For the second edition, the book has been thoroughly rewritten and expanded. It includes two new chapters, as well as an extensive preface in which the author reflects on the scholarly traditions which have influenced his work and explains his current thinking about the book's themes.New edition of popular account of the first 1000 years of Christianity. Thoroughly rewritten, with extensive new preface of author's current thinking.Includes new maps, substantial bibliography, and numerous chronological tables.

    Yet even her awesome skill as a horsewoman won't help her outrace the knight who pursues her.An Anglo-Norman who has won favor with the King, Sir Gabel de Amalville must prove his loyalty by crushing the rebellious MacNairn clan. Seizing the youngest daughter of the chief gives him a necessary advantage. But having sequestered Ainslee in his isolated castle keep, he soon finds himself the prisoner of a passion he never could have foreseen. Now, as the shadow of war descends upon the Highlands, Gabel will follow his heart into battle—for the love of the sensual woman who has captured him, mind, body and soul.

    Includes The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle; Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle; The Avowyng of Arthur; The Awntyrs off Arthur; The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain; The Greene Knight; The Turke and Sir Gawain; The Marriage of Sir Gawain; The Carle of Carlisle; The Jeaste of Sir Gawain; and King Arthur and King Cornwall.

    With her are loyal friends and servants, all united to protect the infant Kit from unknown enemies. For her clandestine mission to succeed she has to make Colin Campbell, the warrior lord whose help she seeks, believe she is the seductive Lady Caithness.Irresistible DesireColin Campbell's head tells him this Caithness woman is trouble, yet his heart is telling him she is magnificent. Whatever Celia is hiding he needs to know, but he also wants to hold her and kiss her. And as war with England scorches the heathered hills, Colin and Celia find reasons to bare their secrets, surrender to their desires, and head toward a destiny where Scotland's future--and their own--build on the strength of their passion and love...

    Examining those periods between the late second and fourteenth centuries in which discussions of the body were central to Western conceptions of death and resurrection, she suggests that the attitudes toward the body emerging from these discussions still undergird our modern conceptions of personal identity and the individual. Bynum describes how Christian thinkers clung to a very literal notion of resurrection, despite repeated attempts by some theologians and philosophers to spiritualize the idea. Focusing on the metaphors and examples used in theological and philosophical discourse and on artistic depictions of saints, death, and resurrection, Bynum connects the Western obsession with bodily return to a deep-seated fear of biological process and a tendency to locate identity and individuality in body. Of particular interest is the imaginative religious imagery, often bizarre to modern eyes, which emerged during medieval times. Bynum has collected here thirty-five examples of such imagery, which illuminate her discussion of bodily resurrection. With this detailed study of theology, piety, and social history, Bynum writes a new chapter in the history of the body and challenges our views on gender, social hierarchy, and difference.

    An egalitarian strain in early Christianity affirmed that once she asserted her commitment to Christ through a vow of chastity, monastic profession, or renunciation of family ties, a woman could become virile, or equal to a man. While the ideal of the virile woman never disappeared, another ideal slowly evolved in medieval Christianity. By virtue of some gender-related trait--spotless virginity, erotic passion, the capacity for intense suffering, the ability to imagine a feminine aspect of the Godhead--a devout woman could be not only equal, but superior to men; without becoming male, she could become a womanChrist, imitating and representing Christ in uniquely feminine ways.Rooted in women's concrete aspirations and sufferings, Newman's womanChrist model straddles the bounds of orthodoxy and heresy to illuminate the farther reaches of female religious behavior in the Middle Ages. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist will generate compelling discussion in the fields of medieval literature and history, history of religion, theology, and women's studies.

    Using a series of specially posed photographs, the authors recreate the fighting men of the high Middle Ages set in their 15th century environment.

    The work describes many aspects of medieval life work and play, feasts and festivals, love, courtship and marriage.

    However, in spite of its fame in literature and scholarship, there have been few attempts to analyze the Byzantine court in its entirety as a phenomenon. The studies in this volume aim to provide a unified composition by presenting Byzantine courtly life in all its interconnected facets.One important theme that unites these studies is the attention paid to describing the effects of a change in the social makeup of the court during this period and the reflection of these changes in art and architecture. These changes in social composition, mentality, and material culture of the court demonstrate that, as in so many other aspects of Byzantine civilization, the image of permanence and immutability projected by the forms of palace life was more apparent than real. As this new work shows, behind the golden facade of ceremony, rhetoric, and art, there was constant development and renewal.

    Eight rare poems, written at Iona monastery between 563 AD and the early 8th century, translated from the original Latin and Gaelic and fully annotated with literary commentary.

    The first book on medieval England to arise out of the living history movement, this volume allows readers to understand-and, if possible, recreate-what life was like for ordinary people in the days of Geoffrey Chaucer. Readers will learn not only what types of games medieval Britons played, what clothes they wore, or what food they ate, but actual rules for games, clothing patterns, and recipes. Written with impeccable detail, this volume examines all aspects of life in medieval England, down to basic fundamentals like nutrition, waste management, and table manners. Parallel situations and quoted material from The Canterbury Tales draw direct connections to Chaucer's work. Student researchers will benefit from a multitude of resources, including primary source sidebars, a chapter on online resources and digital research, information on medieval reenactments, a timeline of events, a glossary of terms, numerous illustrations, and a comprehensive print and nonprint bibliography of accessible sources. Supporting the world history curriculum and offering an interactive supplement to literature curricula, this volume is a must-have for students and interested readers.Detailed and meticulous, this volume examines all aspects of life in medieval England, down to basic fundamentals like nutrition, waste management, and table manners. Readers will explore, seasons, holidays and holy days, the prevalence and normalcy of death, the average workday, crafts and trade, decorating practices, and recreational activities like archery and falconry. Parallel situations and quoted material from The Canterbury Tales also draw direct connections to Chaucer's work.

    Author of books on the history of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italy, Herlihy published, in 1978, his best-known work in collaboration with Christine Klapisch-Zuber, Les Toscans et leurs familles (Translated into English in 1985, and Italian in 1988). For the last dozen or so years of his life, Herlihy launched a series of ambitious projects, on the history ofwomen and the family, and on the collective behavior of social groups in medieval Europe. While he completed two important books - on the family (1985) and on women's work (1991) - he did not find the time to bring these other major projects to a conclusion.This volume contains essays he wrote after 1978. They convey a sense of the enormous intellectual energy and great erudition that characterized David Herlihy's scholarly career. They also chart a remarkable historian's intellectual trajectory, as he searched for new and better ways of asking a set of simple and basic questions about the history of the family, the institution within which the vast majority of Europeans spent so much of their lives. Because of his qualities as a scholar and a teacher, during his relatively brief career Herlihy was honored with Presidencies of the four major scholarly associations with which he was affiliated: the Catholic Historical Association, the Medieval Academy of America, the Renaissance Society of America, and the American Historical Association.

    Simon Gaunt offers new readings of canonical Old French and medieval Occitan texts such as the Chanson de Roland, Chretien de Troyes' Chevalier de la charrete, and lyrics by Bernart de Ventadorn. In addition, he considers many less well-known works and less familiar genres such as hagiography and the fabliaux. Drawing on contemporary feminist theory, he examines how masculinity, as well as femininity, is constructed in medieval French and Occitan texts, and he shows that gender is a crucial element in the formation of the ideologies that underpin medieval literary genres.

    It is a language textbook, designed to introduce students with one year or more of Latin to the Latin writing and culture of the period A.D. 550-1200. It is the only systematic introduction for students to all types of Medieval Latin writing.

    Written by Britain's leading medieval historian, this is the first scholarly book for over fifty years to present Owain and his revolt to a general audience. It will appeal to those who are fascinated by national heroes in all periods and is of particular interest to those who are intrigued by this most famous movement in the history of Wales, and by the mystery surrounding its remarkable leader.

    It discusses not only the most famous monuments - such as the cathedrals of Chartres, Amiens, and Reims, Westminster Abbey, and the Siena Duomo - but also less familiar buildings in France, England, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Scandinavia. A synthesis of new research, interpretations, methodologies, and insights that have evolved over the last twenty years, the text is accompanied by hundreds of illustrations, including many photographs taken specially for the book. Together the text and the images provide a strikingly beautiful and authoritative survey for students and the general reader.

    However important, this can seem a daunting subject to non-specialists. They have long needed an attractive but authoritative introduction, avoiding arid technicalities and setting the subject in its widest context. James Brundage's marvellously fluent and accessible book is the perfect answer: it will be warmly welcomed by medievalists and students of ecclesiastical and legal history.

    It addresses four main issues: the meaning of power over property; the ways in which proprty conveyed power; the nature of immunities; and the power of royal authority to affect property relations. The areas studied include Wales, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Byzantium, and the essays range across the period 650-1150.

    Newly edited and translated, the texts are given in both Latin and English, with detailed notes and apparatus to aid interpretation. They are selected to represent the range of dramatic achievement between about 1050 and 1180, when the use of sung play-texts, within a context of liturgical ceremony as well as for secular entertainment, was at its peak. The plays chosen are boldly inventive and compellingly imaginative, revealing the depth and range of the medieval dramatic mind. Included are works from France and Germany, a piece by Hildegard of Bingen, and the Passion Play from the Carmina Burana.

