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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2016

        Fools and idiots?

        Intellectual disability in the Middle Ages

        by Irina Metzler, Julie Anderson, Walton Schalick

      • Trusted Partner
        History
        November 2015

        Indispensable immigrants

        The wine porters of northern Italy and their saint, 1200–1800

        by Lester Little

        Indispensable immigrants recreates the world of peasants who streamed into the cities of late medieval and early modern northern Italy to carry crushingly heavy containers of wine. Written in an easily accessible and unassuming style, it is solidly grounded in previously untapped archival and visual sources. In this first-ever reconstruction of the forgotten metier of wine porter, topography plays a key role in forming the labour market; in the scramble to distinguish professionals from manual labourers the term artist gets divorced from lowly artisan, and wretched diet is invoked to explain why workers are so unintelligent; the wine porters make one of their own their patron saint in thirteenth-century Cremona and other interest groups scheme successfully to get him canonised in Rome five centuries later; and when enlightened despots abolish the guilds, the wine porters' trade fades away just as the candles on their patron's altars sputter and die out.

      • Trusted Partner
        History
        November 2015

        Indispensable immigrants

        The wine porters of northern Italy and their saint, 1200–1800

        by Lester Little

        Indispensable immigrants recreates the world of peasants who streamed into the cities of late medieval and early modern northern Italy to carry crushingly heavy containers of wine. Written in an easily accessible and unassuming style, it is solidly grounded in previously untapped archival and visual sources. In this first-ever reconstruction of the forgotten metier of wine porter, topography plays a key role in forming the labour market; in the scramble to distinguish professionals from manual labourers the term artist gets divorced from lowly artisan, and wretched diet is invoked to explain why workers are so unintelligent; the wine porters make one of their own their patron saint in thirteenth-century Cremona and other interest groups scheme successfully to get him canonised in Rome five centuries later; and when enlightened despots abolish the guilds, the wine porters' trade fades away just as the candles on their patron's altars sputter and die out.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        November 2015

        Lordship in four realms

        The Lacy family, 1166–1241

        by Colin Veach

        This book examines the rise and fall of the aristocratic Lacy family in England, Ireland, Wales and Normandy. This involves a unique analysis of medieval lordship in action, as well as a re-imagining of the role of English kingship in the western British Isles and a rewriting of seventy-five years of Anglo-Irish history. By viewing the political landscape of Britain and Ireland from the perspective of one aristocratic family, this book produces one of the first truly transnational studies of individual medieval aristocrats. This results in an in-depth investigation of aristocratic and English royal power over five reigns, including during the tumultuous period of King John and Magna Carta. By investigating how the Lacys sought to rule their lands in four distinct realms, this book also makes a major contribution to current debates on lordship and the foundations of medieval European society.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        November 2015

        Lordship in four realms

        The Lacy family, 1166–1241

        by Colin Veach

        This book examines the rise and fall of the aristocratic Lacy family in England, Ireland, Wales and Normandy. This involves a unique analysis of medieval lordship in action, as well as a re-imagining of the role of English kingship in the western British Isles and a rewriting of seventy-five years of Anglo-Irish history. By viewing the political landscape of Britain and Ireland from the perspective of one aristocratic family, this book produces one of the first truly transnational studies of individual medieval aristocrats. This results in an in-depth investigation of aristocratic and English royal power over five reigns, including during the tumultuous period of King John and Magna Carta. By investigating how the Lacys sought to rule their lands in four distinct realms, this book also makes a major contribution to current debates on lordship and the foundations of medieval European society.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        July 2015

        Hincmar of Rheims

        Life and work

        by Edited by Rachel Stone and Charles West

        Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims (d. 882) is a crucial figure for all those interested in early medieval European history in general, and Carolingian history in particular. For forty years he was an advisor to kings and religious controversialist; his works are a key source for the political, religious and social history of the later ninth century, covering topics from papal politics to the abduction of women and the role of parish priests. For the first time since Jean Devisse's biography of Hincmar in the 1970s, this book offers a three-dimensional examination of a figure whose actions and writings in different fields are often studied in isolation. It brings together the latest international research across the spectrum of his varied activities, as history-writer, estate administrator, hagiographer, canonist, pastorally engaged bishop, and politically minded royal advisor. The introduction also provides the first substantial English-language survey of Hincmar's whole career.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        July 2015

