Lost Artefacts from Medieval England and France (Writing History in the Middle Ages)
Surviving accounts of the material culture of medieval Europe - including buildings, boats, reliquaries, wall paintings, textiles, ivory mirror cases, book bindings and much more - present a tantalising glimpse of medieval life, hinting at the material richness of that era. However, students and scholars of the period will be all too familiar with the frustration of trying to piece together a picture of the past from a handful of fragments. The "material turn" has put art, architecture, and othe...
Anglo-Danish Empire (The Northern Medieval World)
Anglo-Danish Empire is an interdisciplinary handbook for the Danish conquest of England in 1016 and the subsequent reign of King Cnut the Great. Bringing together scholars from the fields of history, literature, archaeology, and manuscript studies, the volume offers comprehensive analysis of England’s shift from Anglo-Saxon to Danish rule. It follows the history of this complicated transition, from the closing years of the reign of King Æthelred II and the Anglo-Danish wars, to Cnut’s accession...
A life of Matilda-empress, skilled military leader, and one of the greatest figures of the English Middle Ages "[Matilda] will attract a growing audience interested in stories of women challenging the male-dominated European past."-Alexandra Locking, Medieval Review "A lively and authoritative account."-Katherine Harvey, Times Literary Supplement Matilda was a daughter, wife, and mother. But she was also empress, heir to the English crown-the first woman ever to hold the position-and an able...
Like William Wallace in Scotland, Owain Glyndwr fought for his country and was only finally defeated by superior numbers and the military genius of Henry V. Yet Glyndwr was not just a freedom fighter. He was the last native-born Prince of Wales, a man who initiated the first Welsh parliament at Machynlleth and proposed an entirely independent Welsh church. Glyndwr also laid plans for two Welsh universities, proposed a return to the far sighted and revolutionary Laws of Hywel Dda and formed a Tr...
The Receivers' Accounts of the City of Exeter 1304-1353
by Margery Rowe and John M. Draisey
Exeter has one of the best-preserved medieval city archives in England, and the receivers' accounts are unusually early of their kind. First extant in 1304, they list the income and expenditure of the city corporation each year, thereby throwing light on Exeter before, during, and after the Black Death. The topography of the city, property holding and the economy are all featured, as are city government, law and order and civic entertainments. Important people are mentioned visiting Exeter: judg...
The Book of Shadows (Kathryn Swinbrooke Medieval Mysteries, #4)
by Paul Doherty
What do you do when everyone is a suspect?Paul Doherty writes a medieval mystery shrouded in secrets in The Book of Shadows, the fourth novel to feature physician and sleuth Kathryn Swinbrooke. Perfect for fans of Susanna Gregory and Michael Jecks.The year is 1471. Shortly after the murderous takeover of the throne by Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, blackmailers thrive by challenging detractors of the new king. The ugliest threat to the people of Canterbury is the magus Tenebrae, who controls...
The Merchant of Death (Kathryn Swinbrooke Medieval Mysteries, #3)
by Paul Doherty
A disturbing murder unearths more questions than answers...Kathryn Swinbrooke returns for the third time in The Merchant of Death, Paul Doherty's gripping medieval mystery. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and Michael Jecks.It is nearly Christmas, and snowstorms have blanketed the city of 15th-century Canterbury. Physician Kathryn Swinbrooke and her cook Thomasina are busily preparing for the holiday, when terrible news arrives: The painter Richard Blunt has confessed to killing his young wife,...
The mysterious 'Bell Man' stalks the streets of Oxford...Hugh Corbett finds himself investigating amongst the dreaming spires of Oxford in the tenth novel in Paul Doherty's medieval mystery series, The Devil's Hunt. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and Robin Hobb.The golden summer of 1303 and Oxford is plunged into chaos. The severed heads of beggars have been tied by their hair to the trees in woods outside the city. John Copsale, the Regent of Sparrow Hall, has been found dead in his bed and i...
The suspicious death of the Richard II prompts an unground movement known as the White Harte...The turbulent times of the 15th century are perfectly captured in Paul Doherty's gripping mystery, The White Harte. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and Susanna Gregory.Jankyn's narrative relates his own past, a past spent unwillingly under the tutelage of priests and friars in an Augustinian monastery; his rebellious flirtation with the heresy of Lollardism; and finally his becoming a thief, an accuse...
