Thirteen of the most important critical essays on the Italian Renaissance are brought together in this volume. Designed to introduce readers to both recent and classical interpretations, the collection provides an ideal starting point for study of this period.

Topics covered include the structures of power, urban life and values, gender, family and society, the power of knowledge, and patronage and art. Taken together, the readings illuminate the origins, course and outcome of the Italian Renaissance.

Editorial introductions and annotations to each essay provide a helpful framework for students engaging with critical aspects of the subject for the first time. An overall introduction discusses the themes and approaches that have dominated the recent historiography of the Renaissance, as well as the debates about how to define the Renaissance and its relationship to Italy; it also considers different approaches to the 'end' of the Renaissance.

Anonymous' and Stephanus' commentaries, written in the 12th century AD, are the first surviving commentaries on Aristotle's Rhetoric. Their study, including the environment in which they were written and the philosophical ideas expressed in them, provides a better understanding of the reception of Aristotle's Rhetoric in Byzantium, the Byzantine practice of commenting on classical texts, and what can be called "Byzantine philosophy". For the first time, this book explores the context of production of the commentaries, discusses the identity and features of their authors, and reveals their philosophical and philological significance. In particular, I examine the main topics discussed by Aristotle in the Rhetoric as contributing to persuasion, namely valid and fallacious rhetorical arguments, ethical notions, emotional response and style, and I analyse the commentators' interpretations of these topics. In this analysis, I focus on highlighting the value of the philosophical views expressed, and on creating a discussion between the Byzantine and the modern interpretations of the treatise. Conclusively, the two commentators need to be considered as independent thinkers, who aimed primarily at integrating the treatise within the Aristotelian philosophical system.

While historians of Christianity have generally acknowledged some degree of Germanic influence in the development of early medieval Christianity, Russell goes further, arguing for a fundamental Germanic transformation of Christianity. This first full-scale treatment of the subject follows a truly interdisciplinary approach, applying to the early medieval period a sociohistorical method similar to that which has already proven fruitful in explicating the history of Early Christianity and Late Antiquity. The encounter of the Germanic peoples with Christianity is studied from within the larger context of the encounter of a predominantly "world-accepting" Indo-European folk-religiosity with predominantly "world-rejecting" religious movements. While the first part of the book develops a general model of religious transformation for such encounters, the second part applies this model to the Germano-Christian scenario. Russell shows how a Christian missionary policy of temporary accommodation inadvertently contributed to a reciprocal Germanization of Christianity. Applying insights from the behavioral sciences and Indo-European studies to analyze this pivotal transformation of the West, this book will interest students and scholars of religion, history, sociology, and social psychology, as well as those who wish to further their understanding of the history of Christianity and of Western civilization.

Social identity - how people define and categorize themselves - is constructed and expressed through cultural practices, cultural production and corporeality. This text takes a theoretical approach in viewing social identity as an intricate "warp and weft" in which "we-identities" are more than mere agglomerations of single threads or collectives of individual "self-identities", such as ethnicity or gender. This is important for medieval Britain prior to the 11th century due to the ways in which aspects of identity have been used as defining criteria in both modern scholarship and in contemporary historical texts.

Gregory VII ranks among the very greatest popes of all time, and as an outstanding figure of European and even world history. The letters in his Register, of which this is the first complete modern translation, shed penetrating light on his personality, purposes, and actions, and especially on his often dramatic dealings with the kings and kingdoms of Europe in the late eleventh century.

