This pioneering work presents the first comprehensive economic history of medieval Denmark. It puts data produced by more than a century of historical research into a new context and includes a multitude of information based on primary research. The book abounds in knowledge of natural and human resources, rural life, urban industries, tax and commodity trade. Arguing that the development of the Danish resources from the eleventh to the middle of the fourteenth century cannot be viewed simply as a period of prosperity, and conversely that the Late Middle Ages were characterized as much by growth as by recession, the book places itself in an international historiographical controversy. The Danish Resources will become an indispensable standard work for students of Danish and north European medieval history.

This book is aimed at students coming to the study of western European medieval history for the first time, and also graduate students on interdisciplinary medieval studies programmes. It examines the place of the Middle Ages in modern popular culture, exploring the roots of the stereotypes that appear in films, on television and in the press, and asking why they remain so persistent. The book also asks whether 'medieval' is indeed a useful category in terms of historical periodization. It investigates some of the particular challenges posed by medieval sources and the ways in which they have survived. And it concludes with an exploration of the relevance of medieval history in today's world.

This collection examines the cultural and intellectual dimensions of war and its resolution between Han Chinese and the various ethnically dissimilar peoples surrounding them during the crucial "middle period" of Chinese history.

This is the first full-scale scholarly study of a fourteenth-century English confessor's manual. It contributes significantly to the European-wide research on pre-Reformation confessional practice and clerical training. On another level, the Memoriale Presbiterorum's peculiarly intense concern with social morality affords pungent commentary on contemporary English society.

The most recent research into the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Angevin worlds. The essays here consider a broad range of topics drawn from the early to central Middle Ages. These include a fascinating glimpse of the controversy surrounding Theodoric of Ostrogoth's identity as a builder king; evidence of Byzantine slavery that emerges from a ninth-century Frankish exegetical tract; conciliar prohibitions against interfaith dining; and a fresh look at the doomed Danish marriage of Philip II of France. The Journal's commitment tosource analysis is continued with chapters examining female authority on the coins of Henry the Lion; the use and meaning of monastic depredation lists; and the relationship between Henry of Huntingdon and Robert of Torigni. Finally, the volume offers a truly rich set of explorations of the political and historiographical dynamics between England and Wales from the tenth century through the late Middle Ages. This volume also contains the Henry Loyn Memorial Lecture for 2008. Contributors: Shane Bobrycki, Gregory I. Halfond, Thomas Heeboll-Holm, Georgia Henley, Jitske Jasperse, Simon Keynes, Maria Cristina La Rocca, Corinna Matlis, Benjamin Pohl, Thomas Roche, Owain WynJones

This personal memoir composed by a medieval scholar reveals an important discourse with two Ismaili leaders who spearheaded the Fatimid revolution in North Africa in 909-910. By reporting the thoughts and activities of Abu 'Abdallah al-Shi'i and his brother Abu'l-Abbas over a period of seven months, Ibn al-Haytham in his Kitab al-Munazarat (The Book of Discussions) provides an unparalleled insider's view to the foundations of the Fatimid state. As such, it is a unique document in the literature of early Islamic revolutionary movements as much as it represents one of the most valuable sources for the history of the medieval Muslim world.

Market Power explores society and economy in medieval Iberia, examining the intersection of regional commercial interests, lordship, and royal authority as part of the evolution of a small village into a rural market town. This analysis of notarial registers from Santa Coloma de Queralt addresses significant themes in medieval history, such as the market economy, commerce and credit, and the interactions of businessmen across religious boundaries. ?

This collection explores marginalized figures in medieval and early modern Europe and Mesoamerica, including women, Jews, New Christians, and urban dwellers, drawing from such judicial sources as canonization hearings, the trials of the Inquisition, chancery, criminal, royal, municipal and other courts.

