Gregory the Great, whose reign spanned the years between 590 and 604 A.D., was one of the most remarkable figures of the early medieval Papacy. Aristocrat, administrator, teacher and scholar, he ascended the throne of St Peter at a time of acute crisis for the Roman Church. Consul of God, first published in 1980, revises the traditional picture of Pope Gregory. It examines how he organised the central administration of the Papacy and his unremitting war on heresy and schism. Gregory also pioneered a new pastoral tradition in learning, promoted monasticism, and trained the episcopate. Jeffrey Richards demonstrates that Gregory was both a conservative and a pioneer, and just as his reign looked forward to the medieval world it also looked back to a vanishing world of imperial unity. He was thus the last representative of those Roman senators whose fortitude and energy he emulated, earning the epitaph 'Consul of God'.

This fascinating study of the genre of swashbuckling films received wide critical acclaim when it was first published in 1977. Jeffrey Richards assesses the contributions to the genre of directors, designers and fencing masters, as well as of the stars themselves, and devotes several chapters to the principal subjects if the swashbucklers - pirates, highwaymen, cavaliers and knights. The result is to recall, however fleetingly, the golden days of the silver screen. Reviews of the original edition: 'An intelligent, scholarly, well-written account of adventure films, this work is sensitive both to cinema history and to the literary origins of the "swashbuckler"....Essential for any library with books on film, it may very well be the definitive book on its subject.' - Library Journal

There has been a tendency to the view the history of the early medieval papacy predominantly in ideological terms, which has resulted in the over-exaggeration of the idea of the papal monarchy. In this study, first published in 1979, Jeffrey Richards questions this view, arguing that whilst the papacy's power and responsibility grew during the period under discussion, it did so by a series of historical accidents rather than a coherent radical design. The title redresses the imbalance implicit in the monarchical interpretation, and emphasizes other important political, administrative and social aspects of papal history. As such it will be of particular value to students interested in the history of the Church; in particular, the development of the early medieval papacy, and the shifting policies and characteristics of the popes themselves.

This fascinating study of the genre of swashbuckling films received wide critical acclaim when it was first published in 1977. Jeffrey Richards assesses the contributions to the genre of directors, designers and fencing masters, as well as of the stars themselves, and devotes several chapters to the principal subjects if the swashbucklers - pirates, highwaymen, cavaliers and knights. The result is to recall, however fleetingly, the golden days of the silver screen. Reviews of the original edition: 'An intelligent, scholarly, well-written account of adventure films, this work is sensitive both to cinema history and to the literary origins of the "swashbuckler"....Essential for any library with books on film, it may very well be the definitive book on its subject.' - Library Journal

Gregory the Great, whose reign spanned the years between 590 and 604 A.D., was one of the most remarkable figures of the early medieval Papacy. Aristocrat, administrator, teacher and scholar, he ascended the throne of St Peter at a time of acute crisis for the Roman Church. Consul of God, first published in 1980, revises the traditional picture of Pope Gregory. It examines how he organised the central administration of the Papacy and his unremitting war on heresy and schism. Gregory also pioneered a new pastoral tradition in learning, promoted monasticism, and trained the episcopate. Jeffrey Richards demonstrates that Gregory was both a conservative and a pioneer, and just as his reign looked forward to the medieval world it also looked back to a vanishing world of imperial unity. He was thus the last representative of those Roman senators whose fortitude and energy he emulated, earning the epitaph 'Consul of God'.

There has been a tendency to the view the history of the early medieval papacy predominantly in ideological terms, which has resulted in the over-exaggeration of the idea of the papal monarchy. In this study, first published in 1979, Jeffrey Richards questions this view, arguing that whilst the papacy's power and responsibility grew during the period under discussion, it did so by a series of historical accidents rather than a coherent radical design. The title redresses the imbalance implicit in the monarchical interpretation, and emphasizes other important political, administrative and social aspects of papal history. As such it will be of particular value to students interested in the history of the Church; in particular, the development of the early medieval papacy, and the shifting policies and characteristics of the popes themselves.

