The famous letters of Bernard of Clairvaux attacking the philosopher Peter Abelard and a vituperative response to them are presented together for the first time. The late eleventh and twelfth centuries were Europe's first age of pamphlet warfare, of invective and satire. The perceived failure, or at least hypocrisy, of its new institutions-the new monastic orders and the reformed papacy-gave rise to the phenomenon, and it was shaped by the study of grammar and rhetoric in the new Schools. The central figures in the texts in the present book are Bernard of Clairvaux, the powerful ostensible founder of the Cistercianorder, and the popular and influential teacher Peter Abelard, leader of the radical faction in the Schools of Paris. The event which sparked this controversy was the Church council at Sens in 1141 which had led to the condemnation of Abelard's doctrines. Abelard proposed to use reason to explain the mysteries of faith, and this had led him into all kinds of difficulties with established church doctrine. The leading light in the atttack on his ideas was Bernard, the famous abbot of Clairvaux, a group of whose letters, written to gather support for it before and after the Council, are presented here. A little while later Abelard was defended by the vituperative but otherwise unknown Berengar, who wrote an outrageous Apology attacking Bernard; we also edit his remaining polemical works: his Letter to the Carthusians, and his Letter to the Bishop of Mende. None of Berengar's works has been translated before.An extensive introductory essay describes the course of the debate and the personnel, and analyses the invective employed by both Bernard and Berengar. There is full annotation identifying the writers' sources and clarifying the issues.

Hugh the Chanter's History is a vivid and partly first-hand account of the church of York between 1069 and 1127. It illuminates the history not only of the church and court of England, but also of France and the papal curia in these years. The text of this revised edition differs considerably from its predecessors: it is based on a complete re-collation of the manuscript, and on a number of other copies of the documents it cites; the translation has also been adjusted at many points. There is a full introduction, which describes the manuscript, Hugh's background and purpose in writing, the chapter of York, and the issues at stake with Canterbury and Scotland. The textual apparatus and the notes to the text are entirely new. The editors' detailed and scholarly revision of this valuable source greatly increases our understanding of church and state under the Normans.

William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1143) is one of the most distinguished historians of England. He also wrote Lives of saints: of Wulfstan II of Worcester, Dunstan of Canterbury, Patrick, and the more obscure Benignus and Indract, honoured at Glastonbury. This volume contains editions and translations of all these works, with an assessment of their importance as sources of information, and of William as researcher and writer.

William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum (The Deeds of the English Kings) is one of the great histories of England. Apart from its formidable learning, it is characterized by narrative skill and entertainment value. This edition, with facing-page English translation, provides for the first time a detailed commentary on all aspects of the work.

Ancient literary criticism has always been a particularly inaccessible subject for the non-specialist student. This edition provides for the first time the principal texts in translation, giving the reader a full view of ancient literary criticism and its development. In addition to well-known texts such as Aristotle's Poetics, Horace's Art of Poetry, and Longinus's On Sublimity, the book includes complete versions of Aristotle's Rhetoric Book III, Demetrius's On Style, and Tacitus's Dialogue on Orators. It's shorter passages range from Homer to Hermogenes of Tarsus, in addition to selections from Plato, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Cicero, the two Senecas, and Quintilian.