    One of the unpublished works was Richard and Anne, a two-act verse play about Richard III and Anne Neville, his wife. Published for the first time here, Richard and Anne is actually two plays within a play, as the characters from Shakespeares Richard III are affected by contemporary characters (e.g., the stage manager, the director and the producer), and all the characters--contemporary and Shakespearean--are influenced to some extent by the historical characters of Richard and Anne. Throughout, the accepted "truth" in Shakespeares play is challenged by the historical truth of Richard and Annes real story. The ending of Richard and Anne, as in so many of Andersons plays, is pessimistic, but not hopeless. Richard III will be performed again, most will accept the Bards version of truth, but there will always be a few who will challenge it. In time they might even prevail, and for Maxwell Anderson, the lover of lost causes, were he with us today, this might be enough.

    James Campbell's work on the Anglo-Saxons is recognised as being some of the most original of recent writing on the period; it is brought together in this collection, which is both an important contribution to Anglo-Saxon studies in itself and also a pointer to the direction of future research.

    In this series of detailed studies, Andy Orchard demonstrates the changing range of Anglo-Saxon attitudes towards the monstrous by reconsidering the monsters of Beowulf against the background of early medieval and patristic teratology and with reference to specific Anglo-Saxon texts.The immediate manuscript context of the monsters in Beowulf is analysed, shedding light on the poet's treatment of the theme of the monstrous and its integration into his work, and a series of parallel discussions consider a range of medieval treatments of the same theme in a variety of analogous texts (all provided with translation), in Latin, Old English, Middle Irish, and Old Icelandic.The twin themes of pride and prodigies are suggested by tracing changing attitudes towards the concept of pride and establishing a close link between the proud pagan warriors depicted in Christian tradition and the monsters they fight, and with whom they become increasingly identified.An appendix contains new editions and translations (some for the first time in English) of the Liber Monstrorum, The Letter of Alexander to Aristotle, and The Wonders of the East.Originally published in 1995 by Boydell & Brewer.

    

    This book provides a collection of sources for an important and influential group of women in medieval England, and examines changes in their role and activities between 1066 and 1500.

    The Interpretation of Mary and Martha deals primarily with the balance of action and contemplation in Christian life; The Ideal of the Imitation of Christ studies the growing emphasis on the human Christ, especially His body and wounds; and The Orders of Society looks at the conceptual divisions of society and the emergence of the modern idea of a middle class.

    Compares ancient & modern scripts in minute detail. 8 1/2" x 12". Color illus.

    

    This book is different, setting out to examine the experience of the lesser English lords and landowners, which has been largely ignored. Ann Williams shows how they survived the conquest and settlement, adapted to foreign customs, and in the process preserved native tradition and culture. Though the great earls and magnates fell with Harold, some of their dependents secured a place in the entourages of their supplanters, or were too useful to the royal administration (based largely on English procedure) to be completely displaced; in the Church, too, a reservoir of English sentiment survived. The testimony of the Anglo-Norman historians who chronicled the Conquest, together with other evidence, including the Domesday Book (based on the English system of local government), are an important source for our knowledge of how the lesser aristocracy and the free landholders felt about, and reacted to, their new masters. Dr ANN WILLIAMS was until her retirement Senior Lecturer in medieval history at the Polytechnic of North London.

    It is examined in the context of the extraordinarily diverse influences which affected it - from Greek and Persian to Russian and modern European literature, and the folklore of the Caucasus.

    The first book on medieval England to arise out of the living history movement, it recreates the daily life of ordinary people, not just the aristocracy, by combining a hands-on approach with the best of current research. The how-to sections are all based on original sources and much of the material is made available here for the first time. The most basic facts of life are systematically covered in a readily accessible format organized for easy reference. Clearly illustrated with over 125 drawings, patterns, and diagrams, plus sheet music, it provides a treasure trove of information for classroom and library use and for those interested in recreating aspects of medieval life.The work is organized into sections on Chaucer's World (social, religious, and economic aspects of life), The Course of Life (birth, childhood, and adolescence, education, marriage, and old age), The Cycles of Time (which concludes with a calendar of the medieval year describing the festivals and events of each month), The Living Environment (including houses, villages, towns, and travel), Clothing and Accessories (including instruction for making complete medieval male and female outfits and braiding authentic medieval lace), Arms and Armor (which describes medieval armor from the point of view of the wearer), Food and Drink (featuring a selection of recipes), and Entertainments (songs with sheet music and instructions for authentic games and dances of the period). A chronology of medieval England, a glossary, appendixes with information and ideas on organizing a medieval event, and suggestions for further reading complete the work. This is an indispensable resource for classroom and school and public libraries because it gives readers a true understanding of what it would actually be like to live in 14th-century England.

