The period from 1066 to 1272, from the Norman Conquest to the death of Henry III, was one of enormous political change in England and of innovation in the Church as a whole. Religion, Politics and Society 1066-1272 charts the many ways in which a constantly changing religious culture impacted on a social and political system which was itself dominated by clerics, from the parish to the kingdom. Examining the various ways in which churchmen saw their relation to secular power, Henry Mayr-Harting introduces many of the great personalities of the time, such as Thomas Becket and Robert Grosseteste. At the same time he shows how religion itself changed over the course of two centuries, in response to changing social conditions – how rising population fuelled the economic activities of the monasteries, and how parish reform demanded a more educated clergy and by this increased the social prestige of the Church. Written by an acknowledged master in the field, this magisterial account will be an unmissable read for all students of Norman and Plantagenet England and of the history of the medieval Church as a political, social and spiritual force.

The 19th century was, to a large extent, the ‘British century’. Great Britain was the great world power and its institutions, beliefs and values had an immense impact on the world far beyond its formal empire. Providence and Empire argues that knowledge of the religious thought of the time is crucial in understanding the British imperial story. The churches of the United Kingdom were the greatest suppliers of missionaries to the world, and there was a widespread belief that Britain had a divine mission to spread Christianity and civilisation, to eradicate slavery, and to help usher in the millennium; the Empire had a providential purpose in the world. This is the first connected account of the interactions of religion, politics and society in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales between 1815 and 1914. Providence and Empire is essential reading for any student who wishes to gain an insight into the social, political and cultural life of this period.

The relationship between kings and bishops in Medieval England could be tricky. Thomas Becket summed it up succinctly when he said to Henry II, 'You are my lord, you are my king, you are my spiritual son.' Bishops were the king's greatest subjects, and yet no man could be secure as King without being crowned and anointed by a bishop. For much of the period, kings and bishops worked harmoniously to shape England into a country with one of the most sophisticated governments in Western Europe. Yet sometimes, as in the case of Henry II and Becket, there was conflict between them. This introductory text explores the central relationship between the kings of England and their bishops, from the Norman Conquest to Magna Carta. Wickson provides an approachable overview of the key scholarship on this subject, from historical to contemporary viewpoints. He also draws readers to the major primary sources, such as monastic chroniclers, making this an ideal starting-point for anyone studying high medieval England.

Now in its third edition, The Age of Reformation has been fully updated and extended, offering a comprehensive study of the relationships between religion, politics, and social change in the sixteenth century. The book charts the new challenges and crises facing the English, Scottish, and Irish states in the early modern age as they contended with the spread of Protestantism and a powerful Tudor monarchy. Constructing a clear narrative of the events and actors of this era of reformations, both political and religious, the book provides an accessible entry point for studying a period of upheaval and transformation, synthesising key research and drawing unexpected connections. Each chapter of the third edition has been revised, with additions including expanded treatments of popular politics, the implementation of the Reformation in the parishes, and England’s global expansion and the Tudor roots of the ‘British empire’. Accompanied by new maps and drawing on the latest research, this book is essential reading for all students of religion, reformation, and politics in early modern British history.

The increased interest in religion as a phenomenon and its various cultural contexts is encouraging a focus on the relationship between religion and politics. However, the political relevance of the religious and the interdependence between political and religious spheres has always been a major area of medieval research. The articles in this volume consider not only the principle inseparability of both spheres as previously established by research, but also the beginnings of a differentiation and relative autonomy of religion and politics within the framework of a comparison between Germany and the United Kingdom. This allows the identification of restrictions within the research traditions that are due to national histories and points to ways of overcoming these restrictions.

Ruling England, now in its second edition, is a key text for students wishing to understand the complexities of medieval kingship in England from 1042–1217. Beginning just before the Norman Conquest, and ending with the ratification of Magna Carta, this book is divided into three parts: Late Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Norman England and Angevin England. Richard Huscroft considers the reign of each king during these periods, including their relationships with the nobility, local government, the courts and the Church and poses the central question of how the ruler of the most sophisticated kingdom in twelfth century Europe was eventually compelled to submit to the humiliation of Magna Carta at the start of the thirteenth. This new edition has been fully revised and updated to take into account the latest scholarship. Throughout the book key areas of historiographical debate are highlighted and analysed, including nationhood, feudalism and Magna Carta. The narrative is supported by maps, a genealogy of the kings of England, a chronology, a glossary and an introduction to the principal narrative sources and their authors to provide a thorough introduction to the political history of medieval England. This book will be essential reading for students of English medieval history.

