The Medieval Python

The slow steady process of Christianising the Scandinavian countries (medieval Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and also at that period, Finland) in the tenth to the thirteenth centuries was spear-headed

The Prior of the Knights Hospitaller played a major role not only within the Order, but also in the wider arena of English - and indeed European - politics. This role, and its changes between 1272 an

A major reconsideration of the relationship between warrior aristocrats, epics, and heroes in medieval culture.

This book is an analysis of thinking, remembering and reminiscing according to ancient authors, and their medieval readers. The author argues that behind the various medieval methods in interpreting texts of the past lie two apparently incompatible theories of human knowledge and remembering, as well as two differing attitudes to matter and intellect. The book comprises a series of studies which take ancient texts as evidence of the past, and show how medieval readers and writers understood them. The studies confirm that medieval and renaissance interpretations and uses of the past differ greatly from modern interpretation and yet betray many startling continuities between modern and ancient and medieval theories.

A fascinating collaboration between a medieval historian and a professor of psychiatry, this enthralling book applies modern biological and psychological research findings to the lives of medieval mys

Presents a detailed description of medieval medical treatments available during the Crusades.

The Roman Vergil (or 'Codex Romanus', so named by Valeriano in 1521) is one of the most precious manuscripts in the Vatican Library. Produced in Rome before the end of the 5th century AD, it is a fi

Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of his doctrine of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, showing the fundamental character of the notions of being, on

The remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule.Brunhild was a Spanish princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law Fredegund started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet―in the 6th-century Merovingian Empire, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport―these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe.The two queens commanded armies and negotiated with kings and popes. They formed coalitions and broke them, mothered children and lost them. They fought a years-long civil war―against each other. With ingenuity and skill, they battled to stay alive in the game of statecraft, and in the process laid the foundations of what would one day be Charlemagne’s empire. Yet after the queens’ deaths―one gentle, the other horrific―their stories were rewritten, their

The Lithic Garden offers innovative perspectives on the role of ornament in medieval church design. Focusing on the foliate friezes articulating iconic French monuments such as Amiens Cathedral, it de

“How could I allow my soldiers to sail on this disloyal and cruel sea?” These words, attributed to the most powerful caliph of medieval Islam, Umar Ibn al-Khattab (634–644), have led to a misunderstan

For two millennia the Bible has inspired the creation of extraordinary art. Within this history illuminated biblical manuscripts are among the best tools for understanding early Christian painting and

"The Christian practice of the Stations of the Cross has historically largely been the purview of devotional authors. In this academic study, the Reverend Doctor Sarah Lenzi revisits the evidence-base

In this modern compilation and commentary, the most important medieval cases are paraphrased and analyzed, making this interesting and entertaining litigation accessible to everyone. Although Maitland

From monumental church mosaics to fresco wall-paintings, the medieval period produced some of the most impressive art in history. But how, in a world without the array of technology and access to mate

The Medieval Fold presents a theory of the medieval subject from 1050-1215, informed by contemporary theories of subjection and power from Freud, Nietzsche, Foucault, Lacan, and Deleuze.

Before the end of the thirteenth century, theologians had little interest in demons, but with Thomas Aquinas and his formidable “Treatise on Evil” in 1272, everything changed. In Satan th

Defining spirituality as 'the dynamic unity between the content of a faith and the way in which it is lived by historically determined human beings', Vauchez steps outside the clerical world usually s

This book pays tribute to Professor Christine Meek with nineteen essays that present the latest research in the evolution of Italian society towards the Renaissance Which also provide fascinating and

Vol. 1 consists of a collection of nineteen articles by the author, previously published separately from 1938 to 1992; v. 2 covers the arts of Anglo-Saxon England and Europe in the early Middle Ages,

After disastrous defeats at the hands of the Mongols in the 13th century, the Russian principalities became vassals of the Khans of the Golden Horde for more than 200 years; and at the same time the w

This book tells one part of the long history of the institution of marriage. Questions concerning the formation and annulment of marriage came under the exclusive jurisdiction of the church courts during the Middle Ages. Drawing on unpublished records of these courts, Professor Helmholz describes the practical side of matrimonial jurisdiction and relates it to his outline of the formal law of marriage. He investigates the nature of the cases heard, the procedure used, the people involved and changes over the period covered, all of which add to what is known about marriage and legal practice in medieval England. The concluding assessment of canonical jurisdiction over marriage suggests that the application of the law was more successful than is usually thought.

Over the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in the influence of medieval Jewish thought upon Spinoza's philosophy. The essays in this volume, by Spinoza specialists and leading scholars in the field of medieval Jewish philosophy, consider the various dimensions of the rich, important, but vastly under-studied relationship between Spinoza and earlier Jewish thinkers. It is the first such collection in any language, and together the essays provide a detailed and extensive analysis of how different elements in Spinoza's metaphysics, epistemology, moral philosophy, and political and religious thought relate to the views of his Jewish philosophical forebears, such as Maimonides, Gersonides, Ibn Ezra, Crescas, and others. The topics addressed include the immortality of the soul, the nature of God, the intellectual love of God, moral luck, the nature of happiness, determinism and free will, the interpretation of Scripture, and the politics of religion.

This is the first book-length study of popular culture in Islamic society, drawing together a wealth of Arabic sources to explore literature, religious celebrations and annual festivities in medieval Cairo and addressing questions of relevance throughout the Islamic world and beyond. Dr Shoshan examines popular religion against the background of the growing influence of Sufism, discussing the sermons of Abn Ata Allah, a leading Cairene Sufi, which shed considerable light on the beliefs of ordinary Muslims. The author then analyses the importance of a biography of Muhammad, which has been attributed to Abu'l-Hasan al-Bakri and suppressed by the learned, and traces the origins and popular practices of the annual Nawruz festival. Finally he explores the political beliefs and economic expectations of the Cairene commoners and demonstrates the complex relationship between the culture of the Cairene elite and that of the people.