Citadel of the Saxons

Citadel of the Saxons PDF Author: Rory Naismith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786734869
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
With a past as deep and sinewy as the famous River Thames that twists like an eel around the jutting peninsula of Mudchute and the Isle of Dogs, London is one of the world's greatest and most resilient cities. Born beside the sludge and the silt of the meandering waterway that has always been its lifeblood, it has weathered invasion, flood, abandonment, fire and bombing. The modern story of London is well known. Much has been written about the later history of this megalopolis which, like a seductive dark star, has drawn incomers perpetually into its orbit. Yet, as Rory Naismith reveals – in his zesty evocation of the nascent medieval city – much less has been said about how close it came to earlier obliteration. Following the collapse of Roman civilization in fifth-century Britannia, darkness fell over the former province. Villas crumbled to ruin; vital commodities became scarce; cities decayed; and Londinium, the capital, was all but abandoned. Yet despite its demise as a living city, memories of its greatness endured like the moss and bindweed which now ensnared its toppled columns and pilasters. By the 600s a new settlement, Lundenwic, was established on the banks of the River Thames by enterprising traders who braved the North Sea in their precarious small boats. The history of the city's phoenix-like resurrection, as it was transformed from an empty shell into a court of kings – and favoured setting for church councils from across the land – is still virtually unknown. The author here vividly evokes the forgotten Lundenwic and the later fortress on the Thames – Lundenburgh – of desperate Anglo-Saxon defenders who retreated inside their Roman walls to stand fast against menacing Viking incursions. Recalling the lost cities which laid the foundations of today's great capital, this book tells the stirring story of how dead Londinium was reborn, against the odds, as a bulwark against the Danes and a pivotal English citadel. It recounts how Anglo-Saxon London survived to become the most important town in England – and a vital stronghold in later campaigns against the Normans in 1066. Revealing the remarkable extent to which London was at the centre of things, from the very beginning, this volume at last gives the vibrant early medieval city its due.

Citadel of the Saxons

Citadel of the Saxons PDF Author: Rory Naismith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786734869
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Get Book Here

Book Description
With a past as deep and sinewy as the famous River Thames that twists like an eel around the jutting peninsula of Mudchute and the Isle of Dogs, London is one of the world's greatest and most resilient cities. Born beside the sludge and the silt of the meandering waterway that has always been its lifeblood, it has weathered invasion, flood, abandonment, fire and bombing. The modern story of London is well known. Much has been written about the later history of this megalopolis which, like a seductive dark star, has drawn incomers perpetually into its orbit. Yet, as Rory Naismith reveals – in his zesty evocation of the nascent medieval city – much less has been said about how close it came to earlier obliteration. Following the collapse of Roman civilization in fifth-century Britannia, darkness fell over the former province. Villas crumbled to ruin; vital commodities became scarce; cities decayed; and Londinium, the capital, was all but abandoned. Yet despite its demise as a living city, memories of its greatness endured like the moss and bindweed which now ensnared its toppled columns and pilasters. By the 600s a new settlement, Lundenwic, was established on the banks of the River Thames by enterprising traders who braved the North Sea in their precarious small boats. The history of the city's phoenix-like resurrection, as it was transformed from an empty shell into a court of kings – and favoured setting for church councils from across the land – is still virtually unknown. The author here vividly evokes the forgotten Lundenwic and the later fortress on the Thames – Lundenburgh – of desperate Anglo-Saxon defenders who retreated inside their Roman walls to stand fast against menacing Viking incursions. Recalling the lost cities which laid the foundations of today's great capital, this book tells the stirring story of how dead Londinium was reborn, against the odds, as a bulwark against the Danes and a pivotal English citadel. It recounts how Anglo-Saxon London survived to become the most important town in England – and a vital stronghold in later campaigns against the Normans in 1066. Revealing the remarkable extent to which London was at the centre of things, from the very beginning, this volume at last gives the vibrant early medieval city its due.

London

London PDF Author: Francis Sheppard
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192853691
Category : London (England)
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
London has for most of 2000 years been the hub of the political, economic, and cultural life of the British Isles. No other city has held such a dominant national position for so long. This new study, by the doyen of London historians, describes London's diverse past, from its origins as aRoman settlement at the first bridging of the Thames to the world-class metropolis it is today. It provides a vivid account of a city which was the 'deere sweete' place which Chaucer loved more than any other city on earth, which was for Dickens his 'magic lantern', and to Keats 'a great sea',howling for more wrecks. It is also a story of much contrast and remarkable resilience; through great fires and pestilence, civil war, and the Blitz, London has rebuilt and reinvented itself for each generation.