The volume explores the relationship of individuals and institutions in medieval scholasticism between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, and is intended as an important reference point for future debates on these topics, principally for medieval historians while also raising questions relevant to those working on individualisation and institutionalisation in other periods and disciplines. The volume revolves around two questions, which provide the structure for the table of contents below: (1) what was the relationship between particular intellectuals and their wider networks (including but not limited to `schools') and; (2) how did intellectuals shape their institutions and how were their institutions shaped by them? Beyond this volume, there is currently very little close exploratory scholarship on the fundamental relationship between scholastic thought, the individuals who produced it, the institutional contexts in which they produced it, and the relationships between these phenomena (these points are explained further in the detailed proposal and introduction). In addressing these questions, we deliberately integrate contributions from both major, established scholars and early career scholars. The volume is a theoretically sophisticated collection which uses a range of European methodological approaches to address our theme across a variety of genres (commentaries, quodlibetal questions, polemics, epic poetry and inquisition records), and across a range of subject matter (history, practical ethics, medicine, theology, philosophy, the constitution of religious orders, the practice of confession, and the institution of cults).

The single woman is a troubling and disruptive category. Does it denote all unmarried women, therefore creating a group which every female was part of at some stage in her life? Or, were the categories "maiden" and "widow" so culturally significant in late medieval England that "single woman" was a residual category for women seen as anomalous? Was the category "single man" used in an equivalent way and, if not, why? This study offers a way into the complex process of social classification in late medieval England.
All societies use classifications in order to understand and impose order. In this book, Cordelia Beattie views classification as a political act, an act of power: those classifying must make choices about which divisions are most important or about who falls into which category, and such choices have repercussions. Defining how a group or an individual should be labelled, means variables such as social status, gender, or age, are prioritized. Rather than isolate gender as a variable, this book examines how it relates to other social cleavages. Using a variety of approaches, from social and cultural history, to gender history, and medieval studies, its original methodology offers an innovative approach to a range of historical texts, from pastoral manuals to tax returns, and guild registers.

This previously unpublished 1931 dissertation by Gaines Post covers the interaction of the papacy with multiple universities from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and makes his research and observations available on a range of topics, such as papal intervention and influence in the areas of licensing to teach, scholarly privileges, financial support, and dispensations for study.

Essays exploring how England was governed during a tumultuous period. The twin themes of power and authority in fourteenth-century England, a century of transition between the high and late medieval polities, run throughout this volume, reflecting Professor Given-Wilson's seminal work in the area. Covering the period between Edward I's final years and the tyranny of Richard II, the volume encompasses political, social, economic and administrative history through four major lens: central governance, aristocratic politics, warfare, and English power abroad. Topics covered include royal administrative efficiency; the machinations of government clerks; the relationship between the crown and market forces; the changing nature of noble titles and lordship;and ideas of court politics, favouritism and loyalty. Military policy is also examined, looking at army composition and definitions of "war" and "rebellion". The book concludes with a detailed study of treasonous English captainsaround Calais and a broader examination of Plantagenet ambitions on the European stage. REMY AMBUHL is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Southampton; JAMES BOTHWELL is Lecturer in Later Medieval Historyat the University of Leicester; LAURA TOMPKINS is Research Manager at Historic Royal Palaces. Contributors: Andrew Ayton, Michael Bennett, Wendy R. Childs, Gwilym Dodd, David Green, J.S. Hamilton, Andy King, Alison McHardy, Mark Ormrod, Michael Prestwich, Bridget Wells-Furby

This is a collection of essays by diverse hands engaging, interrogating, and honoring the medieval scholarship of Terry Jones. Jones' life-long engagement with the Middle Ages in general, and with the work of Chaucer in particular, has significantly influenced contemporary understanding of the period generally, and Middle English letters in particular. Both in film of all types - full-feature comedy (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) as well as educational television series for BBC, the History Channel, etc. (e.g., Medieval Lives) - and in his published scholarship (e.g., Chaucer's Knight, in original and revised editions, Who Murdered Chaucer?), Jones has applied his unique combination of carefully researched scholarship, keen intelligence, fearless skepticism of establishment thinking, and his broad good humor to challenge, enlighten and reform. No one working today in either Middle English studies or in period-related film and/or documentary can proceed untouched by Jones' purposive, provocative views. Jones, perhaps more than any other medievalist, can be said to be an integral part of what Palgrave deems the "common dialogue."

