This is a collection of eighteen papers presented at a conference that was held at the Hatfield Campus of the University of Hertfordshire with 122 members and guests from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany and Norway were present. The papers are on the research on various aspects of the art and architecture of the abbey, at St Albans and provides an ideal forum for bringing together many aspects of the abbey’s history.

St Albans has a long tradition of archaeological investigation dating back to the 18th century. What has been lacking however, is a detailed synthesis and interpretation of the accumulated information. This book is intended to meet that need, and comes out of a project set up by English Heritage in 1992 designed to promote 'intensive' urban archaeological strategy. This volume is a critical assessment of the current archaeological information from an area of 12 square kilometers centred on medieval and modern St Albans and its Roman predecessor, Verulamium. There is evidence of scattered occupation in the area from the Mesolithic period onwards, but it was only towards the end of the 1st century BC that a settlement was established to the south of the modern town. This was superseded by the development of the Roman town of Verulamium on the south side of the River Ver, but by the 8th century settlement had become focused on the shrine of the late Roman martyr, Alban, on the hill to the north of the river. In the late Saxon period an Abbey was established close to this shrine, and after the Norman conquest, settlement concentrated in the area north of the Abbey. Most of the monastic buildings were demolished shortly after the dissolution of the monastery in 1539, but on the whole St Albans retained its medieval form until the 19th century. The papers in this volume look at the development of this important city throughout its long history, bringing its Roman and Medieval past to life.

Contents: Religion and Art in St Alban's City; The late antique Passion of St Alban; Britain's Other Martyrs: Julius, Aaron and Alban at Caerleon; The Origins of St Albans Abbey: Romano-British Cemetery and Anglo-Saxon Monastery; Offa, Ælfric and the Refoundation of St Albans: The Alban Cross; Early Recycling: The Anglo-Saxon and Norman Re-use of Roman Bricks with special reference to Hertfordshire; The Medieval Building Stones of St Albans ABbey; Remembering St Alban: the Site of the Shrine and the Discovery of the Twelfth-century Purbeck Marble Shrine Table; The Place of St Albans in Regional Sculpture and Architecture in the Second Half of the Twelfth Century; The Thirteenth-century West Front of St Albans Abbey; The Gothic Reconstruction of the Nave and Presbytery of St Albans Abbey; A Survey and Dating of the Timber Structures in the Central Tower of the Abbey Church; Pilgrims' Souvenir Badges of St Alban; The St Albans Monks and the Cult of St Alban: the Late Medieval Texts; The Chantry of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester; The Great Screen and its Context. By a variety of contributors.

"An understanding of religious beliefs and practices is often essential when trying to understand different societies, both those in the past and also those in the present. In the case of Roman Britain we are faced with various situations: the traditions of the indigenous Celts; the beliefs and practices of the pagan Romans; various religions which originated much further to the east than Rome and which were brought to Britain by soldiers, administrators and traders; the dynamics of culture contact between the different social groups (especially the fusion of Roman and native cults); and changes over time. The role of religion in Roman times was very important and affected many aspects of everyday life and involved a duality of both public and domestic religious rituals. Religious practices were therefore undertaken in various 'landscapes' including: urban, rural, temple complexes, shrines, cemeteries and households. This volume provides up-to-date reviews of the evidence for different religious beliefs, practices and types of site within South-East Britain generally, but for London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent in particular." "This book will be of interest and use to a wide range of people: professional and amateur archaeologists, classicists, students and the general public who have an interest in the Roman period."--BOOK JACKET.

Fourteen enjoyable papers, from the Theoretical Archaeology Conference held in Oxford in December 2000, which reflect on the relationship between archaeology and the `outside world' and investigate the meaning of archaeology to the general public and the relevance of archaeology to society.

37 essays on the christianisation of the Roman world and Christian culture up to the later Middle Ages. As might be expected there is a particular emphasis on Roman Britain and on Christian art.

This volume contains a range of papers from a seminar held in Oxford in 2005. What did 'art' in its widest sense mean to 'them', the Romans, and what might it (or even should it), mean to us? The approach adopted avoids fashionable 'theory', mainly culled second-hand from the social sciences, and tries to engage directly with material culture.

This collection of essays, the Proceedings of the 1997 Harlaxton Symposium, looks at the importance of family and dynasty among royalty and powerful aristocrats, mercantile and clerical families, and those of lower aristocratic status. The eleven contributors examine the use of genealogy by these families for legitimation and proving descent, and the often conflicting relationship between loyalty to family and society as a whole, the Church, king or realm. Among the families discussed are the Angevin monarchy, the Wayte, Mortimer and Bohun families and the family of Lady Margaret Beaufort.

This text fundamentally reassesses traditional understandings of the impact of the Reformation on the visual arts in Britain. It brings together the work of leading authorities in the fields of art history, Reformation history and literary studies, together with research by younger scholars.

In this original account of architecture in England between c.1150 and c.1250, Peter Draper explores how the assimilation of new ideas from France led to an English version of Gothic architecture that was quite distinct from Gothic expression elsewhere. The author considers the great cathedrals of England (Canterbury, Wells, Salisbury, Lincoln, Ely, York, Durham, and others) as well as parish churches and secular buildings, to examine the complex interrelations between architecture and its social and political functions. Architecture was an expression of identity, Draper finds, and the unique Gothic that developed in England was one of a number of manifestations of an emerging sense of national identity. The book inquires into such topics as the role of patrons, the relationships between patrons and architects, and the wide variety of factors that contributed to the process of creating a building. With 250 illustrations, including more than 50 in color, this book offers new ways of seeing and thinking about some of England's greatest and best-loved architecture. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art