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Signs of Devotion is the first longitudinal study of an Anglo-Saxon cult from its inception in the late seventh century through the Reformation. It examines the production and reception of texts--both written and visual--that supported the cult of Æthelthryth, an East Anglian princess who had resisted the conjugal demands of two political marriages to maintain her virginity. Æthelthryth forfeited her position as Queen of Northumbria to become a nun and founded a monastery at Ely, where she ruled as abbess before dying in 679 of a neck tumor, which was interpreted as divine retribution for her youthful vanity in wearing necklaces. The cult was initiated when, sixteen years after her death, Æthelthryth's corpse was exhumed, the body found incorrupt, and the tumor shown to have been healed posthumously.

Signs of Devotion reveals how Æthelthryth, who became the most popular native female saint, provides a central point of investigation among the cultic practices of several disparate groups over time-religious and lay, aristocratic and common, male and female, literate and nonliterate. This study illustrates that the body of Æthelthryth became a malleable, flexible image that could be readily adopted. Hagiographical narratives, monastic charters, liturgical texts, miracle stories, estate litigation, shrine accounts, and visual representations collectively testify that the story of Æthelthryth was a significant part of the cultural landscape in early and late medieval England. More important, these representations reveal the particular devotional practices of those invested in Æthelthryth's cult. By centering the discussion on issues of textual production and reception, Blanton provides a unique study of English hagiography, cultural belief, and devotional practice. Signs of Devotion adds, moreover, to the current conversation on virginity and hagiography by encouraging scholars to bridge the divide between studies of Anglo-Saxon and late medieval England and challenging them to adopt methodological strategies that will foster further multidisciplinary work in the field of hagiographical scholarship. ... Read more

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In this sourcebook, the editors bring together a varied selection of medieval documents on pastoral care. These materials - from administrative, theological, legal, historical and literary sources - are grouped thematically and offer a summary of the multifaceted lives of the parish clergymen. ... Read more

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The works of Sir James Holt are well known to all those working in medieval history and this important set of essays, written in his honor, reflect his interests in England and Normandy from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries.The essays have been contributed by those who have taught, worked alongside, or studied under the honorand.Particular concerns of the volume are warfare and military intelligence; rebellion and responses to revolt; the development of land law; legal learning and documents. ... Read more

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Andrew Brown explores lay piety in its contexts of landscape, society, and the church, and examines the many different issues and activities which were of contemporary importance, such as the religious guilds, charity, and heresy. He shows how the regional variations in social and economic structure affected parish life, and concluces with an important assessment of the reception of the Reformation in the diocese. This is the first scholarly study of the lay religion of this region, and its broad chronological range of and meticulously researched local focus offer illuminating insights into medieval piety over the centuries. ... Read more

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The cult of St Katherine of Alexandria enjoyed great popularity throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, retaining a wide appeal right up to the Reformation; she appears in a wide variety of contexts, in association with concepts of royal and civic power, by the end of the period becoming identified as a British saint, and acting as a model of the ideal lay Christian and a paradigm of femininity and young womanhood. This study, the first full-scale interdisciplinary examination of a saint's cult in late medieval England, looks at the processes by which she came to have such a prominent place in the devotions of English men and women from across the wide social scale; using written and visual narratives of Katherine's life, in combination with documentary evidence provided by wills, inventories and gild returns, the author shows how devotees perceived and responded to her, and the various religious, social and cultural roles assigned to her. ... Read more

