Author: Timothy Reuter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139459546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 453
Book Description
This is a collection of influential and challenging essays by British medievalist Timothy Reuter, a perceptive and original thinker with extraordinary range who was equally at home in the Anglophone or German scholarly worlds. The book addresses three interconnected themes in the study of the history of the early and high Middle Ages. Firstly, historiography, the development of the modern study of the medieval past. How do our contemporary and inherited preconceptions and pre-occupations determine our view of history? Secondly, the importance of symbolic action and communication in the politics and polities of the Middle Ages. Finally, the need to avoid anachronism in our consideration of medieval politics. Throwing light both on modern mentalities and on the values and conduct of medieval people themselves, and containing articles, at time of publication, never previously been available in English, this book is essential reading for any serious scholar of medieval Europe.
Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities
Author: Timothy Reuter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139459546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 453
Book Description
This is a collection of influential and challenging essays by British medievalist Timothy Reuter, a perceptive and original thinker with extraordinary range who was equally at home in the Anglophone or German scholarly worlds. The book addresses three interconnected themes in the study of the history of the early and high Middle Ages. Firstly, historiography, the development of the modern study of the medieval past. How do our contemporary and inherited preconceptions and pre-occupations determine our view of history? Secondly, the importance of symbolic action and communication in the politics and polities of the Middle Ages. Finally, the need to avoid anachronism in our consideration of medieval politics. Throwing light both on modern mentalities and on the values and conduct of medieval people themselves, and containing articles, at time of publication, never previously been available in English, this book is essential reading for any serious scholar of medieval Europe.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139459546
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 453
Book Description
This is a collection of influential and challenging essays by British medievalist Timothy Reuter, a perceptive and original thinker with extraordinary range who was equally at home in the Anglophone or German scholarly worlds. The book addresses three interconnected themes in the study of the history of the early and high Middle Ages. Firstly, historiography, the development of the modern study of the medieval past. How do our contemporary and inherited preconceptions and pre-occupations determine our view of history? Secondly, the importance of symbolic action and communication in the politics and polities of the Middle Ages. Finally, the need to avoid anachronism in our consideration of medieval politics. Throwing light both on modern mentalities and on the values and conduct of medieval people themselves, and containing articles, at time of publication, never previously been available in English, this book is essential reading for any serious scholar of medieval Europe.
Officers and Accountability in Medieval England 1170-1300
Author: John Sabapathy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192587234
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
The later twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a pivotal period for the development of European government and governance. A mentality emerged that trusted to procedures of accountability as a means of controlling officers' conduct. The mentality was not inherently new, but it became qualitatively more complex and quantitatively more widespread in this period, across European countries, and across different sorts of officer. The officers exposed to these methods were not just 'state' ones, but also seignorial, ecclasistical, and university-college officers, as well as urban-communal ones. This study surveys these officers and the practices used to regulate them in England. It places them not only within a British context but also a wide European one and explores how administration, law, politics, and norms tried to control the insolence of office. The devices for institutionalising accountability analysed here reflected an extraordinarily creative response in England, and beyond, to the problem of complex government: inquests, audits, accounts, scrutiny panels, sindication. Many of them have shaped the way in which we think about accountability today. Some remain with us. So too do their practical problems. How can one delegate control effectively? How does accountability relate to responsibility? What relationship does accountability have with justice? This study offers answers for these questions in the Middle Ages, and is the first of its kind dedicated to an examination of this important topic in this period.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192587234
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
The later twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a pivotal period for the development of European government and governance. A mentality emerged that trusted to procedures of accountability as a means of controlling officers' conduct. The mentality was not inherently new, but it became qualitatively more complex and quantitatively more widespread in this period, across European countries, and across different sorts of officer. The officers exposed to these methods were not just 'state' ones, but also seignorial, ecclasistical, and university-college officers, as well as urban-communal ones. This study surveys these officers and the practices used to regulate them in England. It places them not only within a British context but also a wide European one and explores how administration, law, politics, and norms tried to control the insolence of office. The devices for institutionalising accountability analysed here reflected an extraordinarily creative response in England, and beyond, to the problem of complex government: inquests, audits, accounts, scrutiny panels, sindication. Many of them have shaped the way in which we think about accountability today. Some remain with us. So too do their practical problems. How can one delegate control effectively? How does accountability relate to responsibility? What relationship does accountability have with justice? This study offers answers for these questions in the Middle Ages, and is the first of its kind dedicated to an examination of this important topic in this period.
