Traces the material fortunes of the abbot and convent of Westminster and describes the changing policies which the monks brought to bear on their estates, and the responses of their tenants to those policies.

`An indispensable series for anyone who wishes to keep abreast of recent work in the field'. WELSH HISTORY REVIEW Volume VI of Thirteenth Century England sees a new impetus behind this biennial series. The conference which generates the studies - a generous thirteen in this volume - has now moved to Durham, where Professor MICHAEL PRESTWICH is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor ROBIN FRAME and Dr RICHARD BRITNELL are members of the History Department. It is the publishers' hope that, like Anglo-Norman Studies, the series will now be recognised as one which any library with a serious interest in medieval history will need to possess. This latest volume in the series takes a broad chronological approach, covering a wide range of topics over a period extending from the late twelfth to the early fourteenth century, the so-called `long thirteenth century'. Embracing different aspects of the economic, social and political history of the period, subjects include naval warfare under Richard I; England's relations with Wales and Scotland; the purchasing practices of great households, and the management of the Winchester estates; the expulsion of Jews in 1290; and the construction and political message of the Vita Edwardi Secundi. Two articles concern women, one looking at the role of queens in granting pardons, the other at the fate of widows in the aftermath of rebellion. Contributors: JOHN GILLINGHAM, BARBARA HARVEY, MARK PAGE, PETER COSS,JENS ROEHRKASTEN, ROBERT C. STACEY, SUSAN CRANE, J.J. CRUMP, FIONA WATSON, JOHN PARSONS, PAULA DOBROWOLSKI, CHRIS GIVEN-WILSON, WENDY CHILDS

Essays provide evidence for the vigour and involvement of religious orders in the years immediately prior to the reformation. It continues to be assumed in some quarters that England's monasteries and mendicant convents fell into a headlong decline - pursuing high living and low morals - long before Henry VIII set out to destroy them at the Dissolution.The essays in this book add to the growing body of scholarly enquiry which challenges this view. Drawing on some of the most recent research by British and American scholars, they offer a wide-ranging reassessment of the religiousorders on the eve of the Reformation. They consider not only the condition of their communities and the character of life within them, but also their wider contribution - spiritual, intellectual and economic - to English societyat large. What emerges is the impression that the years leading up to the Dissolution were neither as dark nor as difficult for the regular religious as many earlier histories have led us to believe. It was a period of institutional and religious reform, and, for the Benedictines at least, a period of marked intellectual revival. Many religious houses also continued to enjoy close relations with the lay communities living beyond their precinct walls. Whiletheir role in the devotions of many ordinary lay folk may have diminished, they still had a significant part to play in the local economy, in education and in a wide range of social and cultural activities. Contributors:JEREMY CATTO, JAMES G. CLARK, GLYN COPPACK, CLAIRE CROSS, PETER CUNICH, VINCENT GILLESPIE, JOAN GREATEX, BARBARA HARVEY, F. DONALD LOGAN, MARILYN OLIVA, MICHAEL ROBSON, R.N. SWANSON, BENJAMIN THOMPSON.

Westminster Abbey was one of the wealthiest and most influential monastic houses in medieval England: c.1300 it held some 38,000 acres, largely in the Home Counties and West Midlands, and its revenues at the Dissolution exceeded GBP2,800 p.a. These assets supported a complement of 50 to 60 monks in the fourteenth century. This volume publishes 75 documents providing overviews ('states') of the Westminster estate and its revenues, as administered by the abbot and convent separately between c.1300 and 1422. The states provided crucial information at a period of great social and economic change either side of the Black Death, assisting in decisions about farming estates directly or leasing them - and to historians today they provide rich evidence of the agricultural economy of medieval England, the systems of provisioning monasteries, and the men who shaped them. The states are of two types. The first gives estimates of corn, stock and cash on the manors, made partway through the financial year - this is unusual information to survive across substantial parts of an estate. The second group has little parallel: summarising the manorial accounts across either the abbot's or the convent's portion of the lands, the states add information about the management of the estate, its value, arrears and so on. In this edition, the Latin text is given of the accounts up to 1375, after which the material is presented in calendared form. The texts are supplemented by a word list and glossary, and an appendix on the abbot's estate officials. Part 1 of this two-part volume contains the Introduction, the Word List and Glossary, the memoranda and states for the abbot's estates from 1348 to c.1422, along with an appendix on the abbot's estate officials. It also includes the texts of the views and states of the convent's estates from c.1300 up to 1334, all the material of this nature that survives from before the Black Death.