The Mass Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s), a pioneering independent effort aimed at education, specialised in material about everyday life in Britain and recorded material through a panel of around 500 volunteer observers who maintained diaries or replied to open-ended questionnaires known as directives. The collection of papers on film is one of the largest collections on a single theme produced by Mass-Observation but before this book was originally published in 1987 very little of the film material had been put into print. This anthology presents a selection from the Mass-Observation archive which offers unique insights into cinema-going trends, particularly in the years of the Second World War. This is a great reference work on the role of the cinema in national morale and other social effects during the war years with details of people's behaviour at the cinema and their opinions of the films and the newsreels they saw at the movies.

Around the year 1400, the poet Christine de Pizan initiated a public debate in France over the literary "truth" and merit of the Roman of the Rose, perhaps the most renowned work of the French Middle Ages. She argued against what she considered to be misrepresentations of female virtue and vice in the Rose. Her bold objections aroused the support and opposition of some of the period's most famous intellectuals, notable Jean Gerson, whose sermons on the subject are important literary documents. "The Quarrel of the Rose" is the name given by modern scholars to the collection of these and other documents, including both poetry and letters, that offer a vivid account of this important controversy. As the first dual-language version of the "Quarrel" documents, this volume will be of great interest to medievalists and an ideal addition to the Routledge Medieval Texts series. Along with translations of the actual debate epistles, the volume includes several relevant passages from the Romance of the Rose, as well as a chronology of events and ample biography of source materials.

Around the year 1400, the poet Christine de Pizan initiated a public debate in France over the literary "truth" and merit of the Roman of the Rose, perhaps the most renowned work of the French Middle Ages. She argued against what she considered to be misrepresentations of female virtue and vice in the Rose. Her bold objections aroused the support and opposition of some of the period's most famous intellectuals, notable Jean Gerson, whose sermons on the subject are important literary documents. "The Quarrel of the Rose" is the name given by modern scholars to the collection of these and other documents, including both poetry and letters, that offer a vivid account of this important controversy. As the first dual-language version of the "Quarrel" documents, this volume will be of great interest to medievalists and an ideal addition to the Routledge Medieval Texts series. Along with translations of the actual debate epistles, the volume includes several relevant passages from the Romance of the Rose, as well as a chronology of events and ample biography of source materials.

Games obsessed the Victorian and Edwardian public schools. The obsession has become widely known as athleticism. When it appeared in 1981, this book was the first major study of the games ethos which dominated the lives of many Victorian and Edwardian public schoolboys. Written with Professor Mangan's customary panache, it has become a classic, the seminal work on the social and cultural history of modern sport.

Games obsessed the Victorian and Edwardian public schools. The obsession has become widely known as athleticism. When it appeared in 1981, this book was the first major study of the games ethos which dominated the lives of many Victorian and Edwardian public schoolboys. Written with Professor Mangan's customary panache, it has become a classic, the seminal work on the social and cultural history of modern sport.

For the authorities in medieval Europe, dissent struck at the roots of an ordered, settled world. It was to be crushed - initially by reason and argument, eventually by torture. Jeffrey Richards examines the wretched lives of heretics, witches, Jews, lepers and homosexuals and uncovers a common motive for their persecution: sexual aberrance.

In the preface the authors describe their approach, 'In examining the social history of railway stations we were concerned to treat them not as inanimate objects, but as living, breathing places which, better than any other building type of the last 150 years, reflected the societies around them, public buildings which people used in all sorts of ways and whose significance they instantly recognized when depicted in the theatre, the cinema, paintings, photographs, poetry, novels, and travel works. For this reason we have chosen to allow other voices to tell part of the story, to illustrate through quotation the central, but often differing, role of the station in so many societies and so many lives.'

They succeed triumphantly in this aim. After the introduction aptly called 'The Mystique of the Railway Station' there are fifteen absorbing chapters covering: The Station in Architecture (three chapters); The Station and Society; The Station in Politics; Class, Race, and Sex; Some Station Types; The Station in the Economy (two chapters); The Station as Place of Work; The Station in Wartime (two chapters); The Usual Offices; The Station in Painting and Poetry, Postcard and Poster; and The Station in Literature and Film. The scope is comprehensive, the achievement magnificent.

