The Medieval Python

The gentry played a central role in medieval England, and this study is a sustained attempt to explore the origins of the gentry and to account for its contours and peculiarities between the mid-thirteenth and the mid-fourteenth century. The book deals with the deep roots of the gentry, but argues against views which see the gentry as formed or created earlier. It investigates the relationship between lesser landowners and the Angevin state, the transformation of knighthood, and the role of knights in the rebellion of mid thirteenth-century England. The role of lesser landowners in the society and politics of Edwardian England is then put under close scrutiny. It also emphasises changes in social terminology and the rise of social gradation, the emergence of the county as an important focus of identity, the gentry's control over the populace, and their openness to the upward mobility of professionals.

The gentry played a central role in medieval England, and this study is a sustained attempt to explore the origins of the gentry and to account for its contours and peculiarities between the mid-thirteenth and the mid-fourteenth century. The book deals with the deep roots of the gentry, but argues against views which see the gentry as formed or created earlier. It investigates the relationship between lesser landowners and the Angevin state, the transformation of knighthood, and the role of knights in the rebellion of mid thirteenth-century England. The role of lesser landowners in the society and politics of Edwardian England is then put under close scrutiny. It also emphasises changes in social terminology and the rise of social gradation, the emergence of the county as an important focus of identity, the gentry's control over the populace, and their openness to the upward mobility of professionals.

Description:A medieval tragedy and tale of retribution - The Dungeon is a powerful story from a writer of great skill and potency. The setting is medieval Scotland, a land dominated by skirmishes and

The Order of the Temple, founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims around Jerusalem, developed into one of the most influential corporations in the medieval world. It has retained its hold on the modern imagination thanks to the dramatic events of the Templars' trial and abolition two hundred years later, and has been invoked in historical mysteries from Masonic conspiracy to the survival of the Turin shroud. Malcolm Barber's lucid narrative separates myth from history in this full and detailed account of the Order, from its origins, flourishing and suppression to the Templars' historic afterlife.

A new perspective on the factional conflict between two medieval Jewish sects: the Rabbanites and Qaraites.

This book presents the first full length study in English of monumental bronzes in the Middle Ages. Taking as its point of departure the common medieval reception of bronze sculpture as living or animated, the study closely analyzes the practice of lost wax casting (cire perdue) in western Europe and explores the cultural responses to large scale bronzes in the Middle Ages. Starting with mining, smelting, and the production of alloys, and ending with automata, water clocks and fountains, the book uncovers networks of meaning around which bronze sculptures were produced and consumed. The book is a path-breaking contribution to the study of metalwork in the Middle Ages and to the re-evaluation of medieval art more broadly, presenting an understudied body of work to reconsider what the materials and techniques embodied in public monuments meant to the medieval spectator.

This book presents the first full length study in English of monumental bronzes in the Middle Ages. Taking as its point of departure the common medieval reception of bronze sculpture as living or animated, the study closely analyzes the practice of lost wax casting (cire perdue) in western Europe and explores the cultural responses to large scale bronzes in the Middle Ages. Starting with mining, smelting, and the production of alloys, and ending with automata, water clocks and fountains, the book uncovers networks of meaning around which bronze sculptures were produced and consumed. The book is a path-breaking contribution to the study of metalwork in the Middle Ages and to the re-evaluation of medieval art more broadly, presenting an understudied body of work to reconsider what the materials and techniques embodied in public monuments meant to the medieval spectator.

This study traces and analyses the evolution of domestic space in Maltese vernacular and ‘polite’ houses from medieval to contemporary times.

This volume presents the composite character of the Cistercian Order in its unity and diversity, detailing the white monks' history from the Middle Ages to the present day. It charts the geographical spread of the Order from Burgundy to the peripheries of medieval Europe, examining key topics such as convents, liturgy, art, agriculture, spiritual life and education, providing an insight into Bernard of Clairvaux's life, work and sense of self, as well as the lives of other key Cistercian figures. This Companion offers an accessible synthesis of contemporary scholarship on the Order's interaction with the extramural world and its participation in, and contribution to, the cultural, economical and political climate of medieval Europe and beyond. The discussion contributes to the history of religious orders, and will be useful to those studying the twelfth-century renaissance, the apostolic movement and the role of religious life in medieval society.

