The Medieval Python

Medieval liturgy is a study that even medievalists tend to avoid as uninspiring. Iversen (Institute for Classical Languages, Stockholm University) challenges that idea in her celebration of the tropes

The unorthodox imagination in late medieval Britain explores how medieval people responded to images, stories, beliefs and practices which were at odds with the normative world view, from the heretic

The post-medieval farmstead and the late and post-medieval vicarage that are profiled in this 12th volume, lie in a part of the village of Wharram Percy called the North Glebe Terrace by excavators, w

This exciting new textbook offers a sweeping survey of Europe in the later Middle Ages, examining a period of huge crisis, conflict and religious change.The Body Broken takes a thematic approach to th

This is a fascinating study of religious culture in England from 1050 to 1250. Drawing on the wealth of material about religious belief and practice that survives in the chronicles, Carl Watkins explores the accounts of signs, prophecies, astrology, magic, beliefs about death, and the miraculous and demonic. He challenges some of the prevailing assumptions about religious belief, questioning in particular the attachment of many historians to terms such as 'clerical' and 'lay', 'popular' and 'elite', 'Christian' and 'pagan' as explanatory categories. The evidence of the chronicles is also set in its broader context through explorations of miracle collections, penitential manuals, exempla and sermons. The book traces shifts in the way the supernatural was conceptualized by learned writers and the ways in which broader patterns of belief evolved during this period. This original account sheds important light on belief during a period in which the religious landscape was transformed.

Groundbreaking reassessment of the role played by armour, weapons and heraldry in medieval warfare, showing their cultural as well as military significance.

The Children's Crusade was possibly the most extraordinary event in the history of the crusades. The first modern study in English of this popular crusade sheds new light on its history and offers new

Brown (theology, Boston College, Massachusetts) and Flores (philosophy, Providence College, Rhode Island) describe people, events, and concepts that shaped medieval European philosophy and theology. A

The A to Z of Medieval China fills an urgent need for a standard reference tailored to the interest of Western academics and readers. The history of medieval China is related through the book's introd

History is full of surprises, but rarely has there been a turnaround as unexpected, and momentous as what occurred to a formative Russia during the medieval period. Attacked and invaded from all sides

In the popular imagination, the Middle Ages are often associated with lawlessness. As historians have long recognized, however, medieval culture was characterized by an enormous respect for law, legal

Introduces medieval civilization, focusing on how society, religion, and advances in technology affected art and architecture in Europe during this time period.

Knowledge of the canon law was essential for the medieval ecclesiastical administrator, and teaching in canon law was provided in all western universities in the Middle Ages. This study examines the provision for students (especially in Cambridge), the choice of available textbooks, and the collections of legal books made by the university and colleges and by private individuals. Dr Owen notes opportunities for the employment of canonists, and discusses a group of formularies and notebooks compiled by scholars active in the Church courts. Official teaching of canon law ceased at the Reformation, but the study continued in the faculties of civil law; medieval texts were reissued and many new guides to the current practice of Church courts written.

In English literary and historical studies the border between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, and hence between 'medieval' and 'early modern' studies, has become increasingly permeable. Written by an international group of medievalists and early modernists, the essays in this volume examine the ways in which medieval culture was read and reconstructed by writers, editors and scholars in early modern England. It also addresses the reciprocal process: the way in which early modern England, while apparently suppressing the medieval past, was in fact shaped and constructed by it, albeit in ways that early modern thinkers had an interest in suppressing. The book deals with this process as it is played out not only in literature but also in visual culture - for example in mapping - and in material culture - as in the physical destruction of the medieval past in the early modern English landscape.

Originally published in French as Ex?g?se m?di?vale,Henri de Lubac?s monumental, multivolume study of medieval exegesis and theology has remained one of the most significant works of modern biblical s

The Ceremonial Musicians of Late Medieval Florence follows the development of Florentine musical ensembles, describing their duties and repertories, placing them in their political and social context,

This book examines the revolution in Sanskrit poetics initiated by the ninth-century Kashmiri Anandavardhana. Anandavardhana replaced the formalist aesthetic of earlier poeticians with one stressing t

What did it mean to be a man in medieval England? Most would answer this question by alluding to the power and status men enjoyed in a patriarchal society, or they might refer to iconic images of chi

What did it mean to be a man in medieval England? Most would answer this question by alluding to the power and status men enjoyed in a patriarchal society, or they might refer to iconic images of chi

This study examines the extent of Bible reading in medieval England, and in particular the place of the Lollard translations. Miss Deanesly shows that the medieval church tolerated translation in principle, but distrusted it in practice, because of its associations with Lollardy. She examines wills, library catalogues and episcopal registers where the existence of translations might be noted. She concludes that mystical writings in English were far more widely read than the Bible.