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Recently, St George has enjoyed a modest revival as a specifically English national symbol. But how became the patron saint of England in the first place has always been a mystery. He was not English, nor was his principal shrine there - the usual criteria for national patronage; yet his status and fame have eclipsed all others. Instead, it was Edward III's use of the saint in his wars against the French that really established him as a patron and protector of the king. Unlike other such saints, however, George was enthusiastically adopted by other English people to signify their membership in the `community of the realm'. This book traces the origins and growth of his cult, arguing that, especially after Edward's death, George came to represent a `good' politics (in this case, the shared prosecution of a war with spoils for everyone) and could be used to rebuke subsequent kings for their poor governance. Most kings came to realize this fact, and venerated St. George in order to prove their worthiness to hold their office. This political dimension of the cult never completely displaced the devotional one, but it was so strong that St. George survived the Reformation as a national symbol - one that grows ever more important in the wake of devolution and the recovery of a specifically English identity. JONATHAN GOOD is Assistant Professor of History at Reinhardt College. ... Read more

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An excellent, methodical study, highly recommended to academics and curious lay readers alike
Written by Jonathan Good (Assistant Professor of History, Reinhardt College, Georgia) The Cult of St. George in Medieval England is an in-depth, scholarly assessment of the origins, development, and overall history of the Cult of St. George, from its inception and arrival in England (and St. George's ascendance to a patron of England when he was not English and his principal shrine was not located in England) to its influence through the Middle Ages and beyond. Good presents the well-researched hypothesis that St. George became a means for the people to chastise misgovernance, and reclaim influence in their communities. Good also traces the role St. George played in the development of English national identity during the Middle ages, with a brief examination of the changes that occurred after the Middle Ages. An excellent, methodical study, highly recommended to academics and curious lay readers alike. ... Read more

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Examining the victualling, textile, clothing, leather, metal work and building, trades, this work sets out to show how the artisans of medieval England fared in urban society, under the mercantile oligarchy. The first part of the book looks at specific trades. It attempts to show how diverse the different trades were and the crucial and previously undervalued role women played in every form of manufacture. The second part focuses on the place of the artisans in urban society, especially their relationship to the merchant class. The author describes how typically a mercantile oligarchy manipulated by means of a closed elite, the crafts guilds and gained control of the town's administrative and judicial processes. Yet, as she demonstrates, the urban decline of the late middle ages paradoxically offered artisans the greatest prospect to encroach on the merchants' formidable political power. ... Read more

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This is the first scholarly study of the political role of the Order of the Garter during the late middle ages. Hugh Collins's examination of the Garter's pragmatic considerations and knightly ideas reveals the extent to which political society in the late middle ages founded its ambitions and aspirations on the cult of chivalry. ... Read more

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Groundbreaking research
This is a fascinating study of a previously unexamined area of medieval history. It seeks with some success to reconcile our understanding of the relationship between the aspirational and idealistic world of chivalry with the pragmatic and at some times brutal world of medieval Europe. Focusing in particular on the order of the Garter during the later Middle Ages, it discusses how the politic functions of the order operated within a structure of ideals that embraced the highest aspirations of the chivalric ethos. All in all an inspired work of scholarship. ... Read more

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Gives quick access to medieval England
This valuable reference work offers concise, expert answers to questions on all aspects of life and culture in medieval England-art, architecture, law, literature, kings, commoners, women, music, commerce, technology, warfare, religion, and many others.It takes as its scope English social, cultural, and political life from the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the fifth century to the turn of the sixteenth century.To make it even more useful to information seekers, the Encyclopedia also traces England's ties to the Celtic world of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, to the French and Anglo-Norman world of the Continent, to the Viking and Scandinavian world of the North Sea, and to the world of medieval Christendom. The result is a detailed portrait of the English Middle Ages and their key historical events, personages, and cultural contexts.

Authoritative, wide-ranging, informative
Multidisciplinary articles bring together a rich variety of scholarly perspectives and individual viewpoints found in no other comparable reference work. More than 700 entries by over 300 international scholars discuss topics ranging from Sedulius to Skelton, from Wulfstan of York to Reginald Pecock, from Pictish art to Gothic sculpture, from the Vikings to the Black Death, from musical instruments to weapons, from Beowulf to The Book of Margery Kempe, from comic tales to religious allegory, from saints to lawyers, from courtly love to prostitution, from mills to monasteries, from Alfred the Great to Geoffrey Chaucer.

