The Medieval Python

Why, when so driven by the impetus for autonomy, did the city elites of thirteenth-century Italy turn to men bound to religious orders whose purpose and reach stretched far beyond the boundaries of their often disputed territories? Churchmen and Urban Government in Late Medieval Italy, c.1200–c.1450 brings together a team of international contributors to provide the first comparative response to this pivotal question. Presenting a series of urban cases and contexts, the book explores the secular-religious boundaries of the period and evaluates the role of the clergy in the administration and government of Italy's city-states. With an extensive introduction and epilogue, it exposes for consideration the beginnings of the phenomenon, the varying responses of churchmen, the reasons why practices changed and how politics and religious identity relate to each other. This important new study has significant implications for our understanding of power, negotiation, bureaucracy and religious i

The period from the twelfth century to the Wars of the Roses witnessed a dominant tradition of secular prophecy engaged with high political affairs, which this book charts, discussing the production o

Wiszewski offers an extensive analysis of the history of the rule of the Piast dynasty in medieval Poland, offering in depth discussion of the documents and narrative sources of the history, and delvi

"This collection provides a systematic survey of the wide readership the works of Godfrey of Viterbo enjoyed in the late Middle Ages. In the last years of the twelfth century this chronicler and imper

From the great age of pastoral expansion in the thirteenth century, to the revolutionary paroxysms of the English Reformation, England's religious writings, cultures, and practices defy easy analysis.

This festschrift for the eminent historian of ideas, Marcia Colish, reflects both the breadth of her interests and the profound scholarship of her work. The editors, Nederman (political science, Texas

This study examines the history of a fundamental problem in Aristotelian cognitive psychology, i.e. the nature and function of the mechanisms that provide the human mind with data concerning physical

In the last fifty years the investigation of maritime archaeological sites in the sea, in the coastal zone and in their interconnecting locales, has emerged as one of archaeology's most dynamic and fa

Colleagues and former students of the late Ian Robertson (history, U. of Melbourne, 1961-97) present essays on religious rituals, the rhetoric of the image, and the written and oral word. Among their

Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective draws together the new perspectives concerning the relevance of East Central Europe for current historiography by placing the region in variou

Medieval East Central Europe in a Comparative Perspective draws together the new perspectives concerning the relevance of East Central Europe for current historiography by placing the region in variou

Zuijderduijn (economic and social history, Utrecht University) challenges the long-held belief that the complex economic system of Holland sprang ex nihilo in the seventeenth century. In this study he

This book draws on a lengthy experience of teaching graduates how to approach medieval books. It leads the reader through the stages of the editorial process, using part of Richard Rolle's Commentary

The authors bring fresh approaches to the subject of royal and noble households in medieval and early modern Europe with a focus on the nuclear and extended royal family, their household attendants, n

This book addresses the problems of identifying human actions behind finds of bones in settlement archaeology, exemplified with the identification of ritual deposits.