Who can concentrate on thoughts of Scripture or philosophy and be able to endure babies crying ... ? Will he put up with the constant muddle and squalor which small children bring into the home? The wealthy can do so ... but philosophers lead a very different life ... So, according to Peter Abelard, did his wife Heloise state in characteristically stark terms the antithetical demands of family and scholarship. Heloise was not alone in making this assumption. Sources from Jerome onward never cease to remind us that the life of the mind stands at odds with life in the family. For all that we have moved in the past two generations beyond kings and battles, fiefs and barons, motherhood has remained a blind spot for medieval historians. Whatever the reasons, the result is that the historiography of the medieval period is largely motherless. The aim of this book is to insist that this picture is intolerably one-dimensional, and to begin to change it. The volume is focussed on the paradox of motherhood in the European Middle Ages: to be a mother is at once to hold great power, and by the same token to be acutely vulnerable. The essays look to analyse the powers and the dangers of motherhood within the warp and weft of social history, beginning with the premise that religious discourse or practice served as a medium in which mothers (and others) could assess their situation, defend claims, and make accusations. Within this frame, three main themes emerge: survival, agency, and institutionalization. The volume spans the length and breadth of the Middle Ages, from late Roman North Africa through ninth-century Byzantium to late medieval Somerset, drawing in a range of types of historian, including textual scholars, literary critics, students of religion and economic historians. The unity of the volume arises from the very diversity of approaches within it, all addressed to the central topic.

The secular clergy - priests and other clerics outside of monastic orders - were among the most influential and powerful groups in European society during the central Middle Ages. The secular clergy got their title from the Latin word for world, saeculum, and secular clerics kept the Church running in the world beyond the cloister wall, with responsibility for the bulk of pastoral care and ecclesiastical administration. This gave them enormous religious influence, although they were considered too worldly by many contemporary moralists - trying, for instance, to oppose the elimination of clerical marriage and concubinage. Although their worldliness created many tensions, it also gave the secular clergy much worldly influence. Contemporaries treated elite secular clerics as equivalent to knights, and some were as wealthy as minor barons. Secular clerics had a huge role in the rise of royal bureaucracy, one of the key historical developments of the period. They were instrumental to the intellectual and cultural flowering of the twelfth century, the rise of the schools, the creation of the book trade, and the invention of universities. They performed music, produced literature in a variety of genres and languages, and patronized art and architecture. Indeed, this volume argues that they contributed more than any other group to the Twelfth-Century Renaissance. Yet the secular clergy as a group have received almost no attention from scholars, unlike monks, nuns, or secular nobles. In The Secular Clergy in England, 1066-1216, Hugh Thomas aims to correct this deficiency through a major study of the secular clergy below the level of bishop in England from 1066 to 1216.

Beginning with the Norman Conquest of England, these tumultuous centuries and their invasions shaped the languages and political geography of present-day Britain and Ireland. The Irish, Scots and Welsh fought their battles against the English with varying success - struggles which, like the events of 1066 in England, produced spectacular upheavals and left enduring national memories. But there was still a common enemy: the Black Death - still the greatest catastrophe in their history. There were significant advances, too. Hundreds of new towns were founded; slavery, still prevalent until the twelfth century, died out; magnificent cathedrals built, schools and universities established; clocks, gunpowder and the printing press. Magna Carta set new standards for holding governments to account and trial by jury won a central place in the legal systems of England and Scotland. Tracing the political, religious and material cultures of the period, as well as what might have been, John Gillingham seeks to define the ways in which lives changed during these turbulent times. With the words of contemporaries to guide us, we can understand more than ever before about national identities and the differences which came to define and ultimately untie these islands.

A New York Times 2016 Notable Book Robert Tombs’s momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history. The English have come a long way from those first precarious days of invasion and conquest, with many spectacular changes of fortune. Their political, economic and cultural contacts have left traces for good and ill across the world. This book describes their history and its meanings from their beginnings in the monasteries of Northumbria and the wetlands of Wessex to the cosmopolitan energy of today’s England. Robert Tombs draws out important threads running through the story, including participatory government, language, law, religion, the land and the sea, and ever-changing relations with other peoples. Not the least of these connections are the ways the English have understood their own history, have argued about it, forgotten it and yet been shaped by it. These diverse and sometimes conflicting understandings are an inherent part of their identity. Rather to their surprise, as ties within the United Kingdom loosen, the English are suddenly embarking on a new chapter. The English and Their History, the first single-volume work on this scale for more than half a century, and which incorporates a wealth of recent scholarship, presents a challenging modern account of this immense and continuing story, bringing out the strength and resilience of English government, the deep patterns of division and also the persistent capacity to come together in the face of danger.