infant Henry VI. Regional studies focus on Carthusians in Somerset, and the continued attraction of the eremitical life; on the canons of Exeter cathedral and on the foundation of chantries and the endowment of churches. Taken together, these essays show how late medieval religious belief was undermined by a variety of factors, and point up the contrast between the humanity and sensitivity of medieval religion and the nature of the faith which replaced it.
Contributors: CLIVE BURGESS, ROBERT W. DUNNING, MICHAEL J. HAREN, MARGARET HARVEY, D.N. LEPINE, COLIN RICHMOND, ROBERT N. SWANSON, BENJAMIN THOMPSON.
Anglo-Norman Studies I-X set Proceedings of the Battle Conferences 1978-1987 PLUS Index to Volumes I - X
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Anglo-Norman Studies
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Seeable Signs
Regular price $190.00 Save $-190.00Seven-sacrament art - the representation of all seven sacraments - first appeared in Europe as an occasional subject in the 14th century, but by the middle of the 15th it had become widely popular. In this interdisciplinary study,Ann Eljenholm Nichols provides an analysis of the iconography of the sacraments. The book begins with a comprehensive survey of all known continental work, some of it never before published, but it focuses on English work. Nichols argues that before 1450 there existed an international iconography of the sacraments, but that thereafter English work diverges so radically it is necessary to speak of a distinctive insular iconography. The explanation for thatdifference, she believes, is to be found in the peculiar religious climate created by the Lollard rejection of the sacramental system. The need to counter-attack, to make the sacred signs seeable, accounts for the theological character of the font iconography. Her book makes an important contribution to the cultural and social history of medieval England.
ANN ELJENHOLM NICHOLS is Professor, Department of English, Winona State University.
The Medieval Siege
Regular price $39.95 Save $-39.95The chapter on weaponry is descriptive and there are excellent drawings as well as contemporary illustrations. Equally, the final chapter on the conduct of sieges is admirably forthright... the index is particularly good. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
In medieval warfare, the siege predominated: for every battle, there were hundreds of sieges. Yet the rich and vivid history of siege warfare has been consistently neglected. Jim Bradbury's panoramic survey takes the history of siege warfare in Europe from the late Roman Empire to the 16th century, and includes sieges in Byzantium, Eastern Europe and the areas affected by the Crusades. Within this broad sweep of time and place, he finds, not that enormous changes occurred, but that the rules and methods of siege warfare remained remarkably constant. Included are detailed studies of some of the major sieges including Constantinople and Chateau-Gaillard. Throughout, Bradbury supports his narrative with chronicles and letters. irst-hand accounts of danger, famine and endurance bring the acute reality of siege warfare clearly before the reader.
JIM BRADBURY is the author of The Medieval Archer; he writes and lectures on battles and warfare in England and France in the middle ages.
Liturgy and the Ecclesiastical History of Late Anglo-Saxon England
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00`His work demonstrates the importance of these neglected sources for our understanding of the late Old English church.' HISTORY
An important book of immense erudition. It brings into the open some major issues of Late Anglo-Saxon history, and gives a thorough overview of the detailed source material. When such outstanding learning is being used, through intuitive perception, to bear on the wider issues such as popular devotion and the reception of the monastic reform in England, and bold conclusions are bing drawn from such minutely detailed studies, there is no doubt that David Dumville's contribution in this area of study becomes invaluable. The sources for the liturgy of late Anglo-Saxon England have a distinctive shape. Very substantial survival has given us the possibility of understanding change and perceiving significant continuity, as well as identifying local preferences and peculiarities. One major category of evidence is provided by a corpus of more than twenty kalendars: some of these (and particularly those which have been associated with Glastonbury Abbey) are subjected to close examination here, the process contributing both negatively and positively to the history of ecclesiastical renewal in the 10th century. Another significant body of manuscripts comprises books for episcopal use, especially pontificals: these are examined here as a group, and their associations with specific prelates and churches considered. All these investigations tend to suggest the centrality of the church of Canterbury in the surviving testimony and presumptively therefore in the history of late Anglo-Saxon christianity. Historians' study of English liturgy in this period has heretofore concentrated on the development of coronation-rites: by pursuing palaeographical and textual enquiries, the author hassought to make other divisions of the subject respond to historical questioning.
Dr DAVID N. DUMVILLE is Reader in the Early Mediaeval History and Culture of the British Isles at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Girton College.
