Edition, with full explanatory material, of the documents concerning the building of All Souls, Oxford: a vital source for our knowledge of the period. The accounts covering the construction of All Souls, Oxford, in the five years from its foundation in 1438 are among the most important documentary sources for English medieval building history, and provide an almost unique recordof the physical creation of an Oxford college. They are here published in full for the first time, with commentary and analysis by the late Simon Walker. Supplementary material includes plans and documentation of the site, a description of the buildings, and an inventory of the college rooms in the sixteenth century. Simon Walker was Professor of History, University of Sheffield; Julian Munby is head of Buildings Archaeology at Oxford Archaeology.

This report presents the results of over 40 years of excavation, historic building survey and documentary research that has been carried out by Oxford Archaeology and others at the site of the Cistercian house of Rewley, a chantry founded in 1280. It became an abbey and stadium providing accommodation for monks studying at the university, and can therefore claim to be one of Oxford's earliest colleges. The railway station that subsequently occupied the site in 1851 followed the design of the Crystal Palace, built for the Great Exhibition, and was the last surviving representative of that internationally important building.

A series which is a model of its kind EDMUND KING, HISTORY The latest volume of Battle Conference proceedings emphasizes the European range and interdisciplinarity of the series. It opens with Anne Duggan's R. Allen Brown Memorial Lecture for 2010, on the effects of Pope Alexander III's so-called "marriage legislation" in England. Norman history is covered by chapters on the detailed account of Robert de Torigni's deeds as abbot of Mont Saint-Michel which he added to the monastic cartulary, and on religious life in Rouen in the late eleventh century, covering the rivalries but also the common outlook of the cathedral canons and the monks of St Ouen. Close readings of the work of two of the Anglo-Norman historians of the earlier twelfth century provide many new insights into their working methods and views of the world, specifically Willam of Malmesbury's use of ambiguity and innuendo, and Orderic Vitalis's treatment of the nexus between power and the display of emotions. There are also two papers on art history, giving sophisticated readings of the architecture shown in the Bayeux Tapestry and the politically charged glazing scheme that Archbishop Anselm installed at Canterbury cathedral. Contributors: Anne Duggan, Alison Alexander, Richard E. Barton, Thomas N. Bisson, Paul Hayward, T.A. Heslop, Elizabeth Carson Pastan C.P. LEWIS is a Research Fellow in the History Department at King's College, London, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research in the University of London.

A dramatic archaeological find at Windsor Castle reveals Edward III's 'House of the Round Table', designed to show off Edward's power and prestige at a crucial moment in his attempts to lay claim to the throne of France. NEW LOWER PRICE The image of King Arthur's Round Table is well-known, both as Thomas Malory's portrayal of a fellowship of knights dedicated to the highest ideals of chivalry, and as the great wooden table at Winchester castle. Now a dramatic archaeological find at Windsor castle sheds new light on the idea of a round table as a gathering: the 'House of the Round Table' which Edward III ordered to be constructed at the conclusion of his Windsor festival of 1344. The discovery of the foundation trench of a great building two hundred feet in diameter in the Upper Ward of Windsor castle, allows the reconstruction of that building's appearance and raises the question of itspurpose. Chronicles, building materials inventories from the royal accounts, medieval romances, and earlier descriptions of round table festivals all confirm the archaeological evidence: at a time when secular orders of knighthood were almost unknown, Edward declared his intention to found an Order of the Round Table with three hundred knights. This grand building, and the Arthurian entertainments he planned for it, would bind his nobles to his cause ata crucial point in his progress to claiming the throne of France. His ambitious scheme, however, was overtaken by events. Victory at Crecy in 1346 confirmed Edward's reputation, and the order which he founded in 1348 was themuch more exclusive Order of the Garter, rewarding those commanders who had helped him to win the Crecy campaign. His reputation was assured, the omens for his reign were auspicious; he had the loyalty of his knights and magnates.The Round Table building was abandoned, and eventually pulled down in the 1360s. Thus a major plank in the strategic thinking of one of England's greatest kings almost became a footnote in history. Time Team discovered .there [are] indeed foundations of a massive round building in Windsor Castle's upper ward. A splendidly produced volume, which gives full credit both to the history and to the archaeology: analysis of the chivalric background, archaeological analysis, discussion of the probable form of the building [and] the early history of Windsor Castle as well as the types of stone used by Edward III's masons. The book is attractively illustrated, and its appendicesprovide a full text in Latin, with translation, of the building accounts, as well as translations of many of the relevant chronicle extracts. MICHAEL PRESTWICH, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Addressing the physical remains of Oxford''s past this book concentrates on the confluence of the Thames and Cherwell, looking out into the countryside to explain the nature of early settlement and the changing pattern of urban life.'