The Sufi thinker 'Abd al-Karim al-Jili (d. 1408) is best-known for his treatment of the idea of the Perfect Human, yet his masterpiece, al-Insan al-kamil (The Perfect Human), is in fact a wide-ranging compendium of Sufi metaphysical thought in the Ibn 'Arabian tradition. One of the major topics treated in that work is sacred history, the story of God's revelation of the truth to humanity through His prophets and scriptures. Fitzroy Morrissey provides here the first in-depth study of this important section of al-Jili's major work and the key ideas contained within it. Through a translation and analysis of the key passages on the Qur'an, Torah, Psalms and Gospel, it shows how al-Jili's view of sacred history is conditioned by his Ibn 'Arabian Sufi metaphysics, whereby the phenomenal world is viewed as a manifestation of God, and the prophets and scriptures as special places where the divine attributes appear more completely. It also looks at how this idea influences al-Jili's understanding of the hierarchy of prophets, scriptures and religions. The book argues that, contrary to common assumptions, al-Jili's Sufi metaphysical view of sacred history is in keeping with the common medieval Muslim view of sacred history, whereby the Qur'an is viewed as the best of scriptures, Muhammad as the best of prophets, and Islam as the best religion. The book therefore not only gives an insight into a key text within medieval Sufi thought, but also has ramifications for our understanding of medieval Sufi views on the relationship between Islam and other religions.

The Council of Piacenza is among the most important moments of the Reform that was sweeping through the Western Church at the end of the eleventh century. It is often regarded as a launching pad for the First Crusade, though the matter is obscure and serves only to hide the assembly's true significance as a turning point in the papal schism between Popes Gregory VII/Urban II and the so-called anti-pope Clement III. The canons promulgated at Piacenza became landmarks not only for the eleventh- and twelfth-century Reform, but more broadly for the Church of the High Middle Ages and even beyond.
Robert Somerville situates Piacenza in historical context, discusses the sources, the attendance, and the need for a new edition of the legislation. The official canons are lost, but several dozen twelfth-century manuscripts were consulted for a new edition of these provisions. The account finishes with a commentary on Piacenza's legislation and a discussion of the subsequent legislation of Urban II's synods. Somerville completes the picture of what can be known about the papal synods of one of the most influential Roman pontiffs of the Middle Ages.

The Crusades: A History is the definitive account of a key topic in medieval and religious history. Jonathan Riley-Smith, a world authority on the subject, explores the organisation of a crusade, the experience of crusading and the crusaders themselves, producing a textbook that is as accessible as it is comprehensive. This exciting new third edition includes: - Substantial new material on crusade theory, historiography and translated texts - An expanded scope that extends the text to cover the decline of crusading in the nineteenth century - Valuable pedagogical features, such as a revised bibliography, maps, illustrations and a brand new chronology This book is essential reading for all students and scholars seeking to understand the Crusades and their significance in world history.

This book explores the Merovingian kingdoms in Gaul within a broader Mediterranean context. Their politics and culture have mostly been interpreted in the past through a narrow local perspective, but as the papers in this volume clearly demonstrate, the Merovingian kingdoms had complicated and multi-layered political, religious, and socio-cultural relations with their Mediterranean counterparts, from Visigothic Spain in the West to the Byzantine Empire in the East, and from Anglo-Saxon England in the North to North-Africa in the South. The papers collected here provide new insights into the history of the Merovingian kingdoms by examining various relevant issues, ranging from identity formation to the shape and rules of diplomatic relations, cultural transformation, as well as voiced attitudes towards the "other". Each of the papers begins with a short excerpt from a primary source, which serves as a stimulus for the discussion of broader issues. The various sources' point of view and their contextualization stand at the heart of the analysis, thus ensuring that discussions are accessible to students and non-specialists, without jeopardizing the high academic standard of the debate.

The only historical dictionary that focuses on sixteenth-century England, this reference work offers nearly 300 articles on the age of the English Tudors. The England of Shakespeare, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I is one of the most popular periods of British history. Ronald H. Fritze and his associate editors have identified the political, military, religious, social, and economic issues that were crucial to the era, and have compiled articles, a chronology and suggestions for further reading on each topic.

Sixty Tudor England specialists contributed to the nearly 300 entries, each of which includes an appendix with a chronology and a selected bibliography for further reading. The entries, ranging from 250-2000 words each, discuss people, events, laws, institutions and special topics such as exploration. They are written to be understood by the educated non-specialist. The primary focus is on England, but a number of articles on Scottish and Irish history have been included when they relate to England. This work is valuable to students, scholars and anyone interested in sixteenth century England, English Renaissance literature, or history.

