The Medieval Python

Chen (U. of British Columbia) presents a biography of Fazang, a third-generation Sogdian immigrant to China who became one of the greatest Buddhist metaphysicians in medieval Asia and founder of the A

In medieval times, Eleanor of Aquitaine broke the mold for women. This remarkable woman lived life on her own terms, ultimately becoming queen of France and England. We first encounter the infant Elea

A collection in which a group of leading historians of medieval Europe apply a gendered analysis to a series of questions ranging from the transformation of the Roman world and the Christian challenge

St Andrew was a small and comparatively obscure parish situated in the south-east of the medieval city of London, but its churchwardens' accounts survive in a virtually unbroken series starting in 145

This vivid portrait of everyday life in the medieval Arab world draws on thirteenth-century miniatures from collections as far afield as St Petersburg and Istanbul. The wide range of topics covers eve

This is a fascinating account of daily life in Westminster Abbey, one of medieval England's most important monastic communities. It is also a broad scholarly exploration of some major themes in the so

The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis has been called the greatest of all medieval chronicles. Written in Normandy between 1114 and 1141, it is a detailed history of the Norman people and th

This volume is part of a wider project aiming at mapping the technical medical terminology as it features in medieval Hebrew medical works, especially those terms that do not feature in the current di

T. M. Rudavsky presents a new account of the development of Jewish philosophy from the tenth century to Spinoza in the seventeenth, viewed as part of an ongoing dialogue with medieval Christian and Is

The Middle Ages depicted in Walt Disney movies have come, for many, to figure as the Middle Ages, forming the earliest visions of the medieval past for much of the contemporary western (and increasing

An exploration of the wild spirits that once roamed the lands and inhabited the waters and the pagan rites used to gain their good will ‧ Explores medieval stories and folk traditions of brownies, fa

An architectural and cultural history of home life in England covers a wide range of topics from cooking and oral hygiene to sex and marriage, describing such subjects as why medieval people slept sit

The Call to Read is the first full-length study to situate the surviving oeuvre of Reginald Pecock in the context of current scholarship on English vernacular theology of the late medieval period. Kir

Six essays from a 2006 symposium on Medieval and Renaissance studies at the University of Tennessee focus on the travel book as an intersection between a specific literary genre and a specific mode of

The result of a joint project by medievalists at the U. of Chile in Santiago and the universities of Ghent and Antwerp in the Netherlands, the essays of this volume consider medieval women's literacy

Late medieval England was obsessed with the myth and legend of Troy, something which is readily reflected in the poetry and prose of the period. Although kings and emperors had frequently lain claim t

This book examines the ways in which Dostoevsky's adoption and reinvention of the medieval Russian holy fool - in Russian Orthodoxy, a person who feigned madness or folly as an ascetic feat of self-hu

In Saints and Society, Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell examine the lives of 864 saints who lived between 1000 and 1700 and the perceptions of sanctity prevalent in late medieval and early modern

Visions and ruins explores the production of cultural memory in the Middle Ages and the uses the medieval past has been put to in modernity. Working with texts in Old English, Middle English and Latin

No other medieval commentary on the death of John the Evangelist, as described in the apocryphal Acts of John, is known. Nerses of Lambron [1153-1198] used the text as a basis for spiritual reflection

The Middle Ages are often viewed as a repository of tradition, yet what we think of as traditional marriage was far from the only available alternative to the single state in medieval Europe. Many peo

At the doorstep of the twenty-first century, one would expect that medieval concepts such as blood libel—the accusation that Jews kill children to use their blood in religious ritual—would have been d

Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries"? Why

'Rites of passage' is a term and concept more used than considered. Here, for the first time, its implications are applied and tested in the field of medieval studies: medievalists from a range of dis

This is the first book to focus on Latin epic verse saints' lives in their medieval historical contexts. Anna Taylor examines how these works promoted bonds of friendship and expressed rivalries among writers, monasteries, saints, earthly patrons, teachers and students in Western Europe in the central Middle Ages. Using philological, codicological and microhistorical approaches, Professor Taylor reveals new insights that will reshape our understanding of monasticism, patronage and education. These texts give historians an unprecedented glimpse inside the early medieval classroom, provide a nuanced view of the complicated synthesis of the Christian and Classical heritages, and show the cultural importance and varied functions of poetic composition in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.

The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 AD) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a fa

Nasir-i Khusraw is a major literary figure in medieval Persian culture. He was a Muslim philosopher, poet, travel writer, and Ismaili da'i who lived a thousand years ago in the lands known today as Af

The story of the succession to the Prophet Muhammad and the rise of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 AD) is familiar to historians from the political histories of medieval Islam, which treat it as a f

With a focus on the Crusades, this volume contains 12 essays, most of which were first presented at the 33rd Medieval Workshop at the U. of British Columbia in 2003. While some of the papers describe

The notion of service was ingrained in medieval culture, and not just as a part of the wider concept of patronage: it is prominent throughout the language and life of the time. These studies examine t

This reader of primary sources focuses on the burgeoning field of the medieval family. While much of what it means to be in love, or to marry, or to be part of a family has remained consistent over th

Offering the first close study of the ʿAqila, a group collectively liable for blood money payments on behalf of a member who committed an accidental homicide, Nurit Tsafrir analyses the group's transformation from a pre-Islamic custom to an institution of the Shari'a, and its further evolution through medieval and post medieval Islamic law and society. Having been an essential factor in the maintenance of social order within Muslim societies, the ʿAqila is the intersection between legal theory and practice, between Islamic law and religion, and between Islamic law and the state. Tracing the history of the ʿAqila, this study reveals how religious values, state considerations and social organization have participated in shaping and reshaping this central institution, which still concerns contemporary Muslim scholars.