Makes further inquiry simple and easy
A subject and name index makes it easy to locate information.Bibliographies direct users to essential primary and secondary sources and recent scholarship.Where possible, bibliographic references have been selected with an eye to accessibility for nonspecialists, although more advanced essential works are also included.Priority has been given to scholarship in English, books and journals likely to be available in university libraries, and general studies that provide good bibliographic and methodological guidance for further study.

Special features
The first comprehensive survey of England in the Middle Ages-in one authoritative volume; Accessible to students and useful to scholars; More than 300 expert contributors provide a stimulating diversity of interpretations and opinions; Explains how English history, literature, arts, and culture developed during the Middle Ages; Devotes substantial coverage to medieval art and architecture; Offers different viewpoints on related or overlapping topics, illuminating the complexities of modern scholarly inquiry; Over 150 illustrations ... Read more

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This book looks at laws prohibiting usury, forestalling and regrating and regulating prices in England during the reigns of the first three Edwards and Richard II (1272-1399). The laws had the potential to affect a vast number of people and their everyday sales and loans, and represent an important aspect of the advancing role of law in the later middle ages; the author takes issue with established opinion, which seems as them as the product of `monkish superstition and civil tyranny' (in Blackstone's famous phrase), arguing that they are an evolving area of activity, characterised by experiment, compromise and interaction with other rule-making and rule-enforcing bodies. ... Read more

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In this first general survey of political prophecy in medieval England for almost a hundred years, Lesley Coote examines the nature of political prophecy, its audience and its reception. She compares the discourse of prophecy with other, related discourses, and demonstrates how it functioned as a political language. A study of extant manuscripts produces an account of the importance of political prophecy in later medieval England, from its emergence in the twelfth century to the end of the middle ages. What emerges from this study is a political language which was neither peripheral to English political consciousness, nor merely a game for intellectuals, but a major language for the discussion of public affairs. In this language were presented ideas of 'Englishness' and the aspirations of a 'national' community, which included the imminent revelation of a great crusading hero-ruler, a second Arthur, who would lead his people into the Last Days. The book is completed with a handlist of manuscripts containing political prophecies.Dr LESLEY A. COOTE is a Research Fellow in the Department of English at the University of Hull.In the first general survey of political prophecy in medieval England for almost a hundred years, Lesley Coote examines the nature of political prophecy, its audience and its reception, from its emergence in the twelfth century to the end of the middle ages. Working from original manuscripts, she reveals prophecy to have been a major language for the discussion of public affairs, enshrining ideas of 'Englishness' and a 'national' community, and introducing a great crusading hero-ruler, a second Arthur, who would lead his people into the Last Days. Valuable research tool: Handlist of manuscripts containing political prophecies. ... Read more

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The essays and articles produced by Roger Virgoe (1932-1996) over a period of thirty-five years make a notable contribution to the study of political life in late medieval England, and to our knowledge of the workings of East Anglian gentry society. This selection of nineteen papers serves as a memorial to a leading member of the School of History at the University of East Anglia, who devoted much of his life to promoting historical studies in the region. ... Read more

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This is the third collection of articles by Bruce Campbell to appear in the "Variorum" series. Late medieval England was an overwhelmingly rural society. Never since has such a large proportion of the population lived in the countryside or relied so directly for its livelihood upon agriculture. The lot of a majority of that population was always a hard one - and never more so than during the first half of the 14th century, when peasants competed with each other for ever-scarcer land and work and a succession of major harvest failures jeopardized the survival of many. Nevertheless, experience varied considerably, both during this era of mounting population pressure and the century and more of population decline and stagnation that followed the demographic disaster of the Black Death. How well individual communities coped during these contrasting conditions of expansion and contraction owed much to the quality and composition of their natural-resource endowment, a good deal to their ability to take advantage of changing commercial opportunities, and sometimes almost everything to how exposed they were to military conflict.Always, however, much hinged upon how the twin feudal institutions of lordship and serfdom were mapped onto land and people via the manorial system. These are the themes variously explored by the eight essays assembled in this volume, which range from a case-study of a single crowded Norfolk manor to a consideration of the broad and, towards the end of the Middle Ages, widening contrasts that persisted between North and South. ... Read more

