Using a history written by a monk in the late tenth century as a point of departure for an exploration of the culture of tenth-century France, this book focuses mainly on the ways that he and his contemporaries engaged in and reacted to contemporary political events. In particular, it demonstrates that the writing of history for these men was a form of participation in the larger political events of their day and a political act itself.

Analyzing the collapse of the pan-European Carolingian Empire in 888 (as seen through the reign of its last ruler, Charles the Fat), this study argues against the generally pessimistic views of the vitality of late ninth-century politics. Its conclusions suggest a new way of looking at the political history of the period, and offer new interpretations of aspects of early medieval kingship, government and historical writing.

An interpretation of Gratian's Decretum, based on the discovery of a shorter, original version.

This book consists of a study of two important and related pieces of thirteenth-century English legislation--the Provisions of Westminster of 1259 and the Statute of Marlborough of 1267. In establishing the political and legal context of these statutes and examining the process of drafting them, the volume utilizes an exceptionally wide range of manuscript sources. Revealing how the legislation was used and interpreted up to 1307, it is the first major work on any of the statutes in this period of major legislative change.

Runaway religious were monks, canons and friars who had taken vows of religion and who, with benefit of neither permission nor dispensation and for myriad reasons, fled their monasteries and returned to a life in the world, usually replacing the religious habit with lay clothes. Not only the normal tugs of the world drew them away: other less obvious yet equally human motives, such as boredom, led to a return to the world. The church pursued them with her severest penalty, excommunication, in the express hope that penalties would lead to the return of the straying sheep. This book is the...

This book examines the Jewish community in England from 1262 to 1290, during the reign of Edward I. Commencing with a survey of the historiography and heritage of medieval Anglo-Jewry, the book analyzes the Jews' financial value to the Crown and indicates that after 1275 some may have diversified into commodity broking. A further chapter examines the varying fortunes of seven provincial communities, which is followed by the most comprehensive study of debtors to Jews to date, showing the wider impact of Jewish lending. Finally, the reasons behind one of the first European expulsions of the...

This book examines the selected writings of John of Wales, a thirteenth-century Franciscan scholar. Though overshadowed historically by men like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, John contributed significantly to the preaching explosion of the later Middle Ages, devoting his scholastic energies to the production of encyclopedic preaching aids for the growing number of the devout and learned emerging from the new universities. Through a detailed analysis of his world view, the author establishes John's strong interest in politics and contemporary social issues and helps to explain why his...

This book examines the relationship between the royal monasteries in tenth- and eleventh-century Germany and the German monarchs. It focuses on the practical aspects of governing without a capital and while constantly in motion, and on the payments and services that monasteries provided to the king and that in turn supported the king's travel economically and politically. It concludes that German rulers did in fact make much greater use of their royal monasteries than has hitherto been recognized.

This book is a study of the reformation in ecclesiastical politics in twelfth-century England whereby the cathedral chapter, by gradually gaining control of more of its own wealth and resources, increased its power and emerged as a community largely independent of the bishop. The story illuminates an important period in the internal life of the Church, when the obligations and rights of individuals and institutions were being given ever more precise definition, and when new views on Church doctrine and canon law, as well as on royal and papal interests, became the concern of many of the...

Among the many states of late medieval Italy, one stands out for its unfamiliarity to an English audience and for its neglect in historical research: that of the Este family, lords (later Dukes) of the cities of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio in northern Italy. This book is the first modern attempt to provide a detailed analysis of the political structure of this state based on archive sources. Much of the book is concerned with the ways by which the Este used their vast landed resources in and around Ferrara to build up and reinforce their personal political authority both within and outside...