This comprehensive, critical edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the fruit of William Vantuono's research on the fourteenth-century romance. In combining fantasy and realism, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight praises court life with an undercurrent of satire against a declining chivalric ideal. The poem calls up from the mythic past the shadows of archetypal figures, yet inspires modern psychoanalytic interpretations, and entertains while teaching a moral-religious lesson. The heart of this edition is the Middle English text, with a Modern English verse translation on facing pages and extensive notes at the bottom of the pages. A discussion of the manuscript, the anonymous poet and his other poems, the structure of the poem and its audience, themes, characterization, and purpose serves as a valuable introduction to the classic. With this translation, Vantuono aims to follow the original as closely as possible without sacrificing the poem's essential meaning and mood. The notes reveal the literal sense of the Middle English vocabulary where necessary changes were made for poetic effect. The reader is therefore able to compare the Middle English original, the translation, and the notes to learn about the old language, the content of the poem, the poet's artistry, and the process of translation.

Long before the British Empire came into existence, was there an English Empire? In this compelling study, R. R. Davies examines England's medieval conquest and colonization of the outer zones of the British Isles. He shows how the increasingly vexed question of the future of the United Kingdom has its roots in the Middle Ages, when Edward I set out to subjugate his Celtic neighbours.

A detailed study of the Teutonic Knights in the Holy Land, covering both their military and administrative affairs. The Teutonic Order was founded in 1190 to provide medical care for crusaders in the kingdom of Jerusalem. In time, it assumed a military role and played an important part in the defence of the Christian territories in the EasternMediterranean and in the Baltic regions of Prussia and Livonia; in the Levant, it fought against the neighbouring Islamic powers, whilst managing their turbulent relations with their patrons in the papacy and the German Empire. Asthe Order grew, it colonised territories in Prussia and Livonia, forcing it to address how it distributed its resources between its geographically-spread communities. Similarly, the brethren also needed to develop an organisational framework that could support the conduct of war on frontiers that were divided by hundreds of miles. This book - the first comprehensive analysis of the Order in the Holy Land - explores the formative years of this powerful international institution and places its deeds in the Levant within the context of the wider Christian, pagan and Islamic world. It examines the challenges that shaped its identity and the masters who planned its policies. Dr NICHOLAS MORTON is Lecturer in History at Nottingham Trent University.

In Alfonso de Cartagena's 'Memoriale virtutum' (1422), Maria Morras and Jeremy Lawrance offer a critical edition of an anthology of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, compiled and significantly altered by the major Castilian intellectual of the day, Bishop Alfonso de Cartagena, and addressed to the heir to the throne of Portugal, Crown Prince Duarte. The work is a speculum principis, an education of a future king in the virtues suitable to a statesman. Cartagena's choice of Aristotle was a harbinger of Renaissance ideas. The "memorial" sheds light on a society in transition, setting new ethical guidelines for the ruling class at the crossroads between medieval feudalism and Renaissance absolutism.

THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2022 Eleven years when Britain had no king. In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution. On a raw January afternoon, the Stuart king, Charles I, was executed for treason. Within weeks the English monarchy had been abolished and the 'useless and dangerous' House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. What this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew. The Restless Republic is the story of the extraordinary decade that followed. It takes as its guides the people who lived through those years. Among them is Anna Trapnel, the daughter of a Deptford shipwright whose visions transfixed the nation. John Bradshaw, the Cheshire lawyer who found himself trying the King. Marchamont Nedham, the irrepressible newspaper man and puppet master of propaganda. Gerrard Winstanley, who strove for a Utopia of common ownership where no one went hungry. William Petty, the precocious scientist whose mapping of Ireland prefaced the dispossession of tens of thousands. And the indomitable Countess of Derby who defended to the last the final Royalist stronghold on the Isle of Man. The Restless Republic ranges from London to Leith, Cornwall to Connacht, from the corridors of power to the common fields and hillsides. Gathering her cast of trembling visionaries and banished royalists, dextrous mandarins and bewildered bystanders, Anna Keay brings to vivid life the most extraordinary and experimental decade in Britain's history. It is the story of how these tempestuous years set the British Isles on a new course, and of what happened when a conservative people tried revolution.

