Discussion of display through a range of artefacts and in a variety of contexts: family and lineage, social distinction and aspiration, ceremony and social bonding, and the expression of power and authority. Medieval culture was intensely visual. Although this has long been recognised by art historians and by enthusiasts for particular media, there has been little attempt to study social display as a subject in its own right. And yet,display takes us directly into the values, aspirations and, indeed, anxieties of past societies. In this illustrated volume a group of experts address a series of interrelated themes around the issue of display and do so in a waywhich avoids jargon and overly technical language. Among the themes are family and lineage, social distinction and aspiration, ceremony and social bonding, and the expression of power and authority. The media include monumental effigies, brasses, stained glass, rolls of arms, manuscripts, jewels, plate, seals and coins. Contributors: MAURICE KEEN, DAVID CROUCH, PETER COSS, CAROLINE SHENTON, ADRIAN AILES, FREDERIQUE LACHAUD, MARIAN CAMPBELL, BRIAN and MOIRA GITTOS, NIGEL SAUL, FIONN PILBROW, CAROLINE BARRON and JOHN WATTS.

Eight studies of aspects of C15 England, united by a common focus on the role of ideas in political developments of the time. The concept of "political culture" has become very fashionable in the last thirty years, but only recently has it been consciously taken up by practitioners of late-medieval English history, who have argued for the need to acknowledge the role of ideas in politics. While this work has focused on elite political culture, interest in the subject has been growing among historians of towns and villages, especially as they have begun to recognise the importance of both internal politics and national government in the affairs of townsmen and peasants. This volume, the product of a conference on political culture in the late middle ages, explores the subject from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of spheres. It is hoped that it will put the subject firmly on the map for the study of late-medieval England and lead to further exploration of political culture in this period. Contributors CAROLINE BARRON, ALAN CROMARTIE, CHRISTOPHER DYER, MAURICE KEEN, MIRI RUBIN, BENJAMIN THOMPSON, JOHN WATTS, JENNY WORMALD. LINDA CLARK is editor, History of Parliament; CHRISTINE CARPENTER is Reader in History, University ofCambridge.

Latest research on the chivalric ethos of western Europe,10c-15c, from the practical (houses, armour) to the intellectual [conceptof holy war, loyalty, etc.]. The Strawberry Hill conferences on medieval knighthood, from which these volumes spring, aim to bring together historians and literary scholars whose interests focus on medieval chivalry, to bridge the gulf between the two areas of specialisation and explore matters of common interest. Eight papers cover a wide area, both territorially and chronologically,but common themes emerge. One group of essays deals with the embellishments of lordship, both architectural and heraldic, studying residences and also developments in armour. A second group concerns ideals which motivated the aristocracy of western Europe, from the late 10th to the 15th centuries: romances, the Peace movement ofAquitaine, holy war, and loyalty; concentration on rationalism and free will in thewritings of the cultural circle which revolved around Sir John Fastolfis identified as an important element in the development of the EnglishRenaissance. Professor CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL teaches in the Department of History, University of East Anglia; Dr RUTH HARVEY is lecturer in French at Royal Holloway, University of London. Contributors: ADRIAN AILES, JEFFREY ASHCROFT, CHARLES COULSON,JONATHAN HUGHES, JANE MARTINDALE, PETER NOBLE, MATTHEW STRICKLAND,ANN WILLIAMS.