The Great, the Pious, the Fair; the Wise, the Lame, the Mad. Imprisoned, deposed, exiled. Excommunicated, assassinated; devout, debauched; loved, loathed - the Middle Ages produced a fascinating array of monarchs. From Britain to Russia, from Scandinavia to Sicily, from the 9th century CE to the completion of the Reconquista of Spain in 1492, Kings & Queens of the Medieval World explores the captivating stories of monarchs from all across Europe. Arranged thematically, the book groups the kings and queens by their achievements - military leaders, law-makers, religious reformers, patrons of the arts. These are stories of monarchs leading their armies into battle to expand or defend their territory, and of kings - and queens - going on crusade - both within Europe and to the Holy Land. These, too, are stories of, on the one hand, countries united by marriage, and, on the other, sons scheming against fathers in an effort to gain - and maintain - power. And yet these are also the stories of the people who constructed beautiful cathedrals, who founded universities and supported artists, of religious kings who were later canonised, of kings who created more just legal systems, established parliaments and permanent armies, and laid the foundations for more modern governments and societies. Featuring the major European dynasties, Kings & Queens of the Medieval World is a lively account of monarchs from Charlemagne to Alexander Nevsky to Ferdinand and Isabella. Illustrated with 180 colour and black-and-white artworks, photographs and maps, this is a colourful, accessible history.

This unique examination of medieval medicine as detailed in physician's manuals of the period reveals a more sophisticated approach to the medical arts than expected for the time. Far from the primitive and barbaric practices the Middle Ages may conjure up in our minds, doctors during that time combined knowledge, tradition, innovation, and intuition to create a humane, holistic approach to understanding and treating every known disease. In fact, a singularly authoritative medical source of the period, Lily of Medicine, continued to provide crucial study for students and practitioners of medicine almost four centuries after its completion in 1305. This unprecedented book investigates the extensive capabilities of physicians who relied on practice, observation, and imagination before the supremacy of mechanistic views and technological aids. Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe is a comprehensive look at diseases as they were described, classified, explained, assessed, and treated by doctors of the age. The author methodically compares a dozen encyclopedic manuals in which both the fundamental understanding of healthy functions and the specific response to diseases were summarized, viewing the information through a medieval perspective rather than based upon modern criteria. Includes translations, available for the first time in English, of original comments and illustrations by physicians of the day Contains a plethora of additional resources for learning, including 20 black-and-white plates with full references, 5 tables, a glossary of unusual words, a chronology and list of the consulted sources, and an extensive bibliography Reveals how medieval medical manuals influenced literary, historical, and medical study

With his Letter of 1493 to the court of Spain, Christopher Columbus heralded his first voyage to the present-day Americas, creating visions that seduced the European imagination and birthing a fascination with those "new" lands and their inhabitants that continues today. Columbus's epistolary announcement travelled from country to country in a late-medieval media event -- and the rest, as has been observed, is history. The Letter has long been the object of speculation concerning its authorship and intention: British historian Cecil Jane questions whether Columbus could read and write prior to the first voyage while Demetrio Ramos argues that King Ferdinand and a minister composed the Letter and had it printed in the Spanish folio. The Letter has figured in studies of Spanish Imperialism and of Discovery and Colonial period history, but it also offers insights into Columbus's passions and motives as he reinvents himself and retails his vision of Peter Martyr's Novus orbis to men and women for whom Columbus was as unknown as the places he claimed to have visited. The central feature of the book is its annotated variorum edition of the Spanish Letter, together with an annotated English translation and word and name glossaries. A list of terms from early print-period and manuscript cultures supports those critical discussions. In the context of her text-based reading, the author addresses earlier critical perspectives on the Letter, explores foundational questions about its composition, publication and aims, and proposes a theory of authorship grounded in text, linguistics, discourse, and culture.

This book investigates the impact of the ever-changing story of William Wallace on Scottish national identity. Freed from the historian's bedrock of empiricism by a lack of corroborative sources, the biography of this short-lived late-medieval patriot has long been incorporated into the ideology of nationalism. It is to explain this assimilation, and to deconstruct the myriad ways that Wallace's biography has been endlessly refreshed as a national narrative, over many generations, that forms this investigation. William Wallace: A National Tale examines the elision of Wallace's after-life into narrative ascendency, dominating the ideology and politics of nationalism in Scotland. This narrative is conceptualised as the national tale, a term taken out of its literary moorings to scrutinise how the personal biography of a medieval patriot has been evoked and presented as the nation's biography over seven centuries of time. Through the verse of Blind Harry, the romance of Jane Porter, to the historical imaginations of Braveheart and Brave, Scotland's national tale has been forged. This is a fresh, engaging and timely exploration into Wallace's hold over Scotland's national mythology. It reappraises William Wallace as a national figure. It explores Wallace variously as: A Protestant, A Scottish Chief, A Romantic Hero, and a Hollywood Hero. It examines Scotland's obsession with the need for a national hero.

