This book investigates how the rulers of the Habsburg world empire developed and implemented a central maritime policy for the Netherlands and appointed an admiral of the sea or admiral-general for that purpose. It also explains why the Habsburgs were eventually unable to gain control of the maritime affairs of the Netherlands, in spite of the support of the powerful Burgundian Lords of Veere, who occupied the central position of admiral from 1491 to 1558. From their power base on the island of Walcheren in Zeeland, known as the key to the Netherlands at the time because of its central location between Holland, Flanders, Antwerp and the sea, they held an ideal vantage point for exercising the admiralship. The result not only offers an illuminating insight into the organisation of the war fleet, maritime trade and fishery, privateering and prize law in the Habsburg Netherlands, but also puts the success of the later Dutch Republic in a new perspective.

A Companion to Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Cordoba cover the history and culture of Roman, late antique, Visigoth and al-Andalus Cordoba in nineteen contributions, from the foundation of the city in the 169/168 B.C. by the praetor Marcus Claudius Marcellus to the end of the Muslim period in 1236 B.C., when the city fell into the hands of Ferdinand III the Saint, King of Castile. Making use of archaeological data and historical sources, combined with the latest research on the various fields under study, its authors give a compelling account of Cordoba’s most important archaeological, urban, political, legal, social, cultural and religious facets throughout the most exciting fifteen centuries of the city.

Among the commentaries on Aristotle's Physics produced by medieval masters in the 14th Century Oresme's is one of the most interesting. The main problems of natural philosophy (motion, time, intension and remission of forms) as well as cognitive and ontological issues are widely discussed. Oresme proposes original solutions to most of these topics, based on an original view concerning the relationship between substance and its properties (condicio/condiciones, modi rerum); Oresme's solutions are always associated with sharp criticism of the two main philosophical schools: the realists (Walter Burley) and the nominalist (William Ockham). This commentary is a very valuable record of the philosophical discussions at Paris in the midst of the 14th Century.

Fresh approaches to one of the most important poems from medieval Scotland. John Barbour's Bruce, an account of the deeds of Robert I of Scotland (1306-29) and his companions during the so-called wars of independence between England and Scotland, is an important and complicated text. Composed c.1375 during the reign of Robert's grandson, Robert II, the first Stewart king of Scotland (1371-90), the poem represents the earliest surviving complete literary work of any length produced in "Inglis" in late medieval Scotland, andis usually regarded as the starting point for any worthwhile discussion of the language and literature of Early Scots. It has also been used as an essential "historical" source for the career and character of that iconic monarch Robert I. But its narrative defies easy categorisation, and has been variously interpreted as a romance, a verse history, an epic or a chivalric biography. This collection re-assesses the form and purpose of Barbour's great poem. It considers the poem from a variety of perspectives, re-examining the literary, historical, cultural and intellectual contexts in which it was produced, and offering important new insights. Steve Boardman is a Reader in History at the University of Edinburgh. Susan Foran, currently an independent scholar, researches chivalry, war and the idea of nation in late medieval historical writing. Contributors: Steve Boardman, Dauvit Broun, Michael Brown, Susan Foran, Chris Given-Wilson, Theo van Heijnsbergen, Rhiannon Purdie, Bioern Tjallen, Diana B. Tyson, Emily Wingfield.

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The Knights Templar were the wealthiest, most powerful - and most secretive - of the military orders that flourished in the crusading era. Their story - encompassing as it does the greatest international conflict of the Middle Ages, a network of international finance, a swift rise in wealth and influence followed by a bloody and humiliating fall - has left a comet's tail of mystery that continues to fascinate and inspire historians, novelists and conspiracy theorists.

Collecting sixteen thought-provoking new essays by leading medievalists, this volume celebrates the work of the late Rees Davies. Reflecting Davies' interest in identities, political culture and the workings of power in medieval Britain, the essays range across ten centuries, looking at a variety of key topics. Issues explored range from the historical representations of peoples and the changing patterns of power and authority, to the notions of 'core' and 'periphery' and the relationship between local conditions and international movements. The political impact of words and ideas, and the parallels between developments in Wales and those elsewhere in Britain, Ireland and Europe are also discussed. Appreciations of Rees Davies, a bibliography of his works, and Davies' own farewell speech to the History Faculty at the University of Oxford complete this outstanding tribute to a much-missed scholar.

