Download or read book Religious Life in Normandy 1050 1300 written by Leonie V. Hicks and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting new light on the reality of religious life in Normandy, the author uses ideas about space and gender to examine the social pressures arising from such interaction around four main themes: display, reception and intrusion, enclosure and the family.
Download or read book Daily Life in a Medieval Monastery written by Sherri Olson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2013-08-12 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of life inside medieval monasteries that explores monastic spirituality, daily routines, contact with the outside world, and the historical impact of these foundational institutions on the Western world. How did the Western monastic tradition begin? What was monastic life typically like for a monk or nun? How was the institution of the monastery formative to Western culture from antiquity through the Middle Ages? This book covers the entire span of monastic history in the late-ancient and medieval periods and provides an in-depth look at several monasteries across Europe. Each chapter introduces the reader to the surviving evidence for the houses studied, such as its monastic rules, plans, records of visitation, chronicles, and biographical accounts; and aims to give an "insider" view—not only of monks' and nuns' daily activities, but what these dedicated individuals' values, ambitions, and aspirations might have been.
Download or read book Women and Monastic Reform in the Medieval West C 1000 1500 written by Julie Hotchin and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New approaches to understanding religious women's involvement in monastic reform, demonstrating how women's experiences were more ambiguous and multi-layered than previously assumed. Over the last two decades, scholarship has presented a more nuanced view of women's attitude to and agency in medieval monastic reform, challenging the idea that they were, by and large, unwilling to accept or were necessarily hostile towards reform initiatives. Rather, it has shown that they actively participated in debates about the ideas and structures that shaped their religious lives, whether rejecting, embracing, or adapting to calls for "reform" contingent on their circumstances. Nevertheless, fundamental questions regarding the gendered nature of religious reform are ripe for further examination. This book brings together innovative research from a range of disciplines to re-evaluate and enlarge our knowledge of women's involvement in spiritual and institutional change in female monastic communities over the period c. 1000 - c. 1500. Contributors revise conventional narratives about women and monastic reform, and earlier assumptions of reform as negative or irrelevant for women. Drawing on a diverse array of visual, material and textual sources, it presents "snapshots" of reform from western Europe, stretching from Ireland to Iberia. Case-studies focussing on a number of different topics, from tenth-century female saints' lives to fifteenth-century liturgical books, from the tenth-century Leominster prayerbook to archaeological remains in Ireland, from embroideries and tapestries to the rebellious nuns of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, offer a critical reappraisal of how monastic women (and their male associates) reflected, individually and collectively, on their spiritual ideals and institutional forms.
Download or read book Lives Identities and Histories in the Central Middle Ages written by Julie Barrau and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did medieval people define themselves? And how did they balance their identities as individuals with the demands of their communities? Lives, Identities and Histories in the Central Middle Ages intertwines the study of identities with current scholarship to reveal their multi-layered, sometimes contradictory dimensions. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from legal texts to hagiographies and biblical exegesis, and diverse cultural and social approaches, this volume enriches our understanding of medieval people's identities - as defined by themselves and by others, as individuals and as members of groups and communities. It adopts a complex and wide-ranging understanding of what constituted 'identities' beyond family and regional or national belonging, such as social status, gender, age, literacy levels, and displacement. New figures and new concepts of 'identities' thus emerge from the dialogue between the chapters, through an approach based on life-histories, lived experience, ethnogenesis, theories of diaspora, cultural memory and generational change.