        Hincmar of Rheims

        Life and work

        by Edited by Rachel Stone and Charles West

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        July 2013

        Noblewomen, aristocracy and power in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm

        by Susan M. Johns

        The first major work on noblewomen in the twelfth century and Normandy, and of the ways in which they exercised power. Offers an important reconceptualisation of women's role in aristocratic society and suggests new ways of looking at lordship and the ruling elite in the high middle ages. Considers a wide range of literary sources such as chronicles, charters, seals and governmental records to draw out a detailed picture of noblewomen in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm. Asserts the importance of the life-cycle in determining the power of aristocratic women. Demonstrates that the influence of gender on lordship was profound, complex and varied.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        July 2013

        Noblewomen, aristocracy and power in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm

        by Susan M. Johns

        The first major work on noblewomen in the twelfth century and Normandy, and of the ways in which they exercised power. Offers an important reconceptualisation of women's role in aristocratic society and suggests new ways of looking at lordship and the ruling elite in the high middle ages. Considers a wide range of literary sources such as chronicles, charters, seals and governmental records to draw out a detailed picture of noblewomen in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm. Asserts the importance of the life-cycle in determining the power of aristocratic women. Demonstrates that the influence of gender on lordship was profound, complex and varied.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500
        November 2010

        Peacemaking in the Middle Ages

        Principles and practice

        by Series edited by Steve Rigby, J. E. M. Benham

        Peacemaking in the Middle Ages explores the making of peace in the late-twelfth and early thirteenth centuries based on the experiences of the kings of England and the kings of Denmark. From dealing with owing allegiance to powerful neighbours to conquering the 'barbarians', this book offers a vision of how relationships between rulers were regulated and maintained, and how rulers negotiated, resolved, avoided and enforced matters in dispute in a period before nation states and international law. This is the first full-length study in English of the principles and practice of peacemaking in the medieval period. Its findings have wider significance and applications, and numerous comparisons are drawn with the peacemaking activities of other western European rulers, in the medieval period and beyond. This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval Europe, but also those with a more general interest in kingship, warfare, diplomacy and international relations.

      • Trusted Partner
        Medieval history
        January 2015

        The political writings of Archbishop Wulfstan of York

        by Andrew Rabin

        Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d. 1023) is among the most important legal and political thinkers of the early Middle Ages. A leading ecclesiastic, innovative legislator, and influential royal councilor, Wulfstan witnessed firsthand the violence and social unrest that culminated in the fall of the English monarchy before the invading armies of Cnut in 1016. In his homilies and legal tracts, Wulfstan offered a searing indictment of the moral failings that led to England's collapse and formulated a vision of an ideal Christian community that would influence English political thought long after the Anglo-Saxon period had ended. These works, many of which have never before been available in modern English, are collected here for the first time in new, extensively annotated translations that will help readers reassess one of the most turbulent periods in English history and re-evaluate the career of Anglo-Saxon England's most important political visionary.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2014

        Lordship in four realms

        The Lacy family, 1166–1241

        by Steve Rigby, Colin Veach

        This book examines the rise and fall of the aristocratic Lacy family in England, Ireland, Wales and Normandy. This involves a unique analysis of medieval lordship in action, as well as a re-imagining of the role of English kingship in the western British Isles and a rewriting of seventy-five years of Anglo-Irish history. By viewing the political landscape of Britain and Ireland from the perspective of one aristocratic family, this book produces one of the first truly transnational studies of individual medieval aristocrats. This results in an in-depth investigation of aristocratic and English royal power over five reigns, including during the tumultuous period of King John and Magna Carta. By investigating how the Lacys sought to rule their lands in four distinct realms, this book also makes a major contribution to current debates on lordship and the foundations of medieval European society.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2017