A History of Western Astrology
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95The story of the history of Western astrology begins with the philosophers of Greece in the 5th century BC. To the magic and stargazing of Egypt the Greeks addednumerology, geometryand rational thought. The philosophy of Plato and later of the Stoics made astrology respectable, and by the time Ptolemy wrote his textbook the Tetrabiblos, in the second century AD, the main lines of astrological practice as it is known today had already been laid down. In future centuries astrology shifted to Islam only to return to the West in medieval times where it flourished until the shift of ideas during the Renaissance.
Bestiary
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99Bestiaries are a particularly characteristic product of medieval England, and give a unique insight into the medieval mind. Richly illuminated and lavishly produced, they were luxury objects for noble families. Their three-fold purpose was to provide a natural history of birds, beasts and fishes, to draw moral examples from animal behaviour (the industrious bee, the stubborn ass), and to reveal a mystical meaning - the phoenix, for instance, as a symbol of Christ's resurrection.
This Bestiary, MS Bodley 764, was produced around the middle of the thirteenth century and is of singular beauty and interest. The lively illustrations have the freedom and naturalistic quality of the later Gothic style, and make dazzling use of colour. This book reproduces the 136 illuminations to the same size and in the same place as the original manuscript, fitting the text around them. Richard Barber's translation from the original Latin is a delight to read, capturing both the serious intent of the manuscript and its charm.
RICHARD BARBER has written many books on the history of and life in the middle ages, from his Somerset Maugham Award-winning The Knight and Chivalry, by way of biographies of Henry II and the Black Prince, to an anthology of Arthurian literature from England, France and Germany, Arthurian Legends, and an account of the historical Arthur, King Arthur: Hero and Legend.
English Caroline Script and Monastic History
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00Caroline minuscule script was adopted in England in the mid-tenth century in imitation of Continental usage. A badge of ecclesiastical reform, it was practised in Benedictine scriptoria but was also taken up by members of the royal writing office; the chancery occupied an important place in the pioneering of calligraphic fashions. During its approximately two-century history in England, Caroline script developed a number of forms, in part reflecting different tendencies within the Reform-cause. The Rule of St Benedict was focal for this movement.
In the aftermath of the final Scandinavian conquest of England [AD1016] a Canterbury master-scribe created the form ofCaroline writing which was to become a mark of Englishness and outlive the Norman Conquest. In the closing chapter its inventor's career is discussed and his achievement assessed. This volume offers analysis of manuscript evidenceas a basis for the cultural and ecclesiastical history of late Anglo-Saxon England.
David N. Dumville is professor of History and Palaeography at the University of Aberdeen
Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99`A wholly feminine voice within Catholicism-they express the inexpressible better than any amount of rational thinking about God.' THE TIMES
The three women who are the subject of this fascinating study lefta rich legacyof medieval spirituality. Frances Beer explores their writings and draws on available historical evidence to bring the experience of all three women closer to a 20th-century audience. She sees Hildegard's perception of her Creator as informed by the heroic ideal, while Mechthild's erotic experience seems to show the influence of the minnesingers. Julian's experience of tender intimacy with her Lord demonstrates an egalitarian confidence in the ability of the individual soul to progress towards onenesswith the divine. Their individual natures are also further revealed through the author's examination of their resolution of a number of theological problems. In contrast, the works of two medieval men writing for women are also explored.
FRANCESBEER is Associate Professor of English at York University, Toronto.
Anglo-Norman Studies VI
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Medieval Knighthood IV
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00These eight papers from the Strawberry Hill Conference cover a wide area, but common themes emerge. One group of essays deals with the embellishments of lordship, both architectural and heraldic, studying residences and also developments in armour. A second group concerns ideals which motivated the aristocracy of western Europe, from the late 10th to the 15th centuries: romances, the Peace movement of Aquitaine, holy war, and loyalty. Concentration on rationalism and free will in the writings of the cultural circle which revolved around Sir John Fastolf is identified as an important element in the development of the English Renaissance.
Professor CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILLteaches in the Department of History, University of East Anglia; Dr RUTH HARVEY is lecturer in French, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College.
Contributors: ADRIAN AILES, JEFFREY ASHCROFT, CHARLES COULSON, JONATHAN HUGHES, JANE MARTINDALE, PETER NOBLE, MATTHEW STRICKLAND, ANN WILLIAMS
Anglo-Norman Studies XIV
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00Adela of Blois and Ivo of Chartres; Anglo-Norman families; Anglo-Scandinavian equestrian equipment; `Belrem'; Bookland, Folkland and Fiefs; Charters of David I; Counts of Boulogne under Eustace II; Dispute settlement; Financing Stephen's War; Fortification de Rouen; French literature in 12c England; Margam Annals; Ranulf II Earl of Chester's armed neutrality; Rochester cathedral priory c.1100; See of London. G.W.S. BARROW, P. DALTON, B. GAUTHIEZ, J. GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, J. GREEN, K. LOPRETE, J.S. MOORE, R.B. PATTERSON, S. REYNOLDS, I. SHORT, H.J. TANNER, A.J. TAYLOR, P. TAYLOR, H. TSURUSHIMA.
