Fruits of the most recent research on the thirteenth century in both England and Europe. The articles collected here reflect the continued and wide interest in England and its neighbours in the years between Magna Carta and the Black Death, with many of them particularly seeking to set England in its European context.There are three main strands to the volume. The first is the social dimension of power, and the norms and practice of politics: attention is drawn to the variety of roles open to members of the clergy, but also peasants and townsmen, and the populace at large. Several chapters explore the manifestations and instruments of social identity, such as the seals used by the leading elites of thirteenth-century London, and the marriage practices of the Englisharistocracy. The third main focus is the uses of the past. Matthew Paris, the most famous chronicler of the period, receives due attention, in particular his changing attitude towards the monarch, but the Vita Edwardi Secundi's portrayal of Thomas of Lancaster and the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut are also considered. Janet Burton is Professor of Medieval History at University of Wales: Trinity Saint David; Phillipp Schofield is Professor of Medieval History at Aberystwyth University; Björn Weiler is Professor of History at Aberystwyth University. Contributors: J.R. Maddicott, Phillipp Schofield, Harmony Dewez, John McEwan, Jörg Peltzer, Karen Stöber, Olga Cecilia Méndez González, Sophie Ambler, Joe Creamer, Lars Kjær, Andrew Spencer, Julia Marvin, Olivier de Laborderie

Written by Louise J. Wilkinson, this book offers a regional study of women in 13th-century England, making pioneering use of charters, chronicles, government records & some of the earliest manorial court rolls to examine the interaction of gender, status & life-cycle in shaping women's experiences in Lincolnshire.

`Set to become an indispensible series for anyone who wishes to keep abreast of recent work in the field.' WELSH HISTORY REVIEWImportant papers playing a key role in re-awakening scholarly interest in a comparatively neglected period of English history.

An exploration of how power and political society were imagined, represented and reflected on in medieval English art

Thirteen papers from the 1989 Newcastle-upon-Tyne conference.

This volume explores the role of bishops at the heart of thirteenth-century English politics, examining their culture and political theology. Under King John and Henry III, the bishops acted as peacemakers, supporting royal power when it was threatened, but between 1258 and 1265, led by Simon de Montfort, they became partisans, helping to overturn royal power.

`An indispensable series for anyone who wishes to keep abreast of recent work in the field'. WELSH HISTORY REVIEW

“She incorporates stories from every rank of society, from monarchs to peasants between 1250 and 1450, to tell a sweeping tale of sex and sexuality.” —Adventures of a Tudor Nerd Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England allows the reader a peek beneath the bedsheets of our medieval ancestors, in an informative and fascinating look at sex and sexuality in England from 1250 to 1450. It examines the prevailing attitudes towards male and female sexual behaviour, and the ways in which these attitudes were often determined by those in positions of power and authority. It also explores our ancestors’ ingenious, surprising, bizarre and often entertaining solutions to the challenges associated with maintaining a healthy sex life. This book will look at marriage, pre-marital sex, adultery and fornication, pregnancy and fertility, illegitimacy, prostitution, consent, same-sex relationships, gender roles and much more, to shed new light on the private lives of our medieval predecessors. “Warner’s writing is engaging, and the book is full of little tidbits of information, backed up by impeccable source work.” —Tudor Blogger “Her style of writing is lovely and easy to follow, making it a real page-turner. I highly recommend the book.” —Coffee & Books

'Alive with human detail and acute political judgement, this book marks the arrival of a formidably gifted historian.' – Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets and The Templars It was around half-past eight in the morning, with summer rainclouds weighing heavy in the sky, that Simon de Montfort decided to die. It was 4 August 1265 and he was about to face the royal army in the final battle of a quarrel that had raged between them for years. Outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and certain to lose, Simon chose to fight, knowing that he could not possibly win the day. The Song of Simon de Montfort is the story of this extraordinary man: heir to a great warrior, devoted husband and father, fearless crusader knight and charismatic leader. It is the story of a man whose passion for good governance was so fierce that, in 1258, frustrated by the King’s refusal to take the advice of his nobles and the increasing injustice meted out to his subjects, he marched on Henry III’s hall at Westminster and seized the reins of power. Montfort established a council to rule in the King’s name, overturning the social order in a way that would not be seen again until the rule of Oliver Cromwell in the seventeenth century. Having defeated the King at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Montfort and his revolutionary council ruled England for some fifteen months, until the enmity between the two sides exploded on that August day in 1265. When the fighting was over, Montfort and a host of his followers had been cut down on the battlefield, in an outpouring of noble blood that marked the end of chivalry in England as it had existed since the Norman Conquest. Drawing on an abundance of sources that allow us to trace Montfort’s actions and personality in a depth not possible for earlier periods in medieval history, Sophie Thérèse Ambler tells his story with a clarity that reveals all of the excitement, chaos and human tragedy of England’s first revolution.

The rich cultural insights afforded by the study of medieval Latin are only beginning to be appreciated. In this difficult study of the text-books through which Latin was learned, together with the Latin, Anglo-Norman and English glosses to be found in their manuscript versions, Tony Hunt makes a pioneering attempt to understand its relationship to the vernaculars spoken in England.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. Here at last is the first systematic study of the teaching and learning of Latin in thirteenth century England based on evidence from nearly 200 manuscripts where the text has been glossed in the vernacular. These glosses provide the key to discovering the linguistic competence and interest of students at an elementary level: men and women who needed a working knowledge of Latin for practical purposes. The received view that Latin was the exclusive language of the schoolroom is shown to be mistaken and the exhaustive recording of the vernacular glosses provides a hitherto untapped source of lexical materials in French and Middle English. Teaching and Learning Latin is destined to become an essential source-book for medievalists interested in language, literacy and culture. TONY HUNT is a Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford.