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Edward the Confessor, the last great king of Anglo-Saxon England, canonized nearly 100 years after his death, is in part a figure of myths created in the late middle ages.In this revealing portrait of England's royal saint, David Woodman traces the course of Edward's twenty-four-year-long reign through the lens of contemporary sources, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Vita Ædwardi Regis to the Bayeux Tapestry, to separate myth from history and uncover the complex politics of his life. He s...

The 2017 special issue of Medieval Warfare takes a look at one of the most famous battles in the history of the British Isles. Our detailed analysis of the Battle of Hastings by expert writers and medievalists not only looks at the engagement itself, but examines the leaders, their armies, the immediate aftermath, and the broader effect on history and popular imagination. Articles in the 2017 Special include: - Kelly DeVries, Two invasions, three battles, one throne - The contenders in 1066 -...

Neighbours, Distrust, and the State overturns many of our ideas about how the poorer working class lived together, and thought about each other, from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. The reality was quite different to what has been the accepted historical belief; that of an unbreakable solidarity between neighbours against 'outsiders', particularly in rejecting any interference by government in their lives and communities. But the views of women and others who were less powerful...

This seminal new study explores how and why historians and writers from the Middle Ages to the present day have constructed different accounts of this well-loved figure. N. J Higham offers an in-depth examintaion of the first two Arthurian texts: the History of the Britons and the Welsh Annals. He argues that historians have often been more influenced by what the idea of Arthur means in their present context than by such primary sources King Arthur: Myth-making and History illuminates and disc...

The Book of Pastoral Rule, or Liber regulae pastoralis, by Pope Gregory the Great—the pontiff responsible for the conversion of the English to Christianity beginning in 597—is a guide for aspiring bishops. Pope Gregory explains who ought and who ought not seek such a position and advises on what sort of spiritual guidance a bishop should provide to those under his direction.The Old English Pastoral Care, a translation of Gregory’s treatise completed between 890 and 896, is described in a prefato...

For centuries, archaeologists have excavated the soils of Britain to uncover finds from the early medieval past. These finds have been used to reconstruct the alleged communities, migration patterns, and expressions of identity of coherent groups who can be regarded as ethnic 'Anglo-Saxons'. Even in the modern day, when social constructionism has been largely accepted by scholars, this paradigm still persists. This book challenges the ethnic paradigm. As the first historiographical study of a...

Essays in this volume argue that it is time for a powerful reassessment of John Lydgate's poetic projects. The pre-eminent poet of his own century, Lydgate (c. 1370-1449) addressed the historical challenges of war with France, of looming civil war, and of new theological forces in the vernacular. He wrote for household, parish, city, monastery, Church, and state. Although an official poet of sorts-perhaps the first major official poet in the English poetic tradition-he was not by any means a mer...

An oft-overlooked region lies at the heart of British national history: the Debatable Land. The oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain, the Debatable Land once served as a buffer between England and Scotland. It was once the bloodiest region in the country, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James V. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of the state. Today, its boundaries have...

This volume presents details, images and discussion of the contents of twenty English coin hoards, ranging in date from the 730s to the 1090s. Found between the 1960s and 1990s, all were studied by the late Marion Archibald at the British Museum but have never been published in full before now. Each hoard is the subject of its own chapter, with discussion of the discovery, and of the historical context in which the hoard was buried, before a catalogue of the relevant coins. The volume also con...

Using a dialogue format, contributors to this collection of essays outline key issues in the cultural history of medieval women. Many of the essays in this volume provide compelling evidence that women in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages achieved an accomplished form of literacy, and became actively involved in literary networks of textual production and exchange. These essays also present new research on questions of the literacy and authorship of historical women. In so doing they demonstrat...

Along the way, Kate Colquhoun asks and answers a fascinating range of questions from the weighty to the lighthearted. Did the Romans use pepper? How did the Black Death lead to the beginning of rural baking? Why was the sale of fruit banned in 1569? What linked roasted meats and morality in the 1790s? When did we move from serving everything at once to the succession of courses we know today? From the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution, the Romans to the Regency, few things have mirrored soci...

During the 1980s and early 1990s the Challenger 1 main battle tank played a central role in Britain's armoured forces and it achieved remarkable success in combat, destroying around 300 Iraqi tanks in the Gulf War. With its advanced Chobham armour and hydropneumatic suspension system, it was one of the most sophisticated and effective armoured vehicles of the time and, in a modified form, it is still in service with the Jordanian army. It is also a popular subject with tank modellers and enthusi...

Edinburgh is forever bound to The Royal Scots, the oldest in the British Army and now part of The Royal Regiment of Scotland. For a period in the early twentieth century, it also had a Highland battalion, the kilted 9th Royal Scots, which became affectionately known as the Dandy Ninth. The battalion was formed in the aftermath of the Boer War's Black Week. It sent volunteers to South Africa and established itself as Edinburgh's kilted battalion, part of the Territorial Force of part-time soldier...

South Shields and its near neighbours such as Jarrow were key communities in the national war effort, despite their relatively small size. Located on the East Coast, South Shields was situated at the key entry to the strategically important River Tyne and was well defended against enemy attack. The seaside town saw a large military build-up with several different army and naval units rotating through the area to man defences and to train whilst the local Home Guard unit defended vital installati...

Donations to the Knights Hospitaller in Britain and Ireland, 1291-1400 is the first study of donations to the Knights Hospitaller throughout England and Ireland during the late-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The book demonstrates that patrons donated to both military and non-military orders for much the same reasons, particularly family connections or the desire for spiritual benefit, rather than an interest in crusading. Such a conclusion has important implications for the treatment of...

The 2020 special edition of Medieval Warfare is a compilation of covers, battle scenes and unit reconstructions from the first fifty issues of the magazine. Compiled and edited by Peter Konieczny, with contributions from the rest of the Medieval Warfare staff, this 100-page full-colour book features artwork by favourite illustrators such as Jose Cabrera-Pena, Darren Tan, Rocio Espin, and Zvonimir Grbasic to name but a few. Also included are articles by the staff with insight into our philosophy...