Wide-ranging volume of essays introducing new research in the fields of history, archaeology, literature and palaeography. Includes (amongst others) papers on 12th century French literature, settling disputes in Anglo-Norman England, financing Stephen's war and the Allen Brown Memorial lecture entitled Belrem. Contributors: ARNOLD J. TAYLOR, G.W.S BARROW, PAUL DALTON, BERNARDGAUTHIEZ, JAMES GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, JUDITH GREEN, KIMBERLEY LOPRETE,JOHN S. MOORE, ROBERT B. PATTERSON, SUSAN REYNOLDS, IAN SHORT, HEATHERJ. TANNER, PAMELA TAYLOR, and H. TSURUSHIMA.
Chronicles and Annals of Mediaeval Ireland and Wales
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00Kathryn Grabowski carries out a complete text-historical analysis of these southern Irish annals for the years 431-1092, establishing their relationships to the other annal-collections, separating the several strata of which they are composed, and judging the relative historical value of these sources. David Dumville studies the major source, the "Clonmacnoise Chronicle", to determine an outline-history ofthe sources and subsequent development of this chronicle. Text-historical study of this kind allows interrelationships to be charted with precision, and the historical value of the texts to be estimated with a greater degree of confidence.
Women in the Viking Age
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99Well-illustrated, closely argued and fascinating. GUARDIAN
This is the first book-length study in English to investigate what women did in the Viking age, both at home in Scandinavia and in the Viking colonies from Greenland to Russia. Evidence for their lives is fragmentary, but Judith Jesch assembles the clues provided by archaeology, runic inscriptions, place names and personal names, foreign historical records and Old Norse literature and mythology. These sources illuminate different aspects of women's lives in the Viking age, on the farms and in the trading centres of Scandinavia, abroad on Viking expeditions, and as settlers in places such as Iceland and the British Isles. Women in the Viking Age explores an unfamiliar aspect of medieval history and offers a new perspective on Viking society, very different from the traditional picture of a violent and male-dominated world.
JUDITH JESCH is Reader in Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham.
Understanding the Universe in Seventh-Century Ireland
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00Scarcity of scientific data, a real interest in the physical world, and the need to validate the scriptures encouraged seventh-century Irish scholars toward critical reflection on scientific matters. Their world-view was based onmaterials drawn from the Bible, on earlier Christian works and on personal reflection and contemplation. This volume looks at the Irish contribution to the development of western thought in the early middle ages.
MARINA SMYTHis librarian of the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame, and teaches early medieval cultural history.
Anglo-Saxon Exeter
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00In his search for an historical context for the famous Exeter Book of Old English poetry, Dr Conner's examination of the archaeological and textual records of Exeter have led him to significant new conclusions about the city's tenth century monastic culture. He posits the existence of a large library dating from the time of King Æthelstan, an active scriptorium from at least the mid-century period, and suggests that five other important manuscripts may have originated at Exeter c.950-c.990.A codicological examination of the Exeter Book draws fresh conclusions about its composition and its literary context.
Anglo-Saxon Exeterconcludes with six appendices in which many documents important to the early history of the city are edited, including its relic-lists, the records for moving the see from Crediton to Exeter, Leofric's Inventory, a series of legal records which survive on a single leaf of an8th-century lectionary, and a study of the history of the Exeter Book from 1050 to the present.
PATRICK CONNER is Professor in the department of English at West Virginia University.
Anglo-Norman Studies XII
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00Contributors: C. HOLDSWORTH, S. BROWN, K. COOKE, M. FRANKLIN, J. HUDSON, L. HUNEYCUTT, T. McNEILL; R. MORTIMER, C. POTTS, D. ROFFE, M. STRICKLAND, H.B. TEUNIS, P. TUDOR-CRAIG, E. VAN HOUTS
Angelic Monks and Earthly Men
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99Professor Milis challenges the accepted view of monasticism as a powerful social influence on medieval life, supporting his case with detailed arguments. `A new assessment of the impact of monasticism on medieval society... a notable merit is that it obliges its readers to re-examine the assumptions which may have entered into their own consideration of the monastic role in society and led them to a different conclusion.' ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW [Barbara F. Harvey]
Suffolk Windmills
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99Some of the earliest recorded windmills were built in Suffolk, and since the middle ages Suffolk has been a county where windmills predominated. In the 1830s there were over 430 windmills in the county, though the advent of steamand oil engines and roller mills meant there was a rapid decline in numbers later in the nineteenth century.
