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feudal nobility. One significant problem which is not resolved in his treatment of the subject is that of the composition of the court. Hugh Farmer, ‘The canonization of St Hugh of Lincoln’, Architectural and Archaeological Society of the County of Lincoln Report and Papers, new ser., 6: 2 (1956), 86–117, brought together papal letters and sworn testimonies made during the canonisation campaign. The role of women as sworn witnesses would be a fruitful line of enquiry for further research into the incidence of specific illnesses and, for 46 patronage and power 44
’, Prosopon, newsletter of the Unit for Prosopographical Research, 2 (1995), 1–2, states that Lucy was the daughter of Thorold, sheriff of Lincolnshire. 76 countesses 27 Magnum Rotulum Scaccarii vel magnum rotulum pipae, de anno tricesmo primo regni Henrici Primi, ed. J. Hunter ([London]: Record Commission, 1833), p. 110. 28 Chester Charters, no. 14. 29 Ibid., no. 16. 30 BL, MS Add. 35,296 (Spalding Register), f. 388v; Chester Charters, no. 17. 31 S. Thompson, Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries after the Norman Conquest (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991
J ANET NELSON (NEÉ MUIR) was born in 1942 and grew up in Blackpool, Lancashire. She studied History at Newnham College, Cambridge and graduated in 1964. In Cambridge she met and in 1965 married Howard Nelson. After graduation she proceeded directly to postgraduate research under Professor Walter Ullmann, completing a PhD in 1967. Her thesis title was ‘Rituals of Royal
someone called ‘Dagobert’ by drawing on some well known – i.e., frequently copied – works of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. 5 The selection and interpretation of these texts is very revealing of what an author could find out when set the task of researching the life of a distant figure, and of what sense he or she could make of earlier times. The author was writing at what Patrick Geary has
Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims (d. 882) is a crucial figure for all those
interested in early medieval European history in general, and Carolingian
history in particular. As the powerful Archbishop of Rheims, Hincmar shaped the
times in which he lived, advising and admonishing kings, playing a leading role
in the Frankish church, and intervening in a range of political and doctrinal
disputes. But Hincmar also shaped how those times would later be seen by
historians up to the present day, by writing historical accounts such as the
Annals of St-Bertin, and by carefully preserving dossiers of material for
posterity.
This book puts the archbishop himself centre-stage, bringing
together the latest international research across the spectrum of his varied
activities, as history-writer, estate administrator, hagiographer,
pastorally-engaged bishop, and politically-minded royal advisor. For the first
time since Jean Devisse’s magisterial studies in the 1970s, it offers a
three-dimensional examination of a controversial figure whose actions and
writings in different fields are often studied in isolation, at the cost of a
more integrated appreciation. Combining research from recognised experts as well
as early-career historians, it will be an essential companion for all those
interested in the early medieval Frankish world, and in the history of early
medieval Europe more broadly.
One of the key aims of this book is to offer a synthesis of the main findings of current research on age. It is intended as an outline survey and consequently the scope of the book is deliberately broad: it covers two centuries, considers the large land mass of Western Europe with its diverse languages, customs and cultures, and ranges across the social spectrum. The book focuses solely on the Christian West, including consideration on the extent to which social rank influenced life expectancy, the methods and goals of upbringing, marriage patterns and funerary memorialisation. The book also demonstrates how extensive that range can be. Examples are drawn from manorial accounts, tax assessments, spiritual writings, didactic literature, romances, elegies, art and architecture. The main thrust is that age formed an essential part of a person's identity in late medieval Europe. During adolescence, men and women progressively took on their adult roles. Three chapters are devoted to educating girls. The book discusses young people's period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It draws attention to pious young women who fought against marriage and wanted a chaste life. Divergences between northern and southern Europe in terms of marriage patterns, family formation, opportunities for women and attitudes towards death and its rituals are discussed. The book shows that attitudes towards the undeveloped young meant that children had few legal responsibilities. Another aim of the book is to consider the changing opportunities and possibilities for people as they progressed through life.
The book is an account of noblewomen in Wales in the high middle ages, focusing on one particular case-study, Nest of Deheubarth. Object of one of the most notorious and portentous abductions of the middle ages, this ‘Helen of Wales’ was both mistress of Henry I and ancestress of a dynasty which dominated the Anglo-Norman conquests of Ireland. The book fills a significant gap in the historiography - while women’s power has been one of the most vibrant areas of historical scholarship for thirty years, Welsh medieval studies has not yet responded. It develops understandings of the interactions of gender with conquest, imperialism, and with the social and cultural transformations of the middle ages, from a new perspective. Many studies have recently appeared reconsidering these relationships, but few if any have women and gender as a core theme. Gender, Nation and Conquest will therefore be of interest to all researching, teaching and studying the high middle ages in Britain and Ireland, and to a wider audience for which medieval women’s history women is a growing fascination. Hitherto Nest has been seen as the pawn of powerful men. A more general discussion of ideals concerning beauty, love, sex and marriage and an analysis of the interconnecting identities of Nest throws light on her role as wife/concubine/mistress. A unique feature of the book is its examination of the story of Nest in its many forms over succeeding centuries, during which it has formed part of significant narratives of gender and nation.
John of Salisbury (c. 1120–80) is a key figure of the twelfth-century renaissance. A student at the cosmopolitan schools of medieval Paris, an associate of Thomas Becket and an acute commentator on society and rulership, his works and letters give unique insights into the political culture of this period. This volume reassesses the influence of classical sources on John’s political writings, investigating how he accessed and used the ideas of his ancient predecessors.
By looking at his quotations from and allusions to classical works, O’Daly shows that John not only borrowed the vocabulary of his classical forbears, but explicitly aligned himself with their philosophical positions. She illustrates John’s profound debt to Roman Stoicism, derived from the writings of Seneca and Cicero, and shows how he made Stoic theories on duties, virtuous rulership and moderation relevant to the medieval context. She also examines how John’s classical learning was filtered through patristic sources, arguing that this led to a unique synthesis between his political and theological views.
The book places famous elements of John’s political theory - such as his model of the body-politic, his views on tyranny - in the context of the intellectual foment of the classical revival and the dramatic social changes afoot in Europe in the twelfth century. In so doing, it offers students and researchers of this period a novel investigation of how Stoicism comprises a ‘third way’ for medieval political philosophy, interacting with – and at times dominating – neo-Platonism and proto-Aristotelianism.
children of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia. 2 Academic research has its own cycles, and since the 1990s there has been a growing literature on adolescence, youth and old age. 3 A second, smaller, set of studies has focused on theories of ageing and literary representations of the entire life cycle. Issues considered include philosophical discussions of the life span
with each other? Or can we unite in perpetual discontent with those outside both fields who, beyond the academy, continue to relegate the medieval to the most barbaric and irrelevant margins of modernity and, within it, to the most vulnerable extremes of a humanities syllabus in crisis? Is it possible to imagine a future of teaching and research in both fields that might operate according to a different dynamic? We