The Medieval Python

This book explores the role of mens rea, broadly defined as a factor in jury assessments of guilt and innocence from the early thirteenth through the fourteenth century - the first two centuries of the English criminal trial jury. Drawing upon evidence from the plea rolls, but also relying heavily upon non-legal textual sources such as popular literature and guides for confessors, Elizabeth Papp Kamali argues that issues of mind were central to jurors' determinations of whether a particular defendant should be convicted, pardoned, or acquitted outright. Demonstrating that the word 'felony' itself connoted a guilty state of mind, she explores the interplay between social conceptions of guilt and innocence and jury behavior. Furthermore, she reveals a medieval understanding of felony that involved, in its paradigmatic form, three essential elements: an act that was reasoned, was willed in a way not constrained by necessity, and was evil or wicked in its essence.

The Ismaili Assassins were an underground group of political killers who were ready to kill Christians and Muslims alike with complete disregard for their own lives.

Traditional histories of medieval art and architecture often privilege the moment of a work’s creation, yet surviving works designated as "medieval" have long and expansive lives. Many have extended p

The author of the thirteenth-century Arabic cookbook Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh proposed that food was among the foremost pleasures in life. Scheherazade's Feasts invites adventurous cooks to test

Using detailed color plates, this beautifully illustrated book describes the myriad of armies and navies that fought for control of Italy in the Middle Ages.The great powers of medieval Europe fought

This study examines efforts to convert Jews to Christianity in twelfth- and thirteenth-century London. The author examines the activities of King Henry III’s Domus Conversorum and compares his c

A Companion to Medieval Toledo. Reconsidering the Canons explores the limits of "Convivencia" through new and problematized readings and initiates the non-specialist into the historical, cultural, and

Once upon a time, there lived in France a humble juggler, Barnaby by name, who was skillful but suffered every winter from poverty. A devotee of the Virgin, he had few failings apart from enjoying dri

This book explores how the Spanish kingdoms were highly influenced by the arrival of the Dominican and Franciscan friars in the thirteenth century. The Dominicans and the Franciscans, who were already

This is a book about how Catalans use their past, real and imagined, in the construction of their present and future. Michael A. Vargas inventories the significant people, signal events, and familiar

Ibn Battuta was no ordinary traveller. Between 1325 CE when he set off and 1354 CE when he finally returned home to stay, he had visited about 40 modern countries and travelled roughly 75,000 miles, g

The first monograph on the history of Islamic hospitals, this volume focuses on the under-examined Egyptian and Levantine institutions of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. By the twelfth century, hospitals serving the sick and the poor could be found in nearly every Islamic city. Ahmed Ragab traces the varying origins and development of these institutions, locating them in their urban environments and linking them to charity networks and patrons' political projects. Following the paths of patients inside hospital wards, he investigates who they were and what kinds of experiences they had. The Medieval Islamic Hospital explores the medical networks surrounding early hospitals and sheds light on the particular brand of practice-oriented medicine they helped to develop. Providing a detailed picture of the effect of religion on medieval medicine, it will be essential reading for those interested in history of medicine, history of Islamic sciences, or history of the Mediterranean.

This book is a detailed but accessible treatment of the political thought of John of Salisbury, a twelfth-century author and educationalist who rose from a modest background to become Bishop of Chartr

Working across literature, history, theory and practice, this volume offers insight into the specific digital tools and interfaces, as well as the modalities, theories and forms, central to some of th

The Grail is one of the most enduring literary motifs in publishing history. In spite of an ever-changing world, the reading public has maintained a fascination for this enigmatic object, as well as t

The Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Glass from Cosa continues the exemplary record of publication by the American Academy in Rome on important classes of materials recovered in excavation from one of

The articles in this collection cover the region extending from Italy to the Black Sea and to Egypt, over a period of seven centuries, with an emphasis on the considerable economic and social interact

The legend of Theophilus stages an iconic medieval story, its widespread popularity attesting to its grip on the imagination. A pious clerk refuses a promotion, is demoted, becomes furious and makes a

This collection of short stories, anecdotes, and poems was likely compiled during the 13th century. Tales of romantic love?including courtship, marriage, and illicit affairs?unify the collection and m

Women in the Medieval World

Inter-religious conversion was a central phenomenon in the medieval world, emerging from the political, cultural, and spiritual identities of all three Abrahamic religions. In its most basic sense, in

Peasants and historians is an examination of historical discussion of the medieval English peasantry. In this book, the first such study of its kind, the author traces the development of historical re

Informed by multicultural, multidisciplinary perspectives, The Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature offers a new exploration of the earliest writing in Britain and Ireland, from the end of the Roman Empire to the mid-twelfth century. Beginning with an account of writing itself, as well as of scripts and manuscript art, subsequent chapters examine the earliest texts from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the tremendous breadth of Anglo-Latin literature. Chapters on English learning and literature in the ninth century and the later formation of English poetry and prose also convey the profound cultural confidence of the period. Providing a discussion of essential texts, including Beowulf and the writings of Bede, this History captures the sheer inventiveness and vitality of early medieval literary culture through topics as diverse as the literature of English law, liturgical and devotional writing, the workings of science and the history of women's writing.

This book examines the economic, cultural, political and social positions of Muslim women in medieval India. It explores the changes that took place with the advent of Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Tartars,

Peasants and historians is an examination of historical discussion of the medieval English peasantry. In this book, the first such study of its kind, the author traces the development of historical re

From devotional literature that idealizes wives' submission to unwanted sex to political narratives that frame women's survival of sexual violence as a model for a just monarch, medieval texts propose

This book is a study of communities that drew their identity and livelihood from their relationships with water during a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscapes o

Today, the Iranian world, which encompasses the whole Persian-speaking and culturally "Persianate" region, including Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Tajikistan, parts of Central Asia and the Indian

Patrick J. Geary's highly acclaimed collection of source materials on the medieval period is well known for offering an excellent selection of substantial excerpts from the most widely studied histori

Patrick J. Geary's highly acclaimed collection of source materials on the medieval period is well known for offering an excellent selection of substantial excerpts from the most widely studied histori

The first monograph on the history of Islamic hospitals, this volume focuses on the under-examined Egyptian and Levantine institutions of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. By the twelfth century, hospitals serving the sick and the poor could be found in nearly every Islamic city. Ahmed Ragab traces the varying origins and development of these institutions, locating them in their urban environments and linking them to charity networks and patrons' political projects. Following the paths of patients inside hospital wards, he investigates who they were and what kinds of experiences they had. The Medieval Islamic Hospital explores the medical networks surrounding early hospitals and sheds light on the particular brand of practice-oriented medicine they helped to develop. Providing a detailed picture of the effect of religion on medieval medicine, it will be essential reading for those interested in history of medicine, history of Islamic sciences, or history of the Mediterranean.