"A series which is a model of its kind": Edmund King This year's volume is made up of articles that were presented at the conference in Bonn, held under the auspices of the University. In this volume, Alheydis Plassmann, the Allen Brown Memorial lecturer, analyses how two contemporary commentators reported the events of their day, the contest between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror as they struggled for supremacy in England and Normandy during the 1140s. The Marjorie Chibnall Essay prize winner, Laura Bailey, examines the geographical spaces occupied by the exile in The Gesta Herewardi and Fouke le Fitz Waryn. Andrea Stieldorf compares the seals and the coins of Germany/Lotharingia in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries with those made in England, exploring the ideas embedded in the iconography of the two connected visual sources. Domesday Book forms the focus of two important new studies, one by Rory Naismith looking at the moneyers to be found in Domesday, adding substantially to the information gained on this important group of artisans, and one by Chelsea Shields-Más on the sheriffs of Edward the Confessor, giving us new insights into the key officials in the royal administration. Elisabeth van Houts examines the life of Empress Matilda before she returned to her father's court in 1125 throwing new light on Matilda's "German" years, while Laura Wangerin looks at how tenth-century Ottonian women used communication to further their political goals. Steven Vanderputten takes the challenge of thinking about religious change at the turn of the Millennium through the lens of the Life of John, Abbot of Gorze Abbey, by John of Saint-Arnoul. Benjamin Pohl looks at the role of the abbot in prompting monk-historians to embark on their historiographical tasks through the work of one individual chronicler, Andreas of Marchiennes, responsible for writing, at his abbot's behest, the Chronicon Marchianense. And Megan Welton explores the implications of honorific titles through an examination of the title dux as it was attached to two tenth-century women rulers. The volume offers a wide range of insightful essays which add considerably to our understanding of the central middle ages.

This volume continues the Society's commitment to historical and interdisciplinary research from the early and central Middle Ages, demonstrating its belief that the close interrogation of primary documents yield new insights or important revisions into our understanding of the past. Volume 33 of the Haskins Society Journal continues the Society's commitment to historical and interdisciplinary research from the early and central Middle Ages and demonstrates its belief that the close interrogation of primary documents yield new insights or important revisions into our understanding of the past. After an investigation of the role of Anglo-Saxon bishops in the provision of coastal defense, the subsequent articles explore different dimensions of the Anglo-Norman period: the place of sex at the royal court, the penitential sensibilities of Anglo-Norman prelates and their geographical expression, the complexity of using Anglo-Norman land surveys as evidence for the nature of and changes in peasant labor and obligations, and the office of sheriff and its place in the developing common law. The Denis Bethell Prize winning essay, through its close analysis of Denis Piramus' French translation of the Life of Edmund, king of England, explores the role of translated texts in the formation of Anglo-Norman elite identity. Essays on Queen Ingeborg of Denmark's conception and expression of her role as a Capetian queen. and on the use and meaning of direct and metaphorical references to art and artists in French sermons in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, round out the volume. Contributors: Yaoling Dai, Gabrielle Faundez-Rojas, P.D.A Harvey, Charles Insley, Tom Licence, Sara Lipton, Anne C. Schlender, Nigel Tringham.

Wide-ranging and current research into the Anglo-Norman and Angevin worlds. This volume of the Haskins Society Journal brings together a rich and interdisciplinary collection of articles. Topics range from the politics and military organization of northern worlds of the Anglo-Normans and Angevins in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to the economic activity of women in Catalonia and political unrest in thirteenth-century Tripoli. Martin Millett's chapter on the significance of rural life in Roman Britain for the early Middle Ages continues the Journal's commitment to archaeological approaches to medieval history, while contributions on AElfric's complex use of sources in his homilies, Byrhtferth of Ramsey's reinterpretation of the Alfredian past, and the little known History of Alfred of Beverly engage with crucial questions of sources and historiographical production within Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England. Pieces on the political meaning of the EmpressHelena and Constantine I for Angevin political ambitions and the role of relics such as the Holy Lance in strategies of political legitimation in Anglo-Saxon England and Ottonian Germany in the tenth century complete the volume. Contributors: David Bachrach, Mark Blincoe, Katherine Cross, Sarah Ifft Decker, Joyce Hill, Katherine Hodges-Kluck, Jesse Izzo, Martin Millett, John Patrick Slevin, Oliver Stoutner, Laura Wangerin.

Laura E. Wangerin challenges traditional views of the Ottonian Empire's rulership. Drawing from a broad array of sources including royal and imperial diplomas, manuscript illuminations, and histories, Ottonian kingship and the administration of justice are investigated using traditional historical and comparative methodologies as well as through the application of innovative approaches such as modern systems theories. This study suggests that distinctive elements of the Ottonians' governing apparatus, such as its decentralized structure, emphasis on the royal iter, and delegation of authority, were essential features of a highly developed political system. Kingship and Justice in the Ottonian Empire provides a welcome addition to English-language scholarship on the Ottonians, as well as to scholarship dealing with rulership and medieval legal studies. Scholars have recognized the importance of ritual and symbolic behaviors in the Ottonian political sphere, while puzzling over the apparent lack of administrative organization, a contradiction between what we know about the Ottonians as successful rulers and their traditional characterization as rulers of a disorganized polity. Trying to account for the apparent disparity between their political and military achievements, cultural and artistic efflorescence, and relative dynastic stability, which seemingly accompanied a disinterest in writing law or creating a centralized hierarchical administration, is a tension that persists in the scholarship. This book argues that far from being accidental successes or employing primitive methods of governance, the Ottonians were shrewd rulers and administrators who exploited traditional methods of conflict resolution and delegated jurisdictional authority to keep control over their vast empire. Thus, one of the important things that this book aims to accomplish is to challenge our preconceived notions of what successful government looks like.