This survey lists all the surviving mills and mill remains. It also explains the technicalities of how the differenttypes of mill worked, emphasising the particular local types and developments; and describes the life of the millers and the work of the millwrights. There is also an account of the restoration work which has been undertaken on them. Fully illustrated with photographs of what can still be seen today.
The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood, volume III
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00
The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey
Regular price $170.00 Save $-170.00Glastonbury Abbey was one of the great cultural centres of Anglo-Saxon and medieval England, yet this is the first volume of scholarly essays to be devoted to the subject. Written in honour of C. A. Ralegh Radford, the first itemsare concerned with the physical remains of the abbey, ranging from the place of Glastonbury in the development of Christianity in Somerset to specific examinations of surviving monastic buildings. The main body of the essays explores documents relating to the abbey for evidence of its history and traditions, including the earliest Anglo-Saxon period, pre-conquest abbots, and links with the Celtic world. The final section deals with the cultural life of the abbey: Glastonbury's role in education is discussed and the concluding essay deals with the most magical of all Glastonbury legends - its link with Joseph of Arimathea and the Grail.
Contributors: PHILIP RAHTZ, MICHAEL D. COSTEN, C.J. BOND, J.B. WELLER, ROBERT W. DUNNING, LESLEY ABRAMS, JAMES P. CARLEY, ANN DOOLEY, SARAH FOOT, DAVID THORNTON, RICHARD SHARPE, JULIA CRICK, OLIVER J.PADEL, MATTHEW BLOWS, CHARLES T. WOOD, NICHOLAS ORME, CERIDWENLLOYD-MORGAN, FELICITY RIDDY.
A Dictionary of Fabulous Beasts
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99A dictionary? No, this is really an astonishing ark filled with beasts from a fabulous zoo far more varied and entertaining than anything from ordinary natural history. From Abaia and Abath to Ziz and Zu, from the microscopic Gigelorum that nests in a mite's ear to the giant serpent Jormungandor who encircles the whole globe, there are beasts from every corner of man's imagination: the light-hearted Fearsome Critters of lumberjack tales find a place alongside the Sirrush of Babylon and the Winged Bulls of Assyria. Some of the fabulous beasts turn out to be real creatures in disguise - a Cameleopard is a kind of glamourised giraffe -while others are almost, but not quite, human. Among the six hundred entries are some which are full-scale essays in their own right, as on Phoenix or Giants; and just in case it seems as though the authors dreamt up the entire book, there is a detailed list of books for the would-be hunter in this mythical jungle.
The Church and the Welsh Border in the Central Middle Ages
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00The first chapter, a survey of Anglo-Welsh ecclesiastical life in the tenth and eleventh centuries, is followed by "The Archbishops of St Davids, Llandaff and Caerleon-on-Usk", in which the twelfth-century claims of certain major Welsh churches to extensive jurisdiction and the methods by which they promoted their claims are subjectedto a searching analysis. In "St Peter of Gloucester and St Cadog of Llancarfan" a detailed examination is made of the complicated links which bound together the churches of Gloucester and Llancarfan from about 1100 and of the sources which reveal these ties. Finally in "Geoffrey of Monmouth as a historian" the motivation and methods of one of the most controversial personalities of the Anglo-Welsh Church are considered.
King Arthur: Hero and Legend
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99Who was the real Arthur? Why were his knights so famous? Was he buried at Glastonbury? Richard Barber takes the story from the anonymous 8th century chronicler who first listed his battles to the novelists of the 20th century. A clear and readable account of the development of the stories about Arthur and his court from the earliest times to the present day.
The Word of a Prince
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95A new approach to historical biography - she has studied both the original sources and recent works of scholarship and has a thorough understanding of the period. SUNDAY TIMES
Until Maria Perry began her exploration of Elizabeth's papers, this vivid raw material had only been partially studied. From it, a fresh portrait of Elizabeth emerges, one which is often more cohesive and less baffling than some offered by her biographers. The dangers and insecurities of her early life, her sense of divine protection, her formidable education, all stand out as crucial elements in the formation of her character; but behind the acquired circumspection lies a personality of great warmth and spirit. On the teasing questions of love, marriage and virginity, the letters and speeches offer oblique comment; it seems certain that Robert Dudley was her one true love, and that she felt his second marriage to Lettice Knollys as a bitter betrayal.
