This series [pushes] the boundaries of knowledge and [develops] new trends in approach and understanding. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW The essays collected here cast light on the factors that made or defined an individual, and the ways in which the men and women concerned gave expression to their individuality. Facets of the characters of English kings emerge from the varying contents of their wills, and the use of propaganda in their personal letters. By contrast, Margaret of Anjou's early years are explored for the roots of her conduct as queen consort, and how she matched up to contemporary expectations following Henry VI's mental collapse. The law courts and the legal profession provide the stage and cast for several papers: individual lawyers, of dubious integrity and adept at manipulating legal processes intheir own interests, provoked the violence that led to their own deaths, while a member of the same profession is shown to have orchestrated civic riots in which he and his neighbours sought to give expression to their own statusas they perceived it. Finally, in their frustrated search for justice, strong-minded women asserted their individual rights by taking their grievances to Henry VII's star chamber. Contributors: Chris Given-Wilson, Anthony Gross, David Grummitt, Samuel Lane, Simon Payling, Alice Raw, Anne F. Sutton, Deborah Youngs.

This series [pushes] the boundaries of knowledge and [develops] new trends in approach and understanding. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW Of necessity, historians of the late Middle Ages have to rely on an eclectic mix of sources, ranging from the few remaining medieval buildings, monuments, illuminated manuscripts and miscellaneous artefacts, to a substantial but often uncatalogued body of documentary material, much of it born of the medieval administrator's penchant for record keeping. Exploring this evidence requires skills in lateral thinking and interpretation - qualities which are manifested in this volume. Employing the copious legal records kept by the English Crown, one essay reveals the thinking behind exceptions to pardons sold by successive kings, while another, using clerical taxation returns, adds colour to contemporary criticism of friars for betraying their vows of poverty. Case studies of the registers of two hospitals, one in London the other in Canterbury, lead to insights into the relations of their administrators with civic and spiritual authorities. A textual dissection of the epilogues in William Caxton's early printed works focuses on the universal desire for commemoration. Other essays about royal livery collars and the English coinage are nourished by material remains, and where contemporary records fail to survive, as in the listing of burials in parish churches, notes kept by sixteenth-century heralds and antiquaries provide clues for novel identifications. The book-ends are exemplars of the historian's craft: the one, taking as its starting point the will of Ralph, Lord Cromwell, explores in forensic detail how his executors coped with their enormous task in a time of civil war; the other,by examining research into the economy of fifteenth-century England undertaken since the 1880s, provides an over-view which scholars of the period will find invaluable. Contributors: Martin Allen, Christopher Dyer, David Harry, Susanne Jenks, Maureen Jurkowski, Simon Payling, Euan Roger, Christian Steer, Sheila Sweetinburgh, Matthew Ward.