Westminster Abbey was one of the wealthiest and most influential monastic houses in medieval England: c.1300 it held some 38,000 acres, largely in the Home Counties and West Midlands, and its revenues at the Dissolution exceeded GBP2,800 p.a. These assets supported a complement of 50 to 60 monks in the fourteenth century. This volume publishes 75 documents providing overviews ('states') of the Westminster estate and its revenues, as administered by the abbot and convent separately between c.1300 and 1422. The states provided crucial information at a period of great social and economic change either side of the Black Death, assisting in decisions about farming estates directly or leasing them - and to historians today they provide rich evidence of the agricultural economy of medieval England, the systems of provisioning monasteries, and the men who shaped them. The states are of two types. The first gives estimates of corn, stock and cash on the manors, made partway through the financial year - this is unusual information to survive across substantial parts of an estate. The second group has little parallel: summarising the manorial accounts across either the abbot's or the convent's portion of the lands, the states add information about the management of the estate, its value, arrears and so on. In this edition, the Latin text is given of the accounts up to 1375, after which the material is presented in calendared form. The texts are supplemented by a word list and glossary, and an appendix on the abbot's estate officials. Part 2 completes the publication of the documentation for the convent's estates, with the states and dockets from 1352 to 1415. It includes the Bibliography and the Index to both volumes.

Cases and Commentary on Tort features a range of extracts from significant cases which form a useful portfolio of primary sources for undergraduate students. The authors' succinct and engaging commentary offers insight into the basic principles of tort law and highlights the role the key cases play in the wider context of the subject. The extracts have been carefully selected to ensure they are of a manageable length while also providing an accurate picture of the main principles of tort law, making this an ideal text for students studying this area of law for the first time. Questions at the end of chapters prompt further discussion of the wider issues involved, while annotated further reading lists highlight useful texts and articles for students wishing to undertake more in-depth study in areas of particular interest.

This volume covers a long twelfth century, beginning with the Norman Conquest of England, and a short thirteenth, ending with the rebellion of the Welsh against Edward I in 1282. Six sharply focused chapters consider the fundamental changes that occurred in political structure, ecclesiastical landscape, and social and economic life within the British Isles. The Introduction discusses the influence of the natural environment and communications in this period. Chapters adopt a comparative approach, comparing and contrasting experiences across the British Isles and in smaller regions within these countries. With chapters contributed by a team of experts, Harvey provides a readable and authoritative account of the fascinating history of the British Isles between 1066 and c.1280.

This is an authoritative account of daily life in Westminster Abbey, one of medieval England's greatest monasteries. It is also a wide-ranging exploration of some major themes in the social history of the Middle Ages and early sixteenth century by a distinguished historian of that period. Barbara Harvey exploits the exceptionally rich archives of the Benedictine foundation at Westminster to the full, offering many vivid insights into the lives of the monks of Westminster, their dependents, and their benefactors. She examines the charitable practices of the monks, their food and drink, their illnesses and their deaths, the number and conditions of employment of their servants, and their controversial practice of granting corrodies (pensions made up in large measure of benefits in kind). All these topics Miss Harvey considers in the context both of religious institutions in general and of the secular world. Full of colour and interest, Living and Dying in England 1100-1540 is an original and highly readable contribution to medieval history and that of the early sixteenth century.

This volume covers a long twelfth century, beginning with the Norman Conquest of England, and a short thirteenth, ending with the rebellion of the Welsh against Edward I in 1282. Six sharply focused chapters consider the fundamental changes that occurred in political structure, ecclesiastical landscape, and social and economic life within the British Isles. The Introduction discusses the influence of the natural environment and communications in this period. Chapters adopt a comparative approach, comparing and contrasting experiences across the British Isles and in smaller regions within these countries. With chapters contributed by a team of experts, Harvey provides a readable and authoritative account of the fascinating history of the British Isles between 1066 and c.1280.