'written with great enthusiasm . . . packed with rich detail. This is real social history.' Asa Briggs

'full of good quotations, and (the authors) write with the infectious enthusiasm of addicts, captivated by the romance of railways' "Times Literary Supplement"

""

'remarkable . . . the railway station in all its aspects' A. N. Wilson.

Film is an important source of social history, as well as having been a popular art form from the early twentieth century. This study shows how a society, consciously or unconsciously, is mirrored in its cinema. It considers the role of the cinema in dramatizing popular beliefs and myths, and takes three case studies - American populism, British imperialism, German Nazism - to explain how a nation's pressures, tensions and hopes come through in its films. Examining the American cinema is accomplished by analysing the careers of three great directors, John Ford, Frank Capra and Leo McCarey, while the British and German cinemas are studied by theme. The analysis of the British Empire as seen in film broke exciting new ground with a pioneering account of 'the cinema of Empire' when it was first published in 1973. With full filmographies and a carefully selected bibliography it is an outstanding work of reference and its lively approach makes it a delight to read. Reviews of the original edition: 'A work of considerable force and considerable wit.' - Clive James, Observer '...a work that is original, mentally stimulating and most pleasurable to read.' - Focus on Film

For the authorities of medieval Europe, both secular and ecclesiastical, dissent struck at the roots of an ordered, settled world. But why was the danger felt to be so great and so immediate from a minority of mostly poor and powerless individuals.
In "Sex," "Dissidence and Damnation," Jeffrey Richards looks at the persecuted lives of heretics, witches, Jews, prostitutes, lepers, and homosexuals to examine the motivation behind intolerance in the Middle Ages. Richards argues that, above all, it was deviation from the sexual norms of the Church which authorities sought to suppress. At a time when the Second Coming was expected, sexual deviance was seen as having a malignant influence, not just in an individual life, but on the world at large.
Richards provides a comprehensive look at medieval sexuality, both in terms of society's official attitudes and its unofficial practices. He bases his study firmly within the context of the medieval psyche, charting the shifting perceptions of sex, dissidence, and damnation throughout the Middle Ages. Offering an insightful study of historical intolerance, "Sex, Dissidence and Damnation" enables readers to form their own judgements about how--if at all--attitudes have changed since then.

Film is an important source of social history, as well as having been a popular art form from the early twentieth century. This study shows how a society, consciously or unconsciously, is mirrored in its cinema. It considers the role of the cinema in dramatizing popular beliefs and myths, and takes three case studies - American populism, British imperialism, German Nazism - to explain how a nation's pressures, tensions and hopes come through in its films. Examining the American cinema is accomplished by analysing the careers of three great directors, John Ford, Frank Capra and Leo McCarey, while the British and German cinemas are studied by theme. The analysis of the British Empire as seen in film broke exciting new ground with a pioneering account of 'the cinema of Empire' when it was first published in 1973. With full filmographies and a carefully selected bibliography it is an outstanding work of reference and its lively approach makes it a delight to read. Reviews of the original edition: 'A work of considerable force and considerable wit.' - Clive James, Observer '...a work that is original, mentally stimulating and most pleasurable to read.' - Focus on Film

A series of linked essays examines films, stars and genres in the process of the establishment and definition of a British national identity, not only in cinema but also in other cultural forms such as music, literature, and television. 36 illustrations.

The book series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie, founded by Gustav Groeber in 1905, is among the most renowned publications in Romance Studies. It covers the entire field of Romance linguistics, including the national languages as well as the lesser studied Romance languages. The editors welcome submissions of high-quality monographs and collected volumes on all areas of linguistic research, on medieval literature and on textual criticism. The publication languages of the series are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian as well as German and English. Each collected volume should be as uniform as possible in its contents and in the choice of languages.