This volume includes the first edition of a previously unknown text which throws light on the intellectual history of early medieval Europe. The biblical commentaries represent the teaching of two gifted Greek scholars who came to England from the Byzantine East. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury (668–90) and his colleague Hadrian (d. 710) taught the Bible to a group of Anglo-Saxon scholars, who recorded their teaching. The resulting commentaries illustrate the high point of biblical scholarship between late antiquity and the Renaissance. The commentaries, found by Professor Bischoff in Milan in 1936, constitute one of the most important medieval texts discovered this century. The edition is introduced by substantial chapters on the intellectual background of the texts and their manuscript sources. The Latin texts themselves are accompanied by facing English translations and extensive notes.

Through a focused and systematic examination of late medieval scholastic writers - theologians, philosophers and jurists - Joseph Canning explores how ideas about power and legitimate authority were developed over the 'long fourteenth century'. The author provides a new model for understanding late medieval political thought, taking full account of the intensive engagement with political reality characteristic of writers in this period. He argues that they used Aristotelian and Augustinian ideas to develop radically new approaches to power and authority, especially in response to political and religious crises. The book examines the disputes between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII and draws upon the writings of Dante Alighieri, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham, Bartolus, Baldus and John Wyclif to demonstrate the variety of forms of discourse used in the period. It focuses on the most fundamental problem in the history of political thought - where does legitimate au

Through a focused and systematic examination of late medieval scholastic writers - theologians, philosophers and jurists - Joseph Canning explores how ideas about power and legitimate authority were developed over the 'long fourteenth century'. The author provides a new model for understanding late medieval political thought, taking full account of the intensive engagement with political reality characteristic of writers in this period. He argues that they used Aristotelian and Augustinian ideas to develop radically new approaches to power and authority, especially in response to political and religious crises. The book examines the disputes between King Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII and draws upon the writings of Dante Alighieri, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham, Bartolus, Baldus and John Wyclif to demonstrate the variety of forms of discourse used in the period. It focuses on the most fundamental problem in the history of political thought - where does legitimate au

The turbulence of the Protestant Reformation marks a turning point in European history, but the Scandinavian contribution to this revolution is not well known outside the Northern world. Reforming the North focuses on twenty-five years (1520–45 AD) of this history, during which Scandinavians terminated the medieval Union of Kalmar, toppled the Catholic Church, ended the commercial dominance of the German Hanse, and laid the foundations for centralized states on the ruins of old institutions and organizations. This book traces the chaotic and often violent transfer of resources and authority from the decentralized structures of medieval societies to the early modern states and their territorial churches. Religious reform is regarded as an essential element in the process - in the context of social unrest, political conflict, and long-term changes in finance, trade, and warfare. Reforming the North offers a broad perspective on this turbulent period and on the implications of the Protest

The city of Durham, although geographically far removed from the centre of political power in England in the later medieval period, was of great strategic and ecclesiastical importance during its early history. It was the seat of the prince bishops, a military headquarters for the defence of the northern borders of England, a centre for pilgrimages to the shrine of St Cuthbert and the principal market town for the region. After tracing Durham's late tenth-century origins, the book examines the subsequent developments in religious and military building work on the peninsula which accompanied the growth of a successful urban community in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This section of the book is complemented by the reproduction of all the extant medieval plans for Durham in an appendix, which also includes later maps of the town and several illustrations which help to explain the complex topography. Furthermore, although at first sight Durham's overlords might seem oppressive, there

This is a study of the life of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII and foundress of two Cambridge colleges. It is at once the first biography of Lady Margaret to explore the full range of archival sources, and one of the best-documented studies of any late-medieval woman. Lady Margaret's early experiences of the medieval 'marriage market' anticipated the turbulent political world in which she reached maturity. Deeply involved in the Wars of the Roses, and conspirator against Richard III, she was to become the foundress of one of England's greatest ruling dynasties. Her considerable wealth, much of it owed to her son's triumph, was used to finance education at Oxford and Cambridge, and her lasting memorials are the Cambridge colleges of Christ's and St John's. Behind her activities as both politician and benefactress can be discerned a vigorous, sometimes ruthless, but always enterprising personality, which left a deep impression on her contemporaries. This is a biography of unusual

Barker and Cranstone, respectively past presidents of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology and the Association for Industrial Archaeology, present the results of these institutions' first collabo

Patricia Badir's The Maudlin Impression investigates the figure of Mary Magdalene in post-medieval English religious writings and visual representations. Badir argues that the medieval Magdalene sto