New essays on the monastic life in the later middle ages show that far from being in decline, it remained rich and vibrant. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the history of the numerous houses of monks, canons and nuns which existed in the medieval British Isles, considering them in their wider socio-cultural-economic context; historians are now questioning some of the older assumptions about monastic life in the later Middle Ages, and setting new approaches and new agenda. The present volume reflects these new trends. Its fifteen chapters assess diverseaspects of monastic history, focusing on the wide range of contacts which existed between religious communities and the laity in the later medieval British Isles, covering a range of different religious orders and houses. This period has often been considered to represent a general decline of the regular life; but on the contrary, the essays here demonstrate that there remained a rich monastic culture which, although different from that of earlier centuries, remained vibrant. CONTRIBUTORS: KAREN STOBER, JULIE KERR, EMILIA JAMROZIAK, MARTIN HEALE, COLMAN O CLABAIGH, ANDREW ABRAM, MICHAEL HICKS, JANET BURTON, KIMM PERKINS-CURRAN, JAMES CLARK, GLYN COPPACK, JENS ROHRKASTEN, SHEILA SWEETINBURGH, NICHOLAS ORME, CLAIRE CROSS

This series [pushes] the boundaries of knowledge and [develops] new trends in approach and understanding. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW For four decades, Michael Hicks has been a figure central to the study of fifteenth-century England. His scholarly output is remarkable both for its sheer bulk and for the diversity of the fields it covers. This extraordinary breadth is reflected by the variety of subjects covered by the papers in the present volume, offered to Professor Hicks by friends, colleagues and former students to mark his retirement from the University of Winchester. Fifteenth-century royalty, nobility and gentry, long at the heart of his own work, naturally take centre stage, but his contribution to economic and regional history, both in the early part of his career as a research fellow at the Victoria County History and more recently as director of a succession of major research projects, is also reflected in the essays presented here. The individual contributions are populated by some of the major characters of Yorkist England, many of them made household names by Professor Hicks's own writings - King Edward IV and his mistresses; the Neville earls of Warwick and Salisbury; the Stafford, Herbert, Percy, Tiptoft and de Vere earls of Devon, Pembroke,Northumberland, Worcester and Oxford - while the themes covered span the full panoply of medieval life: from treason to trade, warfare to widowhood and lordship to law enforcement. Equally broad is the papers' geographical spread,covering regions from Catalonia to Normandy, from Hampshire to Yorkshire and from Worcestershire and the Welsh marches to East Anglia. Contributors: Anne Curry, Christopher Dyer, Peter Fleming, Ralph Griffiths, JohnHare, Winifred Harwood, Matthew Holford, Hannes Kleineke, Gordon McKelvie, Mark Page, Simon Payling, A.J. Pollard, James Ross, Karen Stoeber, Anne F. Sutton

Fruits of the most recent research on the thirteenth century in both England and Europe. The articles collected here reflect the continued and wide interest in England and its neighbours in the years between Magna Carta and the Black Death, with many of them particularly seeking to set England in its European context.There are three main strands to the volume. The first is the social dimension of power, and the norms and practice of politics: attention is drawn to the variety of roles open to members of the clergy, but also peasants and townsmen, and the populace at large. Several chapters explore the manifestations and instruments of social identity, such as the seals used by the leading elites of thirteenth-century London, and the marriage practices of the Englisharistocracy. The third main focus is the uses of the past. Matthew Paris, the most famous chronicler of the period, receives due attention, in particular his changing attitude towards the monarch, but the Vita Edwardi Secundi's portrayal of Thomas of Lancaster and the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut are also considered. Janet Burton is Professor of Medieval History at University of Wales: Trinity Saint David; Phillipp Schofield is Professor of Medieval History at Aberystwyth University; Bjoern Weiler is Professor of History at Aberystwyth University. Contributors: J.R. Maddicott, Phillipp Schofield, Harmony Dewez, John McEwan, Joerg Peltzer, Karen Stoeber, Olga Cecilia Mendez Gonzalez, Sophie Ambler, Joe Creamer, Lars Kjaer, Andrew Spencer, Julia Marvin, Olivier de Laborderie