Debating medieval Europe
Author: Stephen Mossman
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526117347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
Debating medieval Europe serves as an entry point for studying and teaching medieval history. Rather than simply presenting foundational knowledge or introducing sources, it provides the reader with frameworks for understanding the distinctive historiography of the period, digging beneath the historical accounts provided by other textbooks to expose the contested foundations of apparently settled narratives. It opens a space for discussion and debate, as well as providing essential context for the sometimes overwhelming abundance of specialist scholarship. Volume I addresses the early Middle Ages, covering the period c. 450–c. 1050. The chapters are organised chronologically, and cover such topics as the Carolingian Order, England and the ‘Atlantic Archipelago’, the Vikings and Ottonian Germany. It features a highly distinguished selection of medieval historians, including Paul Fouracre and Janet L. Nelson.
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526117347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
Debating medieval Europe serves as an entry point for studying and teaching medieval history. Rather than simply presenting foundational knowledge or introducing sources, it provides the reader with frameworks for understanding the distinctive historiography of the period, digging beneath the historical accounts provided by other textbooks to expose the contested foundations of apparently settled narratives. It opens a space for discussion and debate, as well as providing essential context for the sometimes overwhelming abundance of specialist scholarship. Volume I addresses the early Middle Ages, covering the period c. 450–c. 1050. The chapters are organised chronologically, and cover such topics as the Carolingian Order, England and the ‘Atlantic Archipelago’, the Vikings and Ottonian Germany. It features a highly distinguished selection of medieval historians, including Paul Fouracre and Janet L. Nelson.
Charlemagne's Practice of Empire
Author: Jennifer R. Davis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107076994
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 553
Book Description
A new interpretation of Charlemagne, examining how the Frankish king and his men learned to govern the first European empire.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107076994
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 553
Book Description
A new interpretation of Charlemagne, examining how the Frankish king and his men learned to govern the first European empire.
The Languages of Gift in the Early Middle Ages
Author: Wendy Davies
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521515173
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
This book is a collection of original essays on gift in the early Middle Ages, from Anglo-Saxon England to the Islamic world. Focusing on the languages of gift, the essays reveal how early medieval people visualized and thought about gift, and how they distinguished between the giving of gifts and other forms of social, economic, political and religious exchange. The same team, largely, that produced the widely cited The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge University Press, 1986) has again collaborated in a collective effort that harnesses individual expertise in order to draw from the sources a deeper understanding of the early Middle Ages by looking at real cases, that is at real people, whether peasant or emperor. The culture of medieval gift has often been treated as archaic and exotic; in this book, by contrast, we see people going about their lives in individual, down-to-earth and sometimes familiar ways.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521515173
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
This book is a collection of original essays on gift in the early Middle Ages, from Anglo-Saxon England to the Islamic world. Focusing on the languages of gift, the essays reveal how early medieval people visualized and thought about gift, and how they distinguished between the giving of gifts and other forms of social, economic, political and religious exchange. The same team, largely, that produced the widely cited The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge University Press, 1986) has again collaborated in a collective effort that harnesses individual expertise in order to draw from the sources a deeper understanding of the early Middle Ages by looking at real cases, that is at real people, whether peasant or emperor. The culture of medieval gift has often been treated as archaic and exotic; in this book, by contrast, we see people going about their lives in individual, down-to-earth and sometimes familiar ways.