    -- Stanley Krippner

    This is the first comprehensive study of the political and military aspects of the early years of the war, from the battle of 'Ayn Jalut in 1260 to the battle of Homs in 1281. In between these campaigns, the Mamluk-Ilkhanid struggle was continued in the manner of a 'cold war' with both sides involved in border skirmishes, diplomatic manoeuvres, and espionage. Here, as in the major battles, the Mamluks usually maintained the upper hand, establishing themselves as the foremost Muslim power at the time. By drawing on previously untapped Persian and Arabic sources, the author sheds new light on the confrontation, examining the war within the context of Mongol/Mamluk relations with the Byzantine Empire, the Latin West and the Crusading states.

    Breton lays were produced by or after the fashion of Marie de France in the twelfth century and claim to be -literary versions of lays sung by ancient Bretons to the accompaniment of the harp.- The poems edited in this volume are considered distinctly -English- Breton lays because of their focus on the family values of late medieval England. With the volume's helpful glosses, notes, introductions, and appendices, the door is opened for students to study Middle English poetry and the medieval family alike.

    Written by leading scholars, it summarizes the current consensus on the various facets of troubadour studies.Standing at the beginning of the history of modern European verse, the troubadours were the prime poets and composers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the South of France. No study of medieval literature is complete without an examination of the courtly love which is celebrated in the elaborately rhymed stanzas of troubadour verse, creations whose words and melodies were imitated by poets and musicians all over medieval Europe.The words of about 2,500 troubadour songs have survived, along with 250 melodies, and all have come under intense scholarly scrutiny. This Handbook brings together the fruits of this scrutiny, giving teachers and students an overview of the fundamental issues in troubadour scholarship. All quotations are given in the original Old Occitan and in English. The editors provide a list of troubadour editions and an index, and each chapter includes a list of additional readings.

    When Henry VIII died in 1547 he left a church in England that had broken with Rome - but was it Protestant? The English Reformation was quite different in its methods, motivations and results to that taking place on the continent.This book: * examines the influences of continental reform on England * describes the divorce of Henry VIII and the break with Rome * discusses the political and religious consequences of the break with Rome * assesses the success of the Reformation up to 1547 * provides a clear guide to the main strands of historical thought on the topic.

    This book traces the full history of Beckett's bones', from their alleged destruction by Henry VIII's commissioners during the Reformation to the present day. Includes fascinating observations, such as the unexpected discovery by workmen in 1865 of Dante's bones concealed in a wooden box a short distance from his empty tomb.

    This book brings together the latest work on how these relations developed between 900 and 1300, a period crucial for the formation of national identities. Little has been published hitherto on this subject, and the book marks a major contribution to a topic of lasting interest.

    It also looks at the part played by the leaders of the native Welsh community in the years after the conquest of 1282-3. This is one of the less familiar aspects of the medieval history of the British Isles, but one in which there has been an increasing interest in recent years.Wales lost its independence in 1282. Owain Glyn Dwr led a revolt in the early fifteenth century. Henry Tudor was of Welsh descent and landed in Milford Haven in 1485. These are the most familiar facts about the History of Medieval Wales, and today this history is often presented as nothing more than a romantic story of princes and castles. But there is a great deal more to it. Like every other nation, Wales has a history and identity of its own, and Edward I did not bring that history to an end. Unlike England it was not conquered by the Normans. In the thirteenth century the native princess of Gwynedd tried to create a single Welsh principality, and for a short time came close to success. The fourteenth century was much a period of crisis for Wales as for every other part of Europe and the effect of the Black Death lasted a long time. The fifteenth century saw the leaders of the community move on to a wider political stage.Why did conquest come in 1282? Who was Owain Glyn Dwr and why did he rebel? Why was Henry Tudor's bid for power based in Wales and what gave him credibility there? Dr Carr considers these questions and suggests some possible answers as he examines one of the less familiar areas of British History.

    This twelfth-century Benedictine abbess exorcized demons; healed the sick; warned sister convents and monasteries against the dangers of a 'soft' life; preached to the laity on her journeys; incurred an interdict against her convert rather than obey an order she knew she was wrong; founded a new convent, separated from her original monastery, and then successfully negotiated the transfer of her nuns' dowries from reluctant monks.

    Metaphysics as Rhetoric controverts this view, arguing that Plato was not the originator of this metaphysical tradition. Using as a basis the tenth-century Muslim philosopher Alfarabi's interpretation of Plato, especially his Summary of Plato's Laws, Parens shows that what appears to be Plato's metaphysics was intended as a rhetorical defense of his politics. Parens demonstrates that rather than seek to establish politics on the definitive metaphysical ground, Alfarabi's Plato analyzes politics on its own terms, phenomenologically.