New approaches to the political culture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, considering its complex relation to monarchy and state. The essays collected here celebrate mark the distinguished career of Professor W. Mark Ormrod, reflecting the vibrancy and range of his scholarship on the structures, personalities and culture of ruling late medieval England. Encompassing political, administrative, Church and social history, the volume focusses on three main themes: monarchy, state and political culture. For the first, it explores Edward III's reactions to the deaths of his kinfolk and cases of political defamation across the fourteenth century. The workings of the "state" are examined through studies of tax and ecclesiastical records, the Court of Chivalry, fifteenth-century legislation, and the working practicesof the privy seal clerk, Thomas Hoccleve. Finally, separate discussions of collegiate statutes and the household ordinances of Cecily, duchess of York consider the political culture of regulation and code-making.

Gesta Pontificum Anglorum (The History of the English Bishops) is a modern edition of one of the most important medieval texts written c. 1125 by one of England's key historians of the period, William, Monk of Malmesbury. It is a is a vivid narrative on the English Church, its bishoprics and monasteries, from c. 600 to William's contemporary era, and the edition features the original Latin text of the manuscript with the English translation alongside. Conceived as a companion piece to his Gesta Regum Anglorum, this historical work was a unique enterprise, and the result is a substantial book, elegantly written, full of original information, and characterized by intelligent interpretation and judgement. The first four books of the text, treat each diocese in turn, and the fifth book is devoted to the history of William's own monastery. A second volume by R. M. Thomson will contain an introduction and detailed commentary on the work.

With the opening of sea routes in the fifteenth century, groups of men and women left Portugal to establish themselves across the ports and cities of the Atlantic or Ocean sea. They were refugees and migrants, traders and mariners, Jews, Catholics, and the Marranos of mixed Judaic-Catholic
culture. They formed a diasporic community known by contemporaries as the Portuguese Nation. By the early seventeenth century, this nation without a state had created a remarkable trading network that spanned the Atlantic, reached into the Indian Ocean and Asia, and generated millions of pesos that
were used to bankroll the Spanish empire. A Nation Upon the Ocean Sea traces the story of the Portuguese Nation from its emergence in the late fifteenth century to its fragmentation in the middle of the seventeenth and situates it in relation to the parallel expansion and crisis of Spanish imperial
dominion in the Atlantic. Against the backdrop of this relationship, the book reconstitutes the rich inner life of a community based on movement, maritime trade, and cultural hybridity. We are introduced to mariners and traders in such disparate places as Lima, Seville and Amsterdam, their
day-to-day interactions and understandings, their houses and domestic relations, their private reflections and public arguments. This finaly-textured account reveals how the Portuguese Nation created a cohesive and meaningful community despite the mobility and dispersion of its members; how its
forms of sociability fed into the development of robust transatlantic commercial networks; and how the day-to-day experience of trade was translated into the sphere of Spanish imperial politics of commercial reform basedon religious-ethnic toleration and the liberalization of trade. A microhistory,
A Nation Upon the Ocean Sea contributes to our understanding of the broader histories of capitalism, empire, and diaspora in the early Atlantic.

Fruits of the most recent research on the worlds of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The essays collected here embody the Haskins Society's commitment to historical and interdisciplinary research on the early and central Middle Ages, especially in the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Angevin worlds, but also on thecontinent. Their topics range from the discovery of Bede's use of catechesis to educate readers on conversion, the discovery of an early eleventh-century Viking mass burial, and historical interpretations of Eadric Streona, to the development of monastic liturgy at Durham Cathedral, the Franco-centricity of Latin accounts of the First Crusade, and an investigation of Gerald of Wales' rarely considered Speculum duorum virorum. Contributions on the charters of the countesses of Ponthieu and Blanche of Navarre's role in military dimensions of governance explore the nature and mechanisms of female lordship on the continent, while others investigate the nature of kingship through close readings, respectively, of John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury and the Vie de Saint Gilles; a further chapter considers the changing image of William the Conqueror in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French historiography. Finally, a study of Serlo of Bayeux's defense of clerical marriage, along with a critical edition and facing translation of his poem The Capture of Bayeux offers readers new insights and access tothis often overlooked witness to Norman history in the early twelfth century. Contributors: Angela Boyle, Marcus Bull, Philippa Byrne, Jay Paul Gates, Veronique Gazeau, Wendy Marie Hoofnagle, Elizabeth van Houts, Kathy M. Krause, Charlie Rozier, Katrin E. Sjursen, Carolyn Twomey, Emily A. Winkler