This volume presents the composite character of the Cistercian Order in its unity and diversity, detailing the white monks' history from the Middle Ages to the present day. It charts the geographical spread of the Order from Burgundy to the peripheries of medieval Europe, examining key topics such as convents, liturgy, art, agriculture, spiritual life and education, providing an insight into Bernard of Clairvaux's life, work and sense of self, as well as the lives of other key Cistercian figures. This Companion offers an accessible synthesis of contemporary scholarship on the Order's interaction with the extramural world and its participation in, and contribution to, the cultural, economical and political climate of medieval Europe and beyond. The discussion contributes to the history of religious orders, and will be useful to those studying the twelfth-century renaissance, the apostolic movement and the role of religious life in medieval society.

The Aldens help out at a medieval fair and try to find a valuable sword which has been stolen from the fair.

This is the first comprehensive account in English of the most feared and the most mysterious of medieval heretics.

A funny, fantastically entertaining debut novel, in the spirit of Wodehouse and Monty Python, about a famous poet who inadvertently sells his wife to the devil--then recruits a band of adventurers to

Describes the medieval concept of the devil, discusses witchcraft and devil folklore, and examines the depiction of evil in art and literature of the period

What has fifteenth-century England to do with the Renaissance? By challenging accepted notions of 'medieval' and 'early modern' David Rundle proposes a new understanding of English engagement with the Renaissance. He does so by focussing on one central element of the humanist agenda - the reform of the script and of the book more generally - to demonstrate a tradition of engagement from the 1430s into the early sixteenth century. Introducing a cast-list of scribes and collectors who are not only English and Italian but also Scottish, Dutch and German, this study sheds light on the cosmopolitanism central to the success of the humanist agenda. Questioning accepted narratives of the slow spread of the Renaissance from Italy to other parts of Europe, Rundle suggests new possibilities for the fields of manuscript studies and the study of Renaissance humanism.

A unique resource for scholars of Older Scots language, literature, and history Comprehensive coverage providing information on every aspect of medieval and renaissance Scottish life and society Entr

A scholar-at-large long involved with theater, Corbett investigates the relationship between the mystery plays of late medieval England and their implied audiences, questioning the conventional wisdom

The political climate of early medieval northern Britain was dynamic. Identifiable kingdoms came into prominence and new ideas on political governance promoted territorial consolidation. Among these k

"Enhanced by Renier's lighthearted medieval scenes . . . Morris's yarn weaves clever turns, knightly violence and chivalric (i.e., human) values in action into an ingeniously integrated retelling of G

Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign, examines the ways in which vernacular biographies of kings from the later French Middle Ages reflected and contributed to transformations in late-medieval political and

Originally written in the 15th century, the spiritual autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe was rediscovered in the 1930s; it gives insight on medieval female spiritualty and female Christian mystic

From the bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, a fascinating look at how medieval thinkers created the origins of modern intellectual movements.After the long period of decline known

Islam's fourth caliph, Ali, can be considered one of the most revered figures in Islamic history. His nearly universal portrayal in Muslim literature as a pious authority obscures centuries of contestation and the eventual rehabilitation of his character. In this book, Nebil Husayn examines the enduring legacy of the nawasib, early Muslims who disliked Ali and his descendants. The nawasib participated in politics and scholarly discussions on religion at least until the ninth century. However, their virtual disappearance in Muslim societies has led many to ignore their existence and the subtle ways in which their views subsequently affected Islamic historiography and theology. By surveying medieval Muslim literature across multiple genres and traditions including the Sunni, Mu'tazili, and Ibadi, Husayn reconstructs the claims and arguments of the nawasib and illuminates the methods that Sunni scholars employed to gradually rehabilitate the image of Ali from a villainous character to a r

In the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, courtliness was crucial to the political and cultural life of the Deccan. Divided between six states competing for territory, resources and skills, the medieval and early modern Deccan was a region of striking ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity. People used multifaceted trans-regional networks - mercantile, kinship, friendship and intellectual - to move across the Persian-speaking world and to find employment at the Deccan courts. This movement, Emma J. Flatt argues, was facilitated by the existence of a shared courtly disposition. Engagement in courtly skills such as letter-writing, perfume-making, astrological divination, performing magic, sword-fighting and wrestling thus became a route to both worldly success and ethical refinement. Using a diverse range of treatises, chronicles, poetry and letters, Flatt unpicks the ways this challenged networks of acceptable behaviour and knowledge in the Indo-Islamicate courtly world - and c