A Shrine of Murders (Kathryn Swinbrooke Medieval Mysteries, #1)
by Paul Doherty
A series of poisoned pilgrims requires the services of Canterbury's most intrepid sleuth...Paul Doherty introduces his medieval sleuth Kathryn Swinbrooke for the first time in A Shrine of Murders, the first in a gripping mystery series from the acclaimed historical novelist. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and Susanna Gregory.A serial killer haunts 15th-century Canterbury. Kathryn Swinbrooke is an independent practitioner of medicine, discovering the benefits of an apple-rich diet for teeth, an...
The Westford Knight is a mysterious, controversial stone carving in Massachusetts. Some believe it is an effigy of a 14th century knight, evidence of an early European visit to the New World by Henry Sinclair, the Earl of Orkney and Lord of Roslin. In 1954, an archaeologist encountered the carving, long known to locals and ascribed a variety of origin stories, and proposed it to be a remnant of the Sinclair expedition. The story of the Westford Knight is a mix of history, archaeology, sociology,...
The remit of this book is to investigate whether Richard III was a good guy or a bad guy, whether he was a wicked murderer or merely a victim of bad public opinion and propaganda. Michael Hicks uses contemporary sources to diclose Richard's life, his reputation and the events that shaped it. Although public opinion has now changed to being in support of Richard, Hicks discusses how Richard acquired such a bad reputation and strips away the propaganda of the centuries to rescue Richard from his c...
Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks," conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in "Braveheart"). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled to the Holy Land; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers and constructing a magnificent chain of castles. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliame...
The Normans were a relatively short-lived phenomenon. Yet in a short time they had conquered England, southern Italy and Sicily. This book draws on the latest archaeological evidence to examine how they were able to conquer and dominate.'
Palm Sunday 1461 was the date of a ruthless and bitterly contested battle, fought by two massive medieval armies on an exposed Yorkshire plateau for the prize of the crown of England. This singular engagement of the Wars of the Roses has acquired the auspicious title of the longest, biggest and bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil. But what drove the contending armies of York and Lancaster to fight at Towton and what is the truth behind the legends about this terrible encounter, where co...
Heaven Bound by Wearing The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
by Teresa Farris-Dacar
The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester (Winchester Studies, 4.iii)
by Alexander R. Rumble
Property and Piety comprises an edition and translation, with extensive commentary, of thirty-three Anglo-Saxon and Norman documents relating to the topography and minsters of early medieval Winchester. These texts record the physical effects on the city of the foundation and expansion of the three neighbouring minsters, and also of the removal of the New Minster to Hyde in about 1110. They record political, religious, and cultural aspects of the tenth-century reform of Benedictine monasticism,...
Melvyn Bragg explores the pivotal role of England's north in defining modern Britain, and its enduring effect on every part of the globe'It's impossible not to admire the thrust and sweep of this series' The TelegraphIn this captivating 10-part series, Melvyn Bragg brings all his enthusiasm, experience and expertise to a subject that has enthralled him his entire life: the importance of the North in shaping the United Kingdom. Joined by special guests including Dame Judi Dench,...
In 1300, an English privateer named 'The Waxman' was trapped and overrun by two powerful war cogs flying the streamers of the powerful Hanseatic League of North Germany. The ship was carrying a casket containing the 'Carta Mysteriosa', a collection of valuable and detailed maps and sea charts. The rulers of Europe, not to mention their merchant princes, would wade through a sea of blood to obtain them. Three years later Wilhelm Von Paulents, a representative of the Hanseatic League, comes to Eng...
The Anarchy (Exeter Studies in Medieval Europe)
by Oliver H. Creighton and Duncan W. Wright
The turbulent reign of Stephen, King of England (1135-54), has been styled since the late 19th century as 'the Anarchy', although the extent of political breakdown during the period has since been vigorously debated. Rebellion and bitter civil war characterised Stephen's protracted struggle with rival claimant Empress Matilda and her Angevin supporters over 'nineteen long winters' when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 'Christ and his Saints slept'. Drawing on new research and fieldwork,...
This book explores the work of the late-medieval English writer Thomas Hoccleve. It highlights Hoccleve's role, throughout his works, as a religious writer: an individual who engages seriously with the dynamics of heresy and ecclesiastical reform, who contributes to traditions of vernacular devotional writing, and who raises the question of how Christianity manifests on personal as well as political levels. It suggests a role for Hoccleve as a poetic mediator, capable of mediating between th...