Growing Up in Medieval London

Growing Up in Medieval London PDF Author: Barbara A. Hanawalt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199879974
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
When Barbara Hanawalt's acclaimed history The Ties That Bound first appeared, it was hailed for its unprecedented research and vivid re-creation of medieval life. David Levine, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called Hanawalt's book "as stimulating for the questions it asks as for the answers it provides" and he concluded that "one comes away from this stimulating book with the same sense of wonder that Thomas Hardy's Angel Clare felt [:] 'The impressionable peasant leads a larger, fuller, more dramatic life than the pachydermatous king.'" Now, in Growing Up in Medieval London, Hanawalt again reveals the larger, fuller, more dramatic life of the common people, in this instance, the lives of children in London. Bringing together a wealth of evidence drawn from court records, literary sources, and books of advice, Hanawalt weaves a rich tapestry of the life of London youth during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Much of what she finds is eye opening. She shows for instance that--contrary to the belief of some historians--medieval adults did recognize and pay close attention to the various stages of childhood and adolescence. For instance, manuals on childrearing, such as "Rhodes's Book of Nurture" or "Seager's School of Virtue," clearly reflect the value parents placed in laying the proper groundwork for a child's future. Likewise, wardship cases reveal that in fact London laws granted orphans greater protection than do our own courts. Hanawalt also breaks ground with her innovative narrative style. To bring medieval childhood to life, she creates composite profiles, based on the experiences of real children, which provide a more vivid portrait than otherwise possible of the trials and tribulations of medieval youths at work and at play. We discover through these portraits that the road to adulthood was fraught with danger. We meet Alison the Bastard Heiress, whose guardians married her off to their apprentice in order to gain control of her inheritance. We learn how Joan Rawlyns of Aldenham thwarted an attempt to sell her into prostitution. And we hear the unfortunate story of William Raynold and Thomas Appleford, two mercer's apprentices who found themselves forgotten by their senile master, and abused by his wife. These composite portraits, and many more, enrich our understanding of the many stages of life in the Middle Ages. Written by a leading historian of the Middle Ages, these pages evoke the color and drama of medieval life. Ranging from birth and baptism, to apprenticeship and adulthood, here is a myth-shattering, innovative work that illuminates the nature of childhood in the Middle Ages.

National Geographic London Book of Lists

National Geographic London Book of Lists PDF Author: Tim Jepson
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
ISBN: 1426213859
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
For London lovers of all stripes, National Geographic London Book of Lists chronicles this ever-changing city from its ancient Roman origins to the present day. Organized with a minimum of organization, the 140 lists in this eclectic and hugely entertaining illustrated compendium cover the city’s best, worst, highest, smallest, first, last, and everything in-between. Among the many intriguing facts, stats, and snippets, you’ll discover: · Where you can find six old windmills within the confines of metropolitan London · Why the women’s restroom at an East End pub is especially popular with avant-garde artists · When a tornado razed nearly 600 houses and destroyed London Bridge · The address of the only London flat where the four members of the Beatles lived together · Why local children beat the stone boundaries outside the Tower of London with willow branches every three years · Where you can find London’s eight best waterfront pubs, seven greatest Victorian gin palaces, and ten most historic pubs · Which two famous London museums still show World War II bomb damage on their outer walls Royal palaces. Street markets. Stellar views. Cockney slang. Favorite meals of kings. Roman ruins. Secrets lost to time. With surprises on every page, National Geographic London Book of Lists takes you deep inside the city that never fails to fascinate.

The Government of Medieval York

The Government of Medieval York PDF Author: Sarah Rees Jones
Publisher: Borthwick Publications
ISBN: 9780903857673
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition)

The London Encyclopaedia (3rd Edition) PDF Author: Christopher Hibbert
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 0230738788
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 1120

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Book Description
‘There is no one-volume book in print that carries so much valuable information on London and its history’ Illustrated London News The London Encyclopaedia is the most comprehensive book on London ever published. In its first new edition in over ten years, completely revised and updated, it comprises some 6,000 entries, organised alphabetically, cross-referenced and supported by two large indexes – one for the 10,000 people mentioned in the text and one general – and is illustrated with over 500 drawings, prints and photographs. Everything of relevance to the history, culture, commerce and government of the capital is documented in this phenomenal book. From the very first settlements through to the skyline of today, The London Encyclopaedia comprehends all that is London. ‘Written in very accessible prose with a range of memorable quotations and affectionate jokes...a monumental achievement written with real love’ Financial Times

The Temple Church in London

The Temple Church in London PDF Author: Robin Griffith-Jones
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843834987
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Founded as the main church of the Knights Templar in England, at their New Temple in London, the Temple Church is historically and architecturally one of the most important medieval buildings in England. Its round nave, modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is extraordinarily ambitious, combining lavish Romanesque sculpture with some of the earliest Gothic architectural features in any English building of its period. It holds one of the most famous series of medieval effigies in the country. The luminous thirteenth-century choir, intended for the burial of Henry III, is of exceptional beauty. Major developments in the post-medieval period include the reordering of the church in the 1680s by Sir Christopher Wren, and a substantial restoration programme in the early 1840s. Despite its extraordinary importance, however, it has until now attracted little scholarly or critical attention, a gap which is remedied by this volume. It considers the New Temple as a whole in the middle ages, and all aspects of the church itself from its foundation in the twelfth century to its war-time damage in the twentieth. Richly illustrated with numerous black and white and colour plates, it makes full use of the exceptional range and quality of the antiquarian material available for study, including drawings, photographs, and plaster casts. Contributors: Robin Griffith-Jones, Virginia Jansen, Philip Lankester, Helen Nicholson, David Park, Rosemary Sweet, William Whyte, Christopher Wilson.

The Literary and Cultural Spaces of Restoration London

The Literary and Cultural Spaces of Restoration London PDF Author: Cynthia Wall
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521630139
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This book explores the literary and cultural rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666.

Family, Commerce, and Religion in London and Cologne

Family, Commerce, and Religion in London and Cologne PDF Author: Joseph P. Huffman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521521932
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
This book explores the contacts between England and Cologne during the central Middle Ages.

English Episcopal Acta 26, London 1189-1228

English Episcopal Acta 26, London 1189-1228 PDF Author: David Michael Smith
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780197262818
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
This volume contains the acta of three bishops of London: Richard of Ely, William de Ste. Mére-Église, and Eustace of Fauconberg. Both Richard and Eustace saw service as royal treasurer; indeed Richard wrote the handbook on Exchequer practice, the Dialogus de Scaccario. William on the other hand spearheaded the papal campaign against King John during the General Interdict.