The present volume is a Festschrift in honor of the distinguished scholar in Late Byzantine, post-Byzantine and Cretan Renaissance studies I. Mavromatis. The title Kalligraphos is indicative of the foundations of his scholarship, which lie in the fields of paleography and early printing. With manuscripts and early printed books as the primary material of his studies, Professor Mavromatis has produced several major works in the fields of Byzantine philology, Cretan Renaissance literature (especially Erotorcritos) and late Byzantine vernacular poetry. This volume includes a short preface and twenty-four articles by senior and younger scholars, former colleagues, collaborators, and students of Professor Mavromatis. The articles are loosely arranged in chronological order of their subject matter and treat issues ranging from Byzantine historiography going back to the 4th century CE to post-Byzantine Cretan poetry of the 17th century. This philological kaleidoscope features new editions and interpretations of hitherto unknown or little-known poems and texts. The volume is intended for scholars, graduate and undergraduate students and the general readership interested in Byzantine and post-Byzantine literature.

The Battle of Hastings is one of the key events in the history of the British Isles. This book is not merely another attempt to describe what happened at Hastings - that has already been done supremely well by many others - but instead to highlight two issues: how little we actually know for certain about the battle, and how the popular understanding of 14 October 1066 has been shaped by the concerns of later periods. It looks not just at perennial themes such as how did Harold die and why did the English lose, but also at other crucial issues such as the diplomatic significance of William of Normandy's claim to the English throne, the Norman attempt to secure papal support, and the extent to which the Norman and Anglo-Saxon armies represented diametrically opposed military systems. This study will be of great interest to all historians, students and teachers of history and is illustrated with 10 colour and 10 black & white photographs.

This is the first book in English providing a wide range of Byzantine legal sources. In six chapters, this book explains and illustrates Byzantine law through a selection of fundamental Byzantine legal sources, beginning with the sources before the time of Justinian, and extending up to AD 1453. For all sources English translations are provided next to the original Greek (and Latin) text. In some cases, tables or other features are included that help further elucidate the source and illustrate its nature. The volume offers a clear yet detailed primer to Byzantine law, its sources, and its significance.

An engaging, richly illustrated account of parish churches and churchgoers in England, from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-sixteenth century Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. In this comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into existence, who staffed them, and how their buildings were used. He explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, and how they-not merely the clergy-affected how worship was staged. The book provides an accessible account of what happened in the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and summer. It describes how they celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, and marriage, and gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and shows how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches remained as before.

Between the age of St. Augustine and the sixteenth century reformations magic continued to be both a matter of popular practice and of learned inquiry. This volume deals with its use in such contexts as healing and divination and as an aspect of the knowledge of nature's occult virtues and secrets.

This volume offers the first fully scholarly translation into English of the Tale of Livistros and Rodamne, a love romance written around the middle of 13th century at the imperial court of Nicaea, at the time when Constantinople was still under Latin dominion. With its approximately 4700 verses, Livistros and Rodamne is the longest and the most artfully composed of the eight surviving Byzantine love romances. It was almost certainly written to be recited in front of an aristocratic audience by an educated poet experienced in the Greek tradition of erotic fiction, yet at the same time knowledgeable of the Medieval French and Persian romances of love and adventure. The poet has created a very 'modern' narrative filled with attractive episodes, including the only scene of demonic incantation in Byzantine fiction. The language of the romance is of a high poetic quality, challenging the translator at every step. Finally, Livistros and Rodamne is the only Byzantine romance that consistently constructs the Latin world of chivalry as an exotic setting, a type of occidentalism aiming to tame and to incorporate the Frankish Other in the social norms of the Byzantine Self after the Fall of Constantinople to the Latins in 1204.

WINNER YOUNG QUILLS AWARD BEST HISTORICAL FICTION 2021 12-year-old Ada is a laundress of little consequence but the new castle commander Brian de Berclay has his evil eye on her. Perhaps she shouldn't have secretly fed the young prisoner in the tower. But when the King of England crosses the border with an army of over 3000 strong, Ada, her friend Godfrey and all at Caerlaverock suddenly find themselves under attack, with only 60 men for protection. Soon, rocks and flaming arrows rain from the sky over Castle Caerlaverock - and Ada has a dangerous choice to make.