This is the first full scholarly study of the relationship between native secular law and the Church in medieval Wales. The interaction was close, despite Archbishop Pecham's condemnation of native law as the work of the devil. Huw Pryce assesses the influence of the Church on Welsh law, examining the participation of churchmen in the composition of lawbooks and the administration of legal processes and analysing ecclesiastical criticism of native customs, notably those concerning marriage. He also considers the extent to which Welsh law defended the authority and possessions of the Church, focusing in particular on the status of clerics and on rights of sanctuary and lordship. The book throws revealing new light on both secular law and the Church in Wales in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. As a study of the impact of ecclesiastical reform on a society perceived by some contemporaries as barbarian and immoral, this scholarly and lucid account makes an important contribution to medieval history.

In Slavery in Arpad-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, Cameron Sutt examines servile labour in the first three centuries of the Hungarian kingdom and compares it with dependent labour in Carolingian Europe. Such comparative methodology provides a particularly clear view of the nature of dependent labour in both regions. Using legislation as well as charter evidence, Sutt establishes that lay landlords of Arpadian Hungary frequently relied upon slaves to work their land, but the situation in Carolingian areas was much more complex. The use of slave labour in Hungary continued until the end of the thirteenth century when a combination of economic and political factors brought it to an end.

The bibliography includes material published from 2004 to 2006. The historical chronology now includes the fourth century, covering Iberian Fathers such as Gregory of Elvira, Potamius of Lisboa, Prudentius, Pacian of Barcelona and Egeria. Following on from the first bibliography (Brill, 1988) and its first update (Brill 2006) this volume covers recent literature on: Archaeology, Liturgy, Monasticism, Iberian-Gallic Patristics, Paleography, Linguistics, Germanic and Muslim Invasions, and more. In addition, peoples such as the Vandals, Sueves, Basques, Alans and Byzantines are included. The book contains author and subject indexes and is extensively cross-indexed for easy consultation. A periodicals index of hundreds of journals accompanies the volume. Further updates are to be expected at intervals of three years.

The willingness to betray one's country, one's people, one's family-to commit treason and foreswear loyalty to one entity by giving it to another-is a difficult concept for many people to comprehend. Yet, societies have grappled with treason for centuries; the motivations, implications, and consequences are rarely clear cut and are often subjective. Set against the framework of modern political concerns, Treason: Medieval and Early Modern Adultery, Betrayal, and Shame considers the various forms of treachery in a variety of sources, including literature, historical chronicles, and material culture creating a complex portrait of the development of this high crime. Larissa Tracy artfully brings together younger critics as well as seasoned scholars in a compelling and topical conversation on treason. Contributors are Frank Battaglia, Dianne Berg, Tina Marie Boyer, Albrecht Classen, Sam Claussen, Freddy C. Dominguez, Melissa Ridley Elmes, Ana Grinberg, Iain A. MacInnes, Inna Matyushina, Sally Shockro, Susan Small, Peter Sposato, Sarah J. Sprouse, Daniel Thomas, and Larissa Tracy.

Armies of the Dark Ages spans the period from 600 AD to 1066 and describes Byzantine, Sub-Roman, Pictish, Irish, Visigothic, Lombard, Merovingian, Carolingian, Ottonian, Viking, Russian, Slav, Avar, Khazar, Magyar, Bulgar, Pecheneg, Ghuzz, Alan, Armenian, Sassanid, Arab, Andalusian, Near Eastern, Saxon, Norman, Italian and Spanish armies. It examines tactics and strategy, organisation and formations as well as providing a detailed guide to the dress and equipment of the armies of the period. Comprehensive illustrations complement the text and the result is a wealth of information for anyone interested in the warfare of the time. Long out of print, the book has been a source of inspiration to wargamers and academic historians alike. It is reprinted here in its complete 1980 second edition with an updated bibliography.

Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis is the oldest surviving example of historiography in the French vernacular. It was written in Lincolnshire c.1136-37 and is, in large part, an Anglo-Norman verse adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Its narrative covers the period from the sixth century until the death of the Conqueror's son William Rufus in 1100.
This is an important text in historiographic terms, less as an historical source than as an early example of informative literature written in a secular perspective for a predominantly baronial audience. It illustrates the multilingualism and multiculturalism of twelfth-century Anglo-Norman Britain, and shows the descendants of the Norman conquerors seeking to integrate themselves culturally into their adoptive homeland during the 1130s. It also ranks among the earliest extant witnesses of the rise of courtly literature in French, and of named female literary patronage.
This edition offers a critical text of one of the chronicle's four extant manuscripts. There is an introduction placing the poem in its social and literary contexts, followed by the medieval text, edited according to critical interventionist principles and comprising 6532 rhyming octosyllables. A facing modern English prose translation, the first concern of which is accuracy, aims also to convey the tone and style of the original rather than provide a strictly literal rendering of it. The extensive explanatory notes to the text are followed by a bibliography and a complete index of place and personal names.

This book is a new survey of the Celtic and Roman traditions in Merovingian Gaul, Lombard Italy, and the British Isles from 590-768. In it Corning argues that the main areas of conflict between the two traditions during this period were the Easter controversy and by extension the style of tonsure. Corning's work serves as a valuable case study of the ways in which the early medieval Church attempted to reach consensus on divisive issues.

Elves and elf-belief during the Anglo-Saxon period are reassessed in this lively and provocative study. Anglo-Saxon elves [Old English aelfe] are one of the best attested non-Christian beliefs in early medieval Europe, but current interpretations of the evidence derive directly from outdated nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship. Integrating linguistic and textual approaches into an anthropologically-inspired framework, this book reassesses the full range of evidence. It traces continuities and changes in medieval non-Christian beliefs with a new degree of reliability, from pre-conversion times to the eleventh century and beyond, and uses comparative material from medieval Ireland and Scandinavia to argue for a dynamic relationship between beliefs and society. Inparticular, it interprets the cultural significance of elves as a cause of illness in medical texts, and provides new insights into the much-discussed Scandinavian magic of seidr. Elf-beliefs, moreover, were connected withAnglo-Saxon constructions of sex and gender; their changing nature provides a rare insight into a fascinating area of early medieval European culture. Shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award 2007 ALARIC HALL is a fellow of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.

Winner of the American Historical Association Marraro Prize, 1988. The Mountains and the City is a rare discussion in English of the history of a region of Europe, a genre common in other countries but undeveloped in Britain. The book deals with two mountain valleys in Tuscany from the eight to the twelfth century, with some examination of their future progress into the sixteenth. It charts their internal social and economic development and their links with the emerging world of the Italian city states. The importance of the book is in its stress on the small-scale society of the mountains; on the relation of local society to its geographical environment; and, above all, in its concern to see society from below, through the activities of local people, rather than through the interests of their masters. In its focus on local interaction, this is one of the few anthropological studies of medieval history that has yet been written.

Edited accounts from the estates of Durham Priory provide a rich vein of information for the economic history of the time. This volume provides a closely edited text of all the manorial accounts surviving from Durham Priory estates before 1310. These include twelve accounts for individual manors (the two earliest being from 1277-8), together with enrolled manorial accounts for the years 1296-7, 1299-1306 and 1309-10. The accounts supply detailed evidence of farming activities on the twelve or so manors that were farmed directly by the priory: their number fluctuated during thecourse of the period. A couple of livestock inventories supply additional material relating to the priory's sheep flocks. The editor's introduction supplies a new study of the scale and operations of the priory estate as documented both by the edited accounts and by related material in the priory archive, particularly bursars' accounts and the granators' accounts. It includes a description of the priory's estate management and accounting and an economic analysis of the the monks' arable and pastoral activities.The introduction also calls attention to material in the accounts relating to disturbances that affected the priory in these years as a result of royal campaigns in Scotland and the monk's conflict with Bishop Anthony Bek. The volume is completed with a glossary of the Latin and Middle English words used in the accounts. Richard Britnell, who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages, was until his retirement professor of History at Durham University.

