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...

This book explores the full range of social, economic, religious and cultural contacts between England and the German city of Cologne during the central Middle Ages, c. 1000 to c. 1300. A wealth of original archive material reveals an extensive network of English and German emigrants who were surprisingly successful in achieving assimilation into their new homelands. From pilgrims to emigrants, crusaders and merchants to teachers, there existed a complex world of Anglo-German associations that will suggest a reconsideration of the medieval European world.

The fourteenth century heralded a new stage in the history of the Church, when papal rule was forced to find new patterns of cooperation with emerging national states. The Avignon pontificate of Clement V (1305-14) found a compromise among conflicting interests, and thus paved the way for the Church in the modern era. In contrast to the characterization of the Avignon period as the "Babylonian captivity" of the papacy, this book offers a new evaluation of Clement's reign, the goals of papal policy, and its evaluation by contempories.

This book looks at family-based political power in three south Italian cities--Gaeta, Amalfi and Naples--and examines the ways in which medieval families can be reconstructed and their relationships with each other studied. It analyzes the changes that took place in these cities, particularly in the eleventh century, and their reactions to the Norman conquest of southern Italy in the latter part of the century. This is the first comparative study of the three cities and it is of special relevance to European studies of the early medieval family and state structures.

This is the first biography of one of the wealthiest and most influential bishops of medieval Europe, who for a period of over thirty years exercised a degree of power over the thirteenth-century Plantagenet court second only to that of the king. The career of Peter des Roches and the activities of his fellow aliens are fundamental to an understanding of the process by which England and France developed as two separate kingdoms. The book also sheds new light on such hotly-debated issues as the role of aliens in English politics, the reception of Magna Carta, the loss of Normandy, and the...

This book is based on the biographies of some 1400 individuals who lived in three northern English towns during the later Middle Ages. It analyzes the many aspects of merchant society: achievements in politics, attitudes toward religion, the family, wider circles of friends and business acquaintances, and the nature and conduct of trade. Merchants were at the core of urban society and played a central role in the development of urban mentalite. This is one of the broadest studies of them yet published, integrating a very wide range of original sources.

Focusing on Yorkshire, by far the largest English county, this book examines three of the most important themes in the period described by Sir Frank Stenton as "the first century of English feudalism": the Norman conquest, the anarchy of Stephen's reign, and the nature of lordship and land tenure. In each case the book offers a strong challenge to dominant and accepted historical interpretations that will alter significantly our conception of Anglo-Norman politics and government.