|
Showing 1 - 7 of
7 matches in All Departments
Ranging from Connacht to Constantinople and from Tynemouth to
Timbuktu, the forty-four contributors to The Medieval World seek to
bring the Middle Ages to life, offering definitive appraisals of
the distinctive features of the period. This second edition
includes six additional chapters, covering the Byzantine empire,
illuminated manuscripts, the 'esprit laique' of the late middle
ages, saints and martyrs, the papal chancery and scholastic
thought. Chapters are arranged thematically within four parts: 1.
Identities, Selves and Others 2. Beliefs, Social Values and
Symbolic Order 3. Power and Power Structures 4. Elites,
Organisations and Groups The Medieval World presents the reader
with an authoritative account of original scholarship across the
medieval millennium and provides essential reading for all students
of the subject.
Ranging from Connacht to Constantinople and from Tynemouth to
Timbuktu, the forty-four contributors to The Medieval World seek to
bring the Middle Ages to life, offering definitive appraisals of
the distinctive features of the period. This second edition
includes six additional chapters, covering the Byzantine empire,
illuminated manuscripts, the 'esprit laique' of the late middle
ages, saints and martyrs, the papal chancery and scholastic
thought. Chapters are arranged thematically within four parts: 1.
Identities, Selves and Others 2. Beliefs, Social Values and
Symbolic Order 3. Power and Power Structures 4. Elites,
Organisations and Groups The Medieval World presents the reader
with an authoritative account of original scholarship across the
medieval millennium and provides essential reading for all students
of the subject.
Many more documents survive from the early Middle Ages than from
the Roman Empire. Although ecclesiastical archives may account for
the dramatic increase in the number of surviving documents, this
new investigation reveals the scale and spread of documentary
culture beyond the Church. The contributors explore the nature of
the surviving documentation without preconceptions to show that we
cannot infer changing documentary practices from patterns of
survival. Throughout Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages -
from North Africa, Egypt, Italy, Francia and Spain to Anglo-Saxon
England - people at all social levels, whether laity or clergy,
landowners or tenants, farmers or royal functionaries, needed, used
and kept documents. The story of documentary culture in the early
medieval world emerges not as one of its capture by the Church, but
rather of a response adopted by those who needed documents, as they
reacted to a changing legal, social and institutional landscape.
Founded around the beginning of the eighth century in the Sabine
hills north of Rome, the abbey of Farfa was for centuries a
barometer of social and political change in central Italy.
Conventionally, the region's history in the early Middle Ages
revolves around the rise of the papacy as a secular political
power. But Farfa's avoidance of domination by the pope throughout
its early medieval history, despite one pope's involvement in its
early establishment, reveals that papal aggrandizement had strict
limits. Other parties - local elites, as well as Lombard and then
Carolingian rulers - were often more important in structuring power
in the region. Many were also patrons of Farfa, and this book
reveals how a major ecclesiastical institution operated in early
medieval politics, as a conduit for others' interests, and a player
in its own right.
Founded around the beginning of the eighth century in the Sabine
hills north of Rome, the abbey of Farfa was for centuries a
barometer of social and political change in central Italy.
Conventionally, the region's history in the early middle ages
revolves around the rise of the papacy as a secular political
power. But Farfa's avoidance of domination by the pope throughout
its early medieval history, despite one pope's involvement in its
early establishment, reveals that papal aggrandizement had strict
limits. Other parties - local elites, as well as Lombard and then
Carolingian rulers - were often more important in structuring power
in the region. Many were also patrons of Farfa, and this book, the
first detailed study of the abbey in the early middle ages, reveals
how a major ecclesiastical institution operated in early medieval
politics, as a conduit for others' interests, and a player in its
own right.
At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square
kilometres of western Europe - from the English Channel to central
Italy and northern Spain, and from the Atlantic to the fringes of
modern Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. As the largest
political unit for centuries, the empire dominated the region and
left an enduring legacy for European culture. This comprehensive
survey traces this great empire's history, from its origins around
700, with the rise to dominance of the Carolingian dynasty, through
its expansion by ruthless military conquest and political
manoeuvring in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold the
empire together in the ninth. It places the complex political
narrative in context, giving equal consideration to vital themes
such as beliefs, peasant society, aristocratic culture and the
economy. Accessibly written and authoritative, this book offers
distinctive perspectives on a formative period in European history.
At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square
kilometres of western Europe - from the English Channel to central
Italy and northern Spain, and from the Atlantic to the fringes of
modern Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. As the largest
political unit for centuries, the empire dominated the region and
left an enduring legacy for European culture. This comprehensive
survey traces this great empire's history, from its origins around
700, with the rise to dominance of the Carolingian dynasty, through
its expansion by ruthless military conquest and political
manoeuvring in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold the
empire together in the ninth. It places the complex political
narrative in context, giving equal consideration to vital themes
such as beliefs, peasant society, aristocratic culture and the
economy. Accessibly written and authoritative, this book offers
distinctive perspectives on a formative period in European history.
|
|