MARIA PERRY is a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, where she read history.
The Medieval Archer
Regular price $29.99 Save $-29.99It is a delight to read a book which recognises the importance of warfare in medieval times...also...discusses the changing role of the archer in medieval society. SIR STEVEN RUNCIMAN
This book traces the historyof the archer in the medieval period, from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses. From a close study of early evidence, the author shows that the archer's role before the time of Edward I was an important but rarely documented one, and that his new prominence in the fourteenth century was the result of changes in development of military tactics rather than the introduction of the famous "longbow".
A second thread of the book examines the archer's role in society, with particular reference to that most famous of all archers, Robin Hood. The final chapters look at the archer in the early fifteenth century and then chronicle the rise of the handgun as the major infantryweapon at the bow's expense.
JIM BRADBURY writes and lectures on battles and warfare in England and France in the Middle Ages.
Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95Edward, prince of Wales and Aquitaine, known as the Black Prince, is one of the legendary figures of English history, victor of three great battles and a model of chivalry and courtesy. Behind this image, which many of his contemporaries accepted and eagerly believed in, it is difficult to get at the realities of his character and of the life that he led. Most of his biographers have based their work on the splendid vision of chivalry conjured up by Froissart, but the present book deliberately shuns this approach, to see what can be found in official records, particularly from the prince's household and those who campaigned with the prince. Special attention has been paid not onlyto the confusing and confused accounts of the great battles, but also to the prince's early years, his close companions who contributed so greatly to his successes, and to his government of Aquitaine, an obscure but very importantpart of his career. A number of minor but persistent errors in early histories, deriving from Froissart, are corrected. A concluding chapter examines how the legend of the Black Prince (and his curious nickname) came into being.By separating the image and the reality, a clearer picture of the prince emerges. Dr RICHARD BARBER is the author of The Arthurian Legends, King Arthur: Hero and Legend, Tournaments, a biography of Henry II, The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe, and the recently revised seminal study of The Knight and Chivalry.
Art and Power
Regular price $36.95 Save $-36.95The spectacular festivals mounted by the princes of the Renaissance were both a marriage of the arts and a complex and subtle expression of political theory. From the Renaissance festivals ballet, opera and even the proscenium arch theatre are derived. Festivals are therefore a vital part of European cultural history. Here Roy Strong provides a guide to theirorigins and purpose, and their lasting influence.
Anglo-Norman Studies V
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00
Anglo-Norman Studies III
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00R.A. BROWN, M. BUR, R. GEM, B. GOLDING, J.N. HARE, S.F. HOCKEY, E. VAN HOUTS, R. MORTIMER, I.W. ROWLANDS, E. SEARLE, A. WILLIAMS, D. WILSON
Anglo-Norman Studies I
Regular price $130.00 Save $-130.00
Insular Latin Grammarians
Regular price $120.00 Save $-120.00
The Medieval Household
Regular price $60.00 Save $-60.00This book brings together for the first time the astonishing diversity of excavated furnishings and artefacts from medieval London homes. These include roofing and other structural items, decorative fixtures and fittings, and assortment of culinary utensils, writing instruments, and toys and weights. Illustrating some 1,000 items, the catalogue provides a fascinating account of how metalwork and glassware manufacturing trends changed during the period covered, while close dating of many of the finds has resulted in many new insights into life at the time.
Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Badges
Regular price $60.00 Save $-60.00This is the first major catalogue in English devoted to medieval badges. These fascinating objects provide us with a guide to the popularity of different cults and pilgrim centres, supplying evidence of the sometimes arduous journeys not only to famous and far-off sanctuaries like Compostela, but to native shrines such as that of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury, or the tombs of local, unofficial saints. Often mass-produced and sold in tens of thousands, pilgrim souvenirs offer pointers to fashion in contemporary precious jewellery. The secular badges include a wealth of non-religious imagery, playful and amatory, satirical, celebratory and heraldic. Illustrating nearly 800 items ofpopular medieval jewellery, the catalogue contained within the book describes previously unpublished finds retrieved from datable archaeological London waterfront deposits, and provides the basis of a chronological framework for future excavations.
BRIAN SPENCER was the Senior Keeper at the Museum of London, with special responsibility for the Museum's collection of medieval everyday objects.