The introduction, during the Middle Ages, of a representative system into English political life, was an event of great historical significance, and has since been central to academic debate. Written by Ludwig Riess (1861–1928), an eminent twentieth-century historian, this pioneering account of the medieval English electorate profoundly influenced the study of English constitutional history, as it questioned the fundamental assumptions of the scholarship that preceded it. First published in German in 1885, it critically evaluated the aims of the elected representatives, and re-assessed the general electoral regulations of the period. In so doing, it provided new solutions to some problems encountered by previous scholars, such as defining parliamentary boroughs, and accounting for the rise of a national representative assembly. First translated into English in 1940 by K. L. Wood-Legh, this controversial and seminal work remains highly relevant to legal scholars and historians today.

In this groundbreaking study, Michael Willis examines how the gods of early Hinduism came to be established in temples, how their cults were organized, and how the ruling elite supported their worship. Examining the emergence of these key historical developments in the fourth and fifth centuries, Willis combines Sanskrit textual evidence with archaeological data from inscriptions, sculptures, temples, and sacred sites. The centrepiece of this study is Udayagiri in central India, the only surviving imperial site of the Gupta dynasty. Through a judicious use of landscape archaeology and archaeo-astronomy, Willis reconstructs how Udayagiri was connected to the Festival of the Rainy Season and the Royal Consecration. Through his meticulous study of the site, its sculptures and its inscriptions, Willis shows how the Guptas presented themselves as universal sovereigns and how they advanced new systems of religious patronage that shaped the world of medieval India.

In this visionary look into the future, Freeman Dyson argues that technological changes fundamentally alter our ethical and social arrangements and that three rapidly advancing new technologies--solar energy, genetic engineering, and world-wide communication--together have the potential to create a more equal distribution of the world's wealth.Dyson begins by rejecting the idea that scientific revolutions are primarily concept driven. He shows rather that new tools are more often the sparks that ignite scientific discovery. Such tool-driven revolutions have profound social consequences--the invention of the telescope turning the Medieval world view upside down, the widespread use of household appliances in the 1950s replacing servants, to cite just two examples. In looking ahead, Dyson suggests that solar energy, genetics, and the Internet will have similarly transformative effects, with the potential to produce a more just and equitable society. Solar power could bring electricity to

Welcome to Albert Keane's beautifully designed medieval kingdom nestled in a completely isolated river valley in the Canadian wilderness. Peaceful, happy, and prosperous, it takes nothing from the mod

The Monty Python comedian and author of Hemingway's Chair presents the story of an everyday man at a crossroads in life who accepts an offer to travel to India as part of an effort to pen the biograph

A classic early 20th century translation by the Jewish Publication Society is graced by reproductions of ancient frescoes, medieval illuminated manuscripts, and paintings by contemporary artists.???‧?

Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscripts to the symbol of the "green man", widespread in

"Westeros is probably closer to medieval Britain than anything else." - George R.R. Martin, creator of Game of Thrones. Kings who were insane, infant or imprisoned; feuding families,

Representations of monsters and the monstrous are common in medieval art and architecture, from the grotesques in the borders of illuminated manuscripts to the symbol of the "green man", widespread in

Loud (medieval Italian history, University of Leeds) has provided a wonderful addition to the Ashgate series of Crusade texts in translation. The Third Crusade is often discussed only in terms of Rich

From King Arthur and Robin Hood, through to video games and jousting-themed restaurants, medieval culture continues to surround us and has retained a strong influence on literature and culture through

An examination of concepts of love from late medieval times to the early nineteenth century discerns a conflict between realistic and idealist attitudes toward love that continues into the present cen

The first systematic attempt to reconstruct from original manuscript sources and early printed books the medieval doctrines relating to the just war, the holy war and the crusade. Despite the frequenc

In The Body in Mystery, Jennifer R. Rust engages the political concept of the mystical body of the commonwealth, the corpus mysticum of the medieval church. Rust argues that the communitarian ideal of

The Slavic Letters of St. Jerome is the first book-length study of the medieval legend that Church Father and biblical translator St. Jerome was a Slav who invented the Slavic (Glagolitic) alphabet an

This collection of essays argues that any valid theory of the modern should—indeed must—reckon with the medieval. Offering a much-needed correction to theorists such as Hans Blumenberg, w