The Medieval Python

Draws women from behind the veil of male-oriented society in the pre-modern phase of Islamic history with 23 original essays, challenging the assumption that Moslem women have no history. Among the f

When anthropologist Varisco went to Yemen to study traditional irrigation and agriculture, he realized that people were using methods that were described in medieval texts, and that he could interpret

The essays in this volume explore ways in which plays and public spectacles mirrored the beliefs and values of the late medieval world. Topics coveredinclude seasonal festivals, trade gilds, stagecra

Early medieval religious communities were filled with monks and nuns who spent almost their entire lives within the monastic confines. Many had arrived in childhood, through an irrevocable act of pare

G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831), the influential German philosopher, believed that human history was advancing spiritually and morally according to God's purpose. At the beginning of Lectures on the Histor

For centuries male celibates have described, expressed, and celebrated their love of God in the language of sex, most prolifically and characteristically in a thousand years' commentarial tradition on

This, Lewis's last book, was hailed as 'the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind'.

The second volume of A History of Private Life is a treasure trove of rich and colorful detail culled from an astounding variety of sources. This absorbing "secret epic" constructs a

The latest British Archaeological Association transactions report on the conference volumes at Beverley in 1983. Papers provide the latest thoughts on topics at Beverley Minster and in the surrounding

In addition, he deals with the development of these concepts in Roman and canon law and in the practices of the emerging states of France and England and the Italian city-states, as well as considerin

A fascinating work of detective history, The Black Death traces the causes and far-reaching consequences of this infamous outbreak of plague that spread across the continent of Europe from 1347 to 135

Surveys philosophy from the neo-Platonists to St Anselm, showing how Greek philosophy took the form in which it was known to its cultural inheritors and how they interpreted it.

Under three successive Islamic dynasties--the Fatimids, the Ayyubids, and the Mamluks--the Egyptian Office of the Head of the Jews (also known as the Nagid) became the most powerful representative of

Money could be as essential to everyday life in medieval England as it is today, but who made the coinage, how was it used and why is it important? This definitive study charts the development of coin production from the small workshops of Anglo-Saxon and Norman England to the centralised factory mints of the late Middle Ages, the largest being in the Tower of London. Martin Allen investigates the working lives of the people employed in the mints in unprecedented detail and places the mints in the context of medieval England's commerce and government, showing the king's vital interest in the production of coinage, the maintenance of its quality and his mint revenue. This unique source of reference also offers the first full history of the official exchanges in the City of London regulating foreign exchange and an in-depth analysis of the changing size and composition of medieval England's coinage.

How did medieval Europeans use and change their environments, think about the natural world, and try to handle the natural forces affecting their lives? This groundbreaking environmental history examines medieval relationships with the natural world from the perspective of social ecology, viewing human society as a hybrid of the cultural and the natural. Richard Hoffmann's interdisciplinary approach sheds important light on such central topics in medieval history as the decline of Rome, religious doctrine, urbanization and technology, as well as key environmental themes, among them energy use, sustainability, disease and climate change. Revealing the role of natural forces in events previously seen as purely human, the book explores issues including the treatment of animals, the 'tragedy of the commons', agricultural clearances and agrarian economies. By introducing medieval history in the context of social ecology, it brings the natural world into historiography as an agent and object

The British Archaeological Association's 2007 conference celebrated the material culture of medieval Coventry, the fourth wealthiest English city of the later middle ages. The nineteen papers collecte

This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to the history of science in the Middle Ages from the North Atlantic to the Indus Valley. Medieval science was once universally dismissed as non-existent - and sometimes it still is. This volume reveals the diversity of goals, contexts and accomplishments in the study of nature during the Middle Ages. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of medieval science currently available. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the medieval world, contributors consider scientific learning and advancement in the cultures associated with the Arabic, Greek, Latin and Hebrew languages. Scientists, historians and other curious readers will all gain a new appreciation for the study of nature during an era that is often misunderstood.

This study develops our understanding of medieval society through an examination of its charitable activities. In a detailed study of the forms in which relief was organised in medieval Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, the book unravels the economic and demographic factors which created the need for relief as well as the forms in which the community offered it. With continual reference to the religious teachings of priests and friars and the changing ideas of lay piety, Dr Rubin relates the changing forms of charitable giving to the shift in attitudes towards community and social order, towards relations between laity and clergy, and towards the poor. A local study is thus set in a wide comparative context, drawing together contributions in the fields of social, religious, economic and urban history.