The university is indigenous to Western Europe and is probably the greatest and most enduring achievement of the Middle Ages. Much more than stodgy institutions of learning, medieval universities wer

Some contributors draw from literature and some from archaeology; still others--in area studies or medieval studies--draw on both to explore what it meant to be young and old in northern Europe during

Medieval history meets interactive storytelling. In 1362, violent storms pounded Europe, wiping out some coastal settlements. The Seventh Expert, which provides a compelling mix of history, storyte

How was the use of violence against Muslims explained and justified in medieval Islam? What role did state punishment play in delineating the private from the public sphere? What strategies were deployed to cope with the suffering caused by punishment? These questions are explored in Christian Lange's in-depth study of the phenomenon of punishment, both divine and human, in eleventh-to-thirteenth-century Islamic society. The book examines the relationship between state and society in meting out justice, Muslim attitudes to hell and the punishments that were in store in the afterlife, and the legal dimensions of punishment. The cross-disciplinary approach embraced in this study, which is based on a wide variety of Persian and Arabic sources, sheds light on the interplay between theory and practice in Islamic criminal law, and between executive power and the religious imagination of medieval Muslim society at large.

The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.

The drama of the English Middle Ages is perennially popular with students and theatre audiences alike, and this is an updated edition of a book which has established itself as a standard guide to the field. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Theatre, second edition continues to provide an authoritative introduction and an up-to-date, illustrated guide to the mystery cycles, morality drama and saints' plays which flourished from the late fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries. The book emphasises regional diversity in the period and engages with the literary and particularly the theatrical values of the plays. Existing chapters have been revised and updated where necessary, and there are three entirely new chapters, including one on the cultural significance of early drama. A thoroughly revised reference section includes a guide to scholarship and criticism, an enlarged classified bibliography and a chronological table.

Medieval French literature encompasses 450 years of literary output in Old and Middle French, mostly produced in Northern France and England. These texts, including courtly lyrics, prose and verse romances, dits amoureux and plays, proved hugely influential for other European literary traditions in the medieval period and beyond. This Companion offers a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to literature composed in medieval French from its beginnings in the ninth century until the Renaissance. The essays are grounded in detailed analysis of canonical texts and authors such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, Villon's Testament, Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut, Christine de Pisan and the Tristan romances. Featuring a chronology and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal companion for students and scholars in other fields wishing to discover the riches of the French medieval tradition.

Medieval French literature encompasses 450 years of literary output in Old and Middle French, mostly produced in Northern France and England. These texts, including courtly lyrics, prose and verse romances, dits amoureux and plays, proved hugely influential for other European literary traditions in the medieval period and beyond. This Companion offers a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to literature composed in medieval French from its beginnings in the ninth century until the Renaissance. The essays are grounded in detailed analysis of canonical texts and authors such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, Villon's Testament, Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut, Christine de Pisan and the Tristan romances. Featuring a chronology and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal companion for students and scholars in other fields wishing to discover the riches of the French medieval tradition.

The four stories which make up the Mabinogi along with three additional tales from the same tradition form this collection and comprise the core of the ancient Welsh mythological cycle. Included are o

Medieval Concepts of the Past shows how the history of the Middle Ages is reshaped by leading medieval historians in Germany and the United States in the light of cultural and social-scientific investigations into ritual, language and memory. These two national traditions of medieval scholarship, which have been largely separated over the course of the twentieth century, are drawing closer together through a common interest in issues of social science and linguistic theory as applied to the representation of the past. This book marks a step in the reconvergence of these two historiographical traditions.

This is a fascinating study of religious culture in England from 1050 to 1250. Drawing on the wealth of material about religious belief and practice that survives in the chronicles, Carl Watkins explores the accounts of signs, prophecies, astrology, magic, beliefs about death, and the miraculous and demonic. He challenges some of the prevailing assumptions about religious belief, questioning in particular the attachment of many historians to terms such as 'clerical' and 'lay', 'popular' and 'elite', 'Christian' and 'pagan' as explanatory categories. The evidence of the chronicles is also set in its broader context through explorations of miracle collections, penitential manuals, exempla and sermons. The book traces shifts in the way the supernatural was conceptualized by learned writers and the ways in which broader patterns of belief evolved during this period. This original account sheds important light on belief during a period in which the religious landscape was transformed.

The Children's Crusade was possibly the most extraordinary episode in the history of the crusades. The pueri (children, youngsters) of 1212 set out to recover Jerusalem and the True Cross in medieval

How much can we know about sensory experience in the Middle Ages? While few would question that the human senses encountered a profoundly different environment in the medieval world, two distinct and

How much can we know about sensory experience in the Middle Ages? While few would question that the human senses encountered a profoundly different environment in the medieval world, two distinct and

"This book interrogates our ideas about heterosexuality through examination of medieval romance narratives. Familiar configurations of romantic fiction such as male desire overwhelming feminine reluct

In English literary and historical studies the border between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, and hence between 'medieval' and 'early modern' studies, has become increasingly permeable. Written by an international group of medievalists and early modernists, the essays in this volume examine the ways in which medieval culture was read and reconstructed by writers, editors and scholars in early modern England. It also addresses the reciprocal process: the way in which early modern England, while apparently suppressing the medieval past, was in fact shaped and constructed by it, albeit in ways that early modern thinkers had an interest in suppressing. The book deals with this process as it is played out not only in literature but also in visual culture - for example in mapping - and in material culture - as in the physical destruction of the medieval past in the early modern English landscape.

With selections of philosophers from Plotinus to Bruno, this anthology provides significant learning support, historical context, and pedagogical tools to help the reader understand the often complex