        Writing the Welsh borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England

        by Lindy Brady, T. J. H. McCarthy, Stephen Mossman, Carrie Benes, Jochen Schenk

        This is the first study of the Anglo-Welsh border region in the period before the Norman arrival in England, from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Its conclusions significantly alter our current picture of Anglo/Welsh relations before the Norman Conquest by overturning the longstanding critical belief that relations between these two peoples during this period were predominately contentious. Writing the Welsh borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England demonstrates that the region which would later become the March of Wales was not a military frontier in Anglo-Saxon England, but a distinctively mixed Anglo-Welsh cultural zone which was depicted as a singular place in contemporary Welsh and Anglo-Saxon texts. This study reveals that the region of the Welsh borderlands was much more culturally coherent, and the impact of the Norman Conquest on it much greater, than has been previously realised.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2017

        Writing the Welsh borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England

        by Lindy Brady, T. J. H. McCarthy, Stephen Mossman, Carrie Benes, Jochen Schenk

        This is the first study of the Anglo-Welsh border region in the period before the Norman arrival in England, from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. Its conclusions significantly alter our current picture of Anglo/Welsh relations before the Norman Conquest by overturning the longstanding critical belief that relations between these two peoples during this period were predominately contentious. Writing the Welsh borderlands in Anglo-Saxon England demonstrates that the region which would later become the March of Wales was not a military frontier in Anglo-Saxon England, but a distinctively mixed Anglo-Welsh cultural zone which was depicted as a singular place in contemporary Welsh and Anglo-Saxon texts. This study reveals that the region of the Welsh borderlands was much more culturally coherent, and the impact of the Norman Conquest on it much greater, than has been previously realised.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2017

        Constructing kingship

        The Capetian monarchs of France and the early Crusades

        by Steve Rigby, James Naus

        Crusading kings such as Louis IX of France and Richard I of England exert a unique hold on our historical imagination. For this reason, it can be easy to forget that European rulers were not always eager participants in holy war. The First Crusade was launched in 1095, and yet the first monarch did not join the movement until 1146, when the French king Louis VII took the cross to lead the Second Crusade. One contemporary went so far as to compare the crusades to 'Creation and man's redemption on the cross', so what impact did fifty years of non-participation have on the image and practice of European kingship and the parameters of cultural development? This book considers this question by examining the challenge to political authority that confronted the French kings and their family members as a direct result of their failure to join the early crusades, and their less-than-impressive involvement in later ones.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2016

        Constructing kingship

        The Capetian monarchs of France and the early Crusades

        by Steve Rigby, James Naus

        Constructing kingship breaks new ground by examining and contextualizing the role of the crusades in the growth and development of the French monarchy in the Central Middle Ages. It considers the challenge to political authority that confronted the French kings and their family members as a result of their failure to join the early crusades and their less than impressive involvement in later ones. Crusading kings such as Louis IX of France and Richard I of England exert a unique hold on our historical imagination; it is easy to forget that European rulers were not always eager participants in holy war. The First Crusade was launched in 1095 and yet the first monarch did not join the movement until 1146, when the French king Louis VII took the cross to lead the Second Crusade. What impact did fifty years of non-participation in something that one contemporary compared to 'Creation and man's redemption on the cross' have on the image and practice of European kingship and the parameters of cultural development? Drawing together hitherto independent scholars traditions involving power structures, feudal relations, monarchy and ritual performance, Constructing kingship considers this question and argues that members of the French royal court engaged with the crusading movement in a variety of media, including texts, artwork, architecture and rituals. In a relatively short time, members of the court fused emerging crusade ideas with ancient notions of sacred kingship and nobility to create new, highly selective and flexible images of French history. Such images exploited the unknown future of crusading to create a space into which the self-fashioning of French kingship could insinuate itself. By the middle of the twelfth century, these negotiated images of crusading kingship were being widely disseminated to a popular audience, contributing to the rise of the 'crusader king' as an ideal ruler-type from the early thirteenth century onwards. Making an important interdisciplinary contribution to medieval scholarship, Constructing kingship will appeal to students and academics in crusades history and medieval political history.

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