The book series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie, founded by Gustav Groeber in 1905, is among the most renowned publications in Romance Studies. It covers the entire field of Romance linguistics, including the national languages as well as the lesser studied Romance languages. The editors welcome submissions of high-quality monographs and collected volumes on all areas of linguistic research, on medieval literature and on textual criticism. The publication languages of the series are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian as well as German and English. Each collected volume should be as uniform as possible in its contents and in the choice of languages.

The Mass Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s), a pioneering independent effort aimed at education, specialised in material about everyday life in Britain and recorded material through a panel of around 500 volunteer observers who maintained diaries or replied to open-ended questionnaires known as directives. The collection of papers on film is one of the largest collections on a single theme produced by Mass-Observation but before this book was originally published in 1987 very little of the film material had been put into print. This anthology presents a selection from the Mass-Observation archive which offers unique insights into cinema-going trends, particularly in the years of the Second World War. This is a great reference work on the role of the cinema in national morale and other social effects during the war years with details of people's behaviour at the cinema and their opinions of the films and the newsreels they saw at the movies.

The great director John Ford (1894-1973) is best known for classic westerns, but his body of work encompasses much more than this single genre. Jeffrey Richards develops and broadens our understanding of Ford's film-making oeuvre by studying his non-Western films through the lens of Ford's life and abiding preoccupations. Ford's other cinematic worlds included Ireland, the Family, Catholicism, War and the Sea, which share with his westerns the recurrent themes of memory and loss, the plight of outsiders and the tragedy of family breakup. Richards' revisionist study both provides new insights into familiar films such as The Fugitive (1947); The Quiet Man (1952), Gideon's Way and The Informer (1935) and reclaims neglected masterpieces, among them Wee Willie Winkie (1937) and the extraordinary The Long Voyage Home. (1940).

This collection brings together studies of popular performance and politics across the nineteenth century, offering a fresh perspective from an archivally grounded research base. It works with the concept that politics is performative and performance is political. The book is organised into three parts in dialogue regarding specific approaches to popular performance and politics. Part I offers a series of conceptual studies using popular culture as an analytical category for social and political history. Part II explores the ways that performance represents and constructs contemporary ideologies of race, nation and empire. Part III investigates the performance techniques of specific politicians - including Robert Peel, Keir Hardie and Henry Hyndman - and analyses the performative elements of collective movements. -- .

Thorold Dickinson has been called the "major lost talent of the British film industry." Nevertheless, four of his films, Gaslight, Men of Two Worlds, The Next of Kin, and Queen of Spades are among the most critically respected British films of all time. Although he directed only nine feature films and a handful of short documentaries, he devoted his life to the advancement of cinema. After his directorial career ended, he became Chief of Film Services of the U.N. Department of Public Information in New York and later returned to England to establish the first department of film studies in a British university. This book explores in detail every aspect of the life and career of Thorold Dickinson (1903-1984). It is based on extensive interviews with Dickinson and a number of his colleagues and friends, an examination of his papers, and a detailed analysis of each of his films. Thorold Dickinson and the British Cinema begins with a re-examination of Dickinson's career in the light of ten years of a new writing about British cinema, and in particular, about the options open to a British cinema permanently dwarfed by Hollywood. Illustrations.

Cinema and radio in Britain and America, 1920-60 charts the evolving relationship between the two principal mass media of the period. It explores, for the first time in print, the creative symbiosis that developed between the two, including regular film versions of popular radio series as well as radio versions of hit films. This fascinating volume, now available in paperback, examines specific genres (comedy and detective stories) to identify similarities and differences in their media appearances, and in particular issues arising from the nature of film as predominantly visual and radio as exclusively aural. Richards also highlights the interchange of personnel, such as Orson Welles, between the two media. Throughout the book runs the theme of comparison and contrast between the experiences of the two media in Britain and America. The book culminates with an in-depth analysis of the media appearances of three enduring mythic figures in popular culture: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Students, scholars and lay enthusiasts of cinema history, cultural history and media studies will find this an accessible yet scholarly read. -- .