Kingship and Consent in Anglo-Saxon England, 871–978
Author: Levi Roach
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107657202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317
Book Description
This engaging study focuses on the role of assemblies in later Anglo-Saxon politics, challenging and nuancing existing models of the late Anglo-Saxon state. Its ten chapters investigate both traditional constitutional aspects of assemblies - who attended these events, where and when they met, and what business they conducted - and the symbolic and representational nature of these gatherings. Levi Roach takes into account important recent work on continental rulership, and argues that assemblies were not a check on kingship in these years, but rather an essential feature of it. In particular, the author highlights the role of symbolic communication at assemblies, arguing that ritual and demonstration were as important in English politics as they were elsewhere in Europe. Far from being exceptional, the methods of rulership employed by English kings look very much like those witnessed elsewhere on the continent, where assemblies and ritual formed an essential part of the political order.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107657202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317
Book Description
This engaging study focuses on the role of assemblies in later Anglo-Saxon politics, challenging and nuancing existing models of the late Anglo-Saxon state. Its ten chapters investigate both traditional constitutional aspects of assemblies - who attended these events, where and when they met, and what business they conducted - and the symbolic and representational nature of these gatherings. Levi Roach takes into account important recent work on continental rulership, and argues that assemblies were not a check on kingship in these years, but rather an essential feature of it. In particular, the author highlights the role of symbolic communication at assemblies, arguing that ritual and demonstration were as important in English politics as they were elsewhere in Europe. Far from being exceptional, the methods of rulership employed by English kings look very much like those witnessed elsewhere on the continent, where assemblies and ritual formed an essential part of the political order.
Slavery After Rome, 500-1100
Author: Alice Rio
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198704054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 offers a substantially new interpretation of what happened to slavery in Western Europe in the centuries that followed the fall of the Roman Empire. The periods at either end of the early middle ages are associated with iconic forms of unfreedom: Roman slavery at one end; at the other, the serfdom of the twelfth century and beyond, together with, in Southern Europe, a revitalized urban chattel slavery dealing chiefly in non-Christians. How and why this major change took place in the intervening period has been a long-standing puzzle. This study picks up the various threads linking this transformation across the centuries, and situates them within the full context of what slavery and unfreedom were being used for in the early middle ages. This volume adopts a broad comparative perspective, covering different regions of Western Europe over six centuries, to try to answer the following questions: who might become enslaved and why? What did this mean for them, and for their lords? What made people opt for certain ways of exploiting unfree labor over others in different times and places, and is it possible, underneath all this diversity, to identify some coherent trajectories of historical change?
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198704054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Slavery After Rome, 500-1100 offers a substantially new interpretation of what happened to slavery in Western Europe in the centuries that followed the fall of the Roman Empire. The periods at either end of the early middle ages are associated with iconic forms of unfreedom: Roman slavery at one end; at the other, the serfdom of the twelfth century and beyond, together with, in Southern Europe, a revitalized urban chattel slavery dealing chiefly in non-Christians. How and why this major change took place in the intervening period has been a long-standing puzzle. This study picks up the various threads linking this transformation across the centuries, and situates them within the full context of what slavery and unfreedom were being used for in the early middle ages. This volume adopts a broad comparative perspective, covering different regions of Western Europe over six centuries, to try to answer the following questions: who might become enslaved and why? What did this mean for them, and for their lords? What made people opt for certain ways of exploiting unfree labor over others in different times and places, and is it possible, underneath all this diversity, to identify some coherent trajectories of historical change?
Frankland
Author: Paul Fouracre
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526148250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 357
Book Description
This collection of highly original essays by leading early medieval historians honours the work and career of Dame Janet (Jinty) Nelson, one of the most respected and influential scholars of her generation. The essays build on the spirit of Janet Nelson’s work by linking the study of Francia with at least one other area or general theme of early medieval history. The papers range across all of the regions of Europe affected by Frankish culture and explore themes which reflect the cutting edge of the work she inspired: memory, queenship, the treatment of prisoners of war, penance, the use of property, historiography, palaeography, prosopography and religious organization. The volume includes an appreciation of her career, and is rounded off by a topical index to highlight its thematic aspects. The contributors are drawn from those who have worked alongside Janet Nelson and from some of her former students. They include David Bates, Stephen Baxter, Wendy Davies, Paul Fouracre and David Ganz.
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526148250
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 357
Book Description
This collection of highly original essays by leading early medieval historians honours the work and career of Dame Janet (Jinty) Nelson, one of the most respected and influential scholars of her generation. The essays build on the spirit of Janet Nelson’s work by linking the study of Francia with at least one other area or general theme of early medieval history. The papers range across all of the regions of Europe affected by Frankish culture and explore themes which reflect the cutting edge of the work she inspired: memory, queenship, the treatment of prisoners of war, penance, the use of property, historiography, palaeography, prosopography and religious organization. The volume includes an appreciation of her career, and is rounded off by a topical index to highlight its thematic aspects. The contributors are drawn from those who have worked alongside Janet Nelson and from some of her former students. They include David Bates, Stephen Baxter, Wendy Davies, Paul Fouracre and David Ganz.