Giraldus Cambrensis's twelfth century The History of the Conquest of Ireland immortalized the Irish Queen Dervorgilla as the woman who 'took advantage of the absence of her husband, and allowed hersel

The poetry written in Scotland between the late fourteenth and the early years of the sixteenth century is exceptionally rich and varied. The contributions collected here, by leading specialists in th

Essays in this fascinating and important collection examine the lifestyles and attitudes of the gentry in late medieval England. They consider the emergence of the gentry as a group distinct from the

Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family - a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And why did some royal families survive and thrive, while others did not? Drawing on a rich and memorable body of sources, this engaging and original history of dynastic power in Latin Christendom and Byzantium explores the role played by family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of the royal and imperial dynasties of Europe. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett makes enthralling sense of the complex web of internal

What did people really believe in the Middle Ages? Much of our sense of the medieval period has come down to us from the writings of the learned: the abbots, priors, magnates, scholastic theologians a

What did people really believe in the Middle Ages? Much of our sense of the medieval period has come down to us from the writings of the learned: the abbots, priors, magnates, scholastic theologians a

Women in Medieval Europe explores the key areas of female experience in the later medieval period, from peasant women to Queens. It considers the women of the later Middle Ages in the context of their

Women in Medieval Europe explores the key areas of female experience in the later medieval period, from peasant women to Queens. It considers the women of the later Middle Ages in the context of their

This book examines the evidence for medieval parks in Anglo-Norman Ireland. It is the first book on the subject and concentrates on the parks documented in the period 1169 to c.1350. Drawing on archae

Early medieval Britain saw the birth of England, Scotland and of the Welsh kingdoms. Naismith's introductory textbook explores the period between the end of Roman rule and the eve of the Norman Conquest, blending an engaging narrative with clear explanations of key themes and sources. Using extensive illustrations, maps and selections from primary sources, students will examine the island as a collective entity, comparing political histories and institutions as well as societies, beliefs and economies. Each chapter foregrounds questions of identity and the meaning of 'Britain' in this period, encouraging interrogation and contextualisation of sources within the framework of the latest debates and problems. Featuring online resources including timelines, a glossary, end-of-chapter questions and suggestions for further reading, students can drive their own understanding of how the polities and societies of early medieval Britain fitted together and into the wider world, and firmly grasp

Early medieval Britain saw the birth of England, Scotland and of the Welsh kingdoms. Naismith's introductory textbook explores the period between the end of Roman rule and the eve of the Norman Conquest, blending an engaging narrative with clear explanations of key themes and sources. Using extensive illustrations, maps and selections from primary sources, students will examine the island as a collective entity, comparing political histories and institutions as well as societies, beliefs and economies. Each chapter foregrounds questions of identity and the meaning of 'Britain' in this period, encouraging interrogation and contextualisation of sources within the framework of the latest debates and problems. Featuring online resources including timelines, a glossary, end-of-chapter questions and suggestions for further reading, students can drive their own understanding of how the polities and societies of early medieval Britain fitted together and into the wider world, and firmly grasp

For more than one thousand years Arab medicine held sway in the ancient world, from the shores of Spain in the West to China, India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in the East. This book explores the impact of

The British Archaeological Association's 2007 conference celebrated the material culture of medieval Coventry, the fourth wealthiest English city of the later middle ages.

From Beowulf through the literature of the crusades and beyond, cannibals haunt the texts of medieval England. Cannibal Narratives attempts to explain their presence. It explores the relationship betw

Representations of shapeshifters are prominent in medieval culture and they are particularly abundant in the vernacular literatures of the societies around the North Sea. Some of the figures in these

St Andrews was of tremendous significance in medieval Scotland. Its importance remains readily apparent in the buildings which cluster the rocky promontory jutting out into the North Sea: the towers a

When marginality was chosen as the theme of the conference on medieval rural archeology, the organizers deliberately refrained from defining the concept, and as they had hoped, discussions about it we

Carved images found on English misericords are the basis for examining a number of social issues during the late Middle Ages. This innovative methodology allows the perspective of the common medieval