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Who were the Lollards? What did Lollards believe? What can the manuscript record of Lollard works teach us about the textual dissemination of Lollard beliefs and the audience for Lollard writings? What did Lollards have in common with other reformist or dissident thinkers in late medieval England, and how were their views distinctive? These questions have been fundamental to the modern study of Lollardy (also known as Wycliffism). The essays in this book reveal their broader implications for the study of English literature and history through a series of closely focused studies that demonstrate the wide-ranging influence of Lollard writings and ideas on later medieval English culture. Introductions to previous scholarship, and an extensive Bibliography of printed resources for the study of Wyclif and Wycliffites, provide an entry to scholarship for those new to the field. Contributors: DAVID AERS, MARGARET ASTON, HELEN BARR, MISHTOONI BOSE, LAWRENCE M. CLOPPER, ANDREW COLE, RALPH HANNA III, ANNE HUDSON, MAUREEN JURKOWSKI, ANDREW LARSEN, GEOFFREY H. MARTIN, DERRICK G. PITARD, WENDY SCASE, FIONA SOMERSET, EMILY STEINER. ... Read more

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In Old Age in Late Medieval England, Joel T. Rosenthal explores the life spans, sustained activities, behaviors, and mentalites of the individuals who approached and who passed the biblically stipulated span of three score and ten in late medieval England. Drawing on a wide variety of documentary and court records (which were, however, more likely to specify with precision an individual's age on reaching majority or inheriting property than on the occasion of his or her death) as well as literary and didactic texts, he examines "old age" as a social construct and web of behavioral patterns woven around a biological phenomenon.

Focusing on "lived experience" in late medieval England, Rosenthal uses demographic and quantitative records, family histories, and biographical information to demonstrate that many people lived into their sixth, seventh, and occasionally eighth decades. Those who survived might well live to know their grandchildren. This view of a society composed of the aged as well as of the young and the middle aged is reinforced by an examination of peers, bishops, and members of parliament and urban office holders, for whom demographic and career-length information exists. Many individuals had active careers until near the end of their lives; the aged were neither rarities nor outcasts within their world. Late medieval society recognized the concept of retirement, of old age pensions, and of the welcome release from duty for those who had served over the decades.

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The men and women who gathered at the Tabard Inn in Southwark in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are only the most famous of the tens of thousands of English pilgrims, from kings to peasants, who set off to the shrines of saints and the sites of miracles in the middle ages. As they travelled along well-established routes in the hope of a cure or a blessing, to fulfil a vow or to see new places, the pilgrims left records that let us see medieval people and their concerns and beliefs from a unique and intimate angle. As well as the most famous shrines, notably that of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury, Diana Webb also describes the many local pilgrimages and cults, and their rise and fall, over the English middle ages as a whole. 'Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, and palmeres for to seken straunge strondes'. 'Webb's scholarly achievement deserves high praise'. ... Read more

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The Prior of the Knights Hospitaller played a major role not only within the Order, but also in the wider arena of English - and indeed European - politics. This role, and its changes between 1272 and 1540, are the focus of this new book, which draws extensively on archival material both in the United Kingdom and in the Hospitaller archives at Malta. It argues that the Prior's allegiance to the crown was as important as his allegiance to his order, that the relationship between crown and priory was generally cordial and that usually there was no contradiction between service to crown and convent. It demonstrates a general expansion in the public roles of the Hospitaller Prior, not just under the most politically important Priors. It analyses the Priors' interactions with financially important merchants and the terms that three Priors served as treasurers of England. Finally, by revealing how the order lost political control of its estates, it contributes to the broader themes of secularisation and emerging nationalism. ... Read more

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