History and politics in late Carolingian and Ottonian Europe
Author:
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526112809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
Abbot Regino of Prüm (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His Chronicle is the essential account of the empire’s collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time. Regino’s lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is aimed at professional researchers, non-specialists and undergraduates alike. A substantial introduction provides both basic orientation and an original scholarly interpretation of the text, while readers are helped along by a detailed footnote commentary. Alongside other Carolingian texts translated in this series, the book will open up the later ninth and earlier tenth centuries to undergraduates and others engaged in the study of this increasingly popular period.
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526112809
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
Abbot Regino of Prüm (d.915) was the last great historian of the Carolingian Empire, which spanned around a million square kilometres of continental western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. His Chronicle is the essential account of the empire’s collapse, while its brief continuation by Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, is one of the key accounts of the rise to power of the Ottonians, the first great German dynasty. Both texts are here translated into English for the first time. Regino’s lively and anecdotal style will appeal to a variety of audiences, and this book is aimed at professional researchers, non-specialists and undergraduates alike. A substantial introduction provides both basic orientation and an original scholarly interpretation of the text, while readers are helped along by a detailed footnote commentary. Alongside other Carolingian texts translated in this series, the book will open up the later ninth and earlier tenth centuries to undergraduates and others engaged in the study of this increasingly popular period.
History and the Written Word
Author: Henry Bainton
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812251903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
A thought-provoking look at the Angevin aristocracy's literary practices and historical record Coming upon the text of a document such as a charter or a letter inserted into the fabric of a medieval chronicle and quoted in full or at length, modern readers might well assume that the chronicler is simply doing what good historians have always done—that is, citing his source as evidence. Such documentary insertions are not ubiquitous in medieval historiography, however, and are in fact particularly characteristic of the history-writing produced by the Angevins in England and Northern France in the later twelfth century. In History and the Written Word, Henry Bainton puts these documentary gestures center stage in an attempt to understand what the chroniclers were doing historiographically, socially, and culturally when they transcribed a document into a work of history. Where earlier scholars who have looked at the phenomenon have explained this increased use of documents by considering the growing bureaucratic state and an increasing historiographical concern for documentary evidence, Bainton seeks to resituate these histories, together with their authors and users, within literate but sub-state networks of political power. Proposing a new category he designates "literate lordship" to describe the form of power with which documentary history-writing was especially concerned, he shows how important the vernacular was in recording the social lives of these literate lords and how they found it a particularly appropriate medium through which to record their roles in history. Drawing on the perspectives of modern and medieval narratology, medieval multilingualism, and cultural memory, History and the Written Word argues that members of an administrative elite demonstrated their mastery of the rules of literate political behavior by producing and consuming history-writing and its documents.
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812251903
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
A thought-provoking look at the Angevin aristocracy's literary practices and historical record Coming upon the text of a document such as a charter or a letter inserted into the fabric of a medieval chronicle and quoted in full or at length, modern readers might well assume that the chronicler is simply doing what good historians have always done—that is, citing his source as evidence. Such documentary insertions are not ubiquitous in medieval historiography, however, and are in fact particularly characteristic of the history-writing produced by the Angevins in England and Northern France in the later twelfth century. In History and the Written Word, Henry Bainton puts these documentary gestures center stage in an attempt to understand what the chroniclers were doing historiographically, socially, and culturally when they transcribed a document into a work of history. Where earlier scholars who have looked at the phenomenon have explained this increased use of documents by considering the growing bureaucratic state and an increasing historiographical concern for documentary evidence, Bainton seeks to resituate these histories, together with their authors and users, within literate but sub-state networks of political power. Proposing a new category he designates "literate lordship" to describe the form of power with which documentary history-writing was especially concerned, he shows how important the vernacular was in recording the social lives of these literate lords and how they found it a particularly appropriate medium through which to record their roles in history. Drawing on the perspectives of modern and medieval narratology, medieval multilingualism, and cultural memory, History and the Written Word argues that members of an administrative elite demonstrated their mastery of the rules of literate political behavior by producing and consuming history-writing and its documents.