A comprehensive picture of the life and responsibilities of an English medieval shipmaster. Despite a background of war, piracy, depopulation, bullion shortages, adverse political decisions, legal uncertainties and deteriorating weather conditions, between the mid-fourteenth and the mid-fifteenth centuries the English merchant shipping industry thrived. New markets were developed, voyages became longer, ships and cargoes increased in size and value, and an interest in ship ownership as an investment spread throughout the community. Using a rich range of examples drawn from court and parliamentary records, contemporary literature and the codifications of maritime law, this book illuminates the evolving management and commercial practices which developed to regulate the relationships between shipowners, shipmasters, crews and shipping merchants. It also brings to life ship performance, navigation, seamanship, and the frequently harsh conditions on board.

Originally published in 1984, this book was the first broad review of the development of business among ethnic minorities in Britain. Chapters describing business performance among established groups such as Jews and Italians were accompanied by accounts of business development among minorities from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Reviews of parallel trends in the United States and Western Europe underlined the important role of ethnic businesses in capitalist societies as a whole. At the time, ways of encouraging business development among minorities were raising important questions. Was this the way to give new life to the economy in the inner city? Could involvement in business provide opportunities for economic advance and increase stability in ethnic communities? Or was it simply an attempt to make the best of the increasingly marginal social and economic situation in which they found themselves in the 1980s? This book allowed for a clearer assessment of ethnic business development as a strategy for economic survival.

Combining architectural history with travel and tourism, and featuring around 300 buildings Robin Ward’s Exploring Edinburgh features the best of what Edinburgh has to offer. It gives a comprehensive and well-researched account of Edinburgh’s architecture through a collection of walking tours so readers can truly engage with the city.

What is Christian priesthood? Contemporary pastoral theology is absorbed by the theory and practice of Christian ministry, but rarely sees it in terms of the exercise of ministerial priesthood. Contemporary liturgical practice emphasises participation and growth in discipleship, but not the offering of sacrifice or the anticipation of heaven. Contemporary spirituality encourages the pursuit of human flourishing, but not the need for sacramental reconciliation. This book seeks to restore the centrality of priesthood to the understanding of Christian ministry by setting it within the context of fundamental moral theology. Beginning with the importance of religion as a Christian virtue, it sets out the way in which the moral life is given a cultic setting by our participation in the sacraments. Priesthood and sacrifice are taken out of the setting of Reformation controversies and re-pristinated as key theological tools for understanding what ordination is for and how priesthood is a foundational characteristic of the Church. This has important and far-ranging consequences for ministerial formation, liturgical reform and ecumenical dialogue.