Governance of outlying provinces of the early and high medieval polities was never a favorite topic for either medieval chronicles or modern medievalists. The book "Governance of a Distant Province in the Middle Ages: Case Study on Upper Lusatia" by Krzysztof Fokt aims at exploring this problem in a form of an "extreme case study". The region chosen for closer analysis is Upper Lusatia, which in the tenth through twelfth century was the furthest pertinence of German kings in the Slavic world and for some time also a distant province of other polities: Poland and Bohemia. The study has been based upon both written and material (archeological and numismatic) evidence, and tries to write some passages of the history of the chosen region anew, without applying the stereotypes present in the three national historiographies engaged (the German, the Czech and the Polish). The main objectives of the book are to identify and comment on the means that were used to effectively govern a distant province and to recognize the factors which influenced the strategies applied by particular monarchs and territorial rulers. Substantial part of the work is also a detailed analysis of the infrastructure of governance, based upon written and material evidence from the eastern part Upper Lusatia (at present divided between Poland and Germany). Preparation and publication of this book was financially supported by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University. Publication of this book was subsidized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland through the National Program for Development of Humanities (NPRH) in the years 2016-2017.

This book explores the late medieval English cults which evolved around 'political martyrs' - men who had been violently killed in political circumstances and later venerated, though never canonized.It is the first monograph to study political martyrdom. It innovatively locates late medieval cults of political martyrs in their religious, social and cultural context. It uses a broad range of primary sources. It provides a detailed study of important case studies.This book explores the late medieval English cults which evolved around 'political martyrs'. By examining these cults the richness of political culture is revealed, and insights offered into the ways in which belief, worship, social and civic identities, and political language and practice were continuously constructed and re-constructed.

This collection of original essays repositions medieval literary studies after an era of historicism. Analyzing the legacy of Marxist and materialist theory on medieval literary criticism, the collection offers new ways of reading texts historically. Drawing upon aesthetic, ethical, and cultural vantage points and methods, these essays demonstrate that a variety of approaches and theories are "historical" and can change what it means to historicize medieval literature. By defining our post-historical moment in medieval English literary studies in terms of new possibilities, this collection will have broad appeal to those interested in the English Middle Ages, history, culture, and reading itself.

In this collection of essays Nicholas Brooks explores some of the earliest and most problematical sources, both written and archaeological, for early English history. In his hands, the structure and functions of Anglo-Saxon origin stories and charters (whether authentic or forged) illuminate English political and social structures, as well as ecclesiastical, urban and rural landscapes. As well as previously published essays, "Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church, 400-1066" includes a new account of the English origin myth and a review of the developments in the study of Anglo-Saxon charters over the last twenty years.

Based on clerical ideals of female comportment and Golden Age playwrights' fixation on questions of honor, modern scholarship, whether historical or literary, has viewed women as subjects and objects of patriarchal control. This study analyzes tensions and contradictions produced by the interplay of patriarchal norms and the realities of widows' daily lives to demonstrate that in Castile patriarchy did not exist as a monolithic force, which rigidly enforced an ideology of female incapacity. The extensive analysis of archival documents shows widows actively engaged in their families and communities, confounding images of their reclusion and silence. Widows' autonomy and authority were desirable attributes that did not collide with the demands of a society that recognized the contingent nature of patriarchal norms.

Bernard of Clairvaux is perhaps the most controversial figure of Western Europe's vibrant twelfth century. Unlike Abelard, who is seen as a proponent of modern thinking, Bernard is often relegated to the darkest corner of the Middle Ages. Nothing is easy with Bernard, but these fresh evaluations of him and their reviews of recent scholarship enable the reader to make a more balanced evaluation of the man, his writings, and his impact on his period. Bernard emerges as a multifaceted figure who sought to reform monasticism and ended up becoming a saint with an appeal to virtually all classes in medieval society. Bernard lives on today with the lay and monastic scholars who continue to find new layers of meaning in his writings. Contributors include Christopher Holdsworth, Michael Casey, James France, Diane Reilly, John Sommerfeldt, Mette B. Bruun, Burcht Pranger, Chrysogonus Waddell, E. Rozanne Elder, and Brian Patrick McGuire.