In the central Middle Ages, English society lavished unprecedented attention on a category of would-be outcasts who repudiated its ambitions and spurned its aspirations. Hermits and recluses (collectively 'anchorites') had their own, very different vision of how life should be lived, and yet nobles retained them on their estates, parishioners did their bit to support their local recluses, and every tier of society from the peasantry up to royalty journeyed to rural hermitages for prayer, advice, and spiritual instruction. Anchorites were everywhere, dotted across the landscape, striving to restore humanity's broken image, in their own lives and in their clients. The respect that came of their endeavour grew from a heightened sense of the conflict between society's worldly concerns and its spiritual ideals, in the minds of their admirers. Tom Licence sets out to discover why anchorites rose to prominence, in the context of European monasticism and trends in spirituality. In the past, historians linked their rise to many different things: the impact of the Norman Conquest; a crisis of identity in the monasteries; the discovery of the individual; a reaction to the profit economy; and to a new need for 'holy men' (or holy women) to minister to a changing society. Investigating the avenues by which anchorites gained their reputation, and pinpointing their function in relation to society, this new inquiry puts these hypotheses to the test in a study of English society in the central Middle Ages.

This book is a social history of the ritual and custom of churching, a liturgical rite of purification after childbirth performed on a woman's first visit to church after giving birth. This book describes the development of the rite from its original meaning as a response to blood pollution to its redefinition as a rite that honoured marriage. It also examines its use by French bishops as a disciplinary tool enforcing the church's definitions of marriage and lay sexuality and explores the ways that women, families, and clergymen manipulated the rite for their own purposes. This study focuses on northern France and is based on a wide variety of sources, including sermons, penitential literature, court records, liturgies and illuminated manuscripts. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of women's history, gender and sexuality, and the relationship between church and society.

Ann Williams' important new book discusses the dynamics of English aristocratic society in a way that has not been explored before. She investigates the rewards and obligations of status including birth, wealth, the importance of public and royal service and the need to participate in local affairs, especially legal and administrative business. This period saw the birth of a 'lesser aristocracy', the ancestors of the English gentry, the power-house of society and politics in the late medieval and early modern periods. Going on to examine the obligations and rewards of lordship and the relations between lords and their men, Williams illustrates how status was displayed and covers the importance of the manorial house, which was at once a home, an estate centre and a symbol of authority and the insignia of rank in weaponry, clothing and personal adornment. The growing gap between the highest rank of society and the lowest, fuelled by underlying economic developments is also covered. In conclusion she considers some of the occupations which symbolized and perpetuated lordly power. Though the upper levels of aristocratic society were swept away by the Norman settlement, the 'lesser aristocracy' had a much higher rate of survival and it was this group who began the manorialization of English society, familiar from the late medieval period.

There are several reasons why the chronicle is particularly suited as the topic of a yearbook. In the first place there is its ubiquity: all over Europe and throughout the Middle Ages chronicles were written, both in Latin and in the vernacular, and not only in Europe but also in the countries neighbouring on it, like those of the Arabic world. Secondly, all chronicles raise such questions as by whom, for whom, or for what purpose were they written, how do they reconstruct the past, what determined the choice of verse or prose, or what kind of literary influences are discernable in them. Finally, many chronicles have been beautifully illuminated, and the relation between text and image leads to a wholly different set of questions. The yearbook The Medieval Chronicle aims to provide a representative survey of the on-going research in the field of chronicle studies, illustrated by examples from specific chronicles from a wide variety of countries, periods and cultural backgrounds. The Medieval Chronicle is published in cooperation with the "Medieval Chronicle Society".

For the first time, Sophie Harwood uses the Old French tradition as a lens through which to examine women and warfare from the 12th to the 14th centuries. The result is a skilled analysis of gender roles in the medieval era, and a heightened awareness of how important literary texts are to our understanding of the historical period in which they circulated. Medieval Women and War examines both the text and illustrations of over 30 Old French manuscripts to highlight the ways in many of the texts differ from their traditionally assumed (usually classical) sources. Structured around five pivotal female types - women cited as causes for violence, women as victims of violence, women as ancillaries to warriors, women as warriors themselves, and women as political influences - this important book unpicks gendered boundaries to shed new light on the social, political and military structures of warfare as well as adding nuance to current debates on womanhood in the middle ages.