This book examines the role of written agreements in eleventh- and twelfth-century Catalonia, and how they determined the social and political order. In addition to offering insights into subjects as diverse as the power of counts and bishops and the organization of rural societies, it addresses several current debates in medieval studies: the question of feudalism, the "transformation of the year 1000," medieval literacy, and the nature of Mediterranean societies. It is thus a local study that has wide implications for the history of medieval Europe.

Intellectual developments pioneered by scholastic natural philosophers of the fourteenth century constituted a critical stage in the emergence of scientific thought. Beneath these technical developments lay a profound reconceptualization of nature. The purpose of this book is to analyze the components of this reconceptualization, and to speculate on the influences that shaped it. It argues that the transformation of the conceptual model of the natural world c. 1260-1380 was strongly influenced by the rapid monetization of European society during the same period.

This book examines the evidence for literacy in early medieval Italy under the rule of the Lombards, the last of the barbarian invaders who established a kingdom in north and central Italy from 568 to 774. By examining different kinds of written documentation (legislation, charters, inscriptions and manuscripts), the study reveals that Lombard Italy actually possessed a relatively sophisticated written culture prior to the so-called Carolingian Renaissance of the ninth century.

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.

This wide-ranging study of the court of Guelders in the Low Countries provides an excellent vantage point for the study of late medieval court culture. Despite being surrounded by the vast territories of the dukes of Burgundy, and the growing power of the Valois dukes, the court managed to remain independent until 1473. Archival sources convey the striking cultural and political richness of the court, poised between French and German spheres of influence, and demonstrate how Guelders can be considered as representative of Europe's many medium-sized courts.

This study reveals the remarkable quantity of varied forms and new types of history written in the Frankish realms of Western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. The Franks also preserved the classical and Judaeo-Christian histories from earlier centuries. Their books reflect a highly sophisticated and many-layered understanding of the past as well as a very creative use of history. Rosamond McKitterick illuminates the extraordinarily influential role of these history texts in the formation of political ideologies and senses of identity within Europe.

Chrodegang of Metz (c. 712-766) was one of the leading figures of the late Merovingian and early Carolingian Church. As bishop of Metz, Chrodegang became one of the foremost churchmen in Francia and undertook the reform of the lives of canons of the Metz cathedral. This book is an examination of the life and rule of Chrodegang of Metz and explores his attempts to transform his see into a hagiopolis, a holy city that would provide a model for later Carolingian reform.

This is the first analysis of the full breadth of papal involvement in late medieval Britain, using local sources in conjunction with material from the Vatican Archives. It deals with the Avignon Papacy's relations with Scotland and northern England during a period in which papal involvement at the local level was unusually wide-ranging, but still was generally accepted. It examines how papal practices affected both clerics and lay people in northern Britain, the nature and importance of any opposition aroused, and how far the popes and their agents had to adapt to local circumstances.

This study develops our understanding of medieval society through an examination of its charitable activities. In a detailed study of the forms in which relief was organised in medieval Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, the book unravels the economic and demographic factors which created the need for relief as well as the forms in which the community offered it. With continual reference to the religious teachings of priests and friars and the changing ideas of lay piety, Dr Rubin relates the changing forms of charitable giving to the shift in attitudes towards community and social order, towards...

This volume examines the nature of aristocratic society in the Spanish kingdoms of Leon and Castile in the twelfth century. Drawing on an extensive range of original sources, many of them unpublished, it highlights the unrivaled wealth, status and power enjoyed by some members of the aristocracy. It also explores the multifarious roles that lay magnates were expected to fulfill: as family protectors, landlords and judges; as courtiers, diplomats and military commanders; and, not least, as patrons of the church.