The age of Elizabeth I exercises a fascination unmatched by other periods of English history. Yet while the leading figures may seem familiar, many Elizabethan personalities, including the queen herself, remain enigmatic; their attitudes to life, politics and religion often difficult to comprehend. Patrick Collinson redraws the main features of the political and religious struggle of the reign. In engaging with the virgin queen herself he tackles the old conundrum: was she a religious woman? He also investigates the no less inscrutable religious position adopted by the by the notorious turncoat, Andrew Perne, the reliability as a historian of the martyrologist John Foxe (whose religion is in no doubt) and the religious environment which shaped William Shakespeare.

Status and gender are two closely associated concepts within medieval society, which tended to view both notions as binary: elite or low status, married or single, holy or cursed, male or female, or as complementary and cohesive as multiple parts of a societal whole. With contributions on topics ranging from medieval leprosy to boyhood behaviors, this interdisciplinary collection highlights the various ways "status" can be interpreted relative to gender, and what these two interlocked concepts can reveal about the construction of gendered identities in the Middle Ages.

The Kharijites were the first sectarian movement in Islamic history, a rebellious splinter group that separated itself from mainstream Muslim society and set about creating, through violence, an ideal community of the saved. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Based on the image of sect fostered by the Islamic tradition, the name Kharijite defines a Muslim as an overly-pious zealot whose ideas and actions lie beyond the pale of normative Islam.
After a brief look at Kharijite origins and the traditional image of these early rebels, this book focuses on references to the Kharijites in Egypt from the 1950s to the 1990s. Jeffrey T. Kenney shows how the traditional image of the Kharijites was reawakened to address the problem of radical Islamist opposition movements. The Kharijites came to play a central role in the rhetoric of both religious authorities, whose official role it is to interpret Islam for the masses, and the secular state, which cynically turns to Islamic ideas and symbols to defend its legitimacy. Even those Islamists who defend militant tactics, and who are themselves tainted by the Kharijite label, become participants in the discourse surrounding Kharijism. Although all Egyptians agree that modern Kharijites represent a dangerous threat to society, serious debates have arisen about the underlying social, political and economic problems that lead Muslims down this destructive path. Kenney examines these debates and what they reveal about Egyptian attitudes toward Islamist violence and its impact on their nation.
Long before 9/11, Egyptianshave been dealing with the problem of Islamist violence, frequently evoking the Kharijites. This book represents an important contribution to Islamic studies and Middle East studies, adding to our understanding of how the Islamic past shapes the present discourse surrounding Islamist violence in one Muslim society.

In this study of Stephen's reign, Keith Stringer looks at the relationship between government, warfare, and the rise and fall of medieval states. Using primary sources and the most recent research, he offers an important re-evaluation of the so-called `Anarchy' and a radical reassessment of Stephen's ability as a ruler.

Considers many facets of the medieval church, dealing with institutions, buildings, personalities and literature. The text explores the origins of the diocese and the parish, the history of the See of Hereford and of York Minster. It discusses the arrival of the archdeacon, the Normans as cathedral builders and the kings of England and Scotland as monastic patrons. The studies of monastic life deal with the European question of monastic vocation and with St Bernard's part in the sensational expansion of the early 12th century. An epilogue takes us to the 14th century, contrasting Chaucer's parson with an actual Norfolk rector.