Download or read book Norman Rule in Normandy 911 1144 written by Mark S. Hagger and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2017 with total page 826 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In around 911, the Viking adventurer Rollo was granted the city of Rouen and its surrounding district by the Frankish King Charles the Simple. Two further grants of territory followed in 924 and 933. But while Frankish kings might grant this land to Rollo and his son, William Longsword, these two Norman dukes and their successors had to fight and negotiate with rival lords, hostile neighbours, kings, and popes in order to establish and maintain their authority over it. This book explores the geographical and political development of what would become the duchy of Normandy, and the relations between the dukes and these rivals for their lands and their subjects' fidelity. It looks, too, at the administrative machinery the dukes built to support their regime, from their toll-collectors and vicomtes (an official similar to the English sheriff) to the political theatre of their courts and the buildings in which they were staged. At the heart of this exercise are the narratives that purport to tell us about what the dukes did, and the surviving body of the dukes' diplomas. Neither can be taken at face value, and both tell us as much about the concerns and criticisms of the dukes' subjects as they do about the strength of the dukes' authority. The diplomas, in particular, because most of them were not written by scribes attached to the dukes' households but rather by their beneficiaries, can be used to recover something of how the dukes' subjects saw their rulers, as well as something of what they wanted or needed from them. Ducal power was the result of a dialogue, and this volume enables both sides to speak. Mark Hagger is a senior lecturer in medieval history at Bangor University.
Download or read book Leprosy and Charity in Medieval Rouen written by Elma Brenner and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2015 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation into the effects of leprosy in one of the major towns in medieval France, illuminating urban, religious and medical culture at the time.
Download or read book A Short History of the Normans written by Leonie V. Hicks and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-25 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Hastings in 1066 is the one date forever seared on the British national psyche. It enabled the Norman Conquest that marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England. But there was much more to the Normans than the invading army Duke William shipped over from Normandy to the shores of Sussex. How a band of marauding warriors established some of the most powerful dominions in Europe - in Sicily and France, as well as England - is an improbably romantic idea. In exploring Norman culture in all its regions, Leonie V Hicks is able to place the Normans in the full context of early medieval society. Her wide ranging comparative perspective enables the Norman story to be told in full, so that the societies of Rollo, William, Robert (Guiscard) and Roger are given the focused attention they deserve. From Hastings to the martial exploits of Bohemond and Tancred on the First Crusade; from castles and keeps to Romanesque cathedrals; and from the founding of the Kingdom of Sicily (1130) to cross-cultural encounters with Byzantines and Muslims, this is a fresh and lively survey of one of the most popular topics in European history.
Download or read book War and the Making of Medieval Monastic Culture written by Katherine Smith and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2013-09-19 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An extremely interesting and important book... makes an important contribution to the history of medieval monastic spirituality in a formative period, whilst also fitting into wider debates on the origins, development and impact of ideas on crusading and holy war." Dr William Purkis, University of Birmingham Monastic culture has generally been seen as set apart from the medieval battlefield, as "those who prayed" were set apart from "those who fought". However, in this first study of the place of war within medieval monastic culture, the author shows the limitations of this division. Through a wide reading of Latin sermons, letters, and hagiography, she identifies a monastic language of war that presented the monk as the archetypal "soldier of Christ" and his life of prayer as a continuous combat with the devil: indeed, monks' claims to supremacy on the spiritual battlefield grew even louder as Church leaders extended the title of "soldier of Christ" to lay knights and crusaders. So, while medieval monasteries have traditionally been portrayed as peaceful sanctuaries in a violent world, here the author demonstrates that monastic identity was negotiated through real and imaginary encounters with war, and that the concept of spiritual warfare informed virtually every aspect of life in the cloister. It thus breaks new ground in the history of European attitudes toward warfare and warriors in the age of the papal reform movement and the early crusades. Katherine Allen Smith is Assistant Professor of History, University of Puget Sound.
Download or read book Dudo of Saint Quentin s Historia Normannorum written by Benjamin Pohl and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2015 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When Dudo of Saint-Quentin's Historia Normannorum first appeared in or around 1015, written for the then Duke of Normandy, Richard II, Dudo created a text without precedent. By committing the lives and deeds of Richard II's ancestors to written memory for the first time since the foundation of Normandy under the Viking Rollo in 911, Dudo provided the Norman court at Rouen with both an official dynastic historiography and a treasured record of their collective past. The Historia Normannorum was conceived, from the outset, as an idiosyncratic text which purported to be both staunchly traditional and remarkably innovative. By means of a pioneering transdisciplinary combination of Historical Studies, Manuscript Studies, Literary Theory and Cultural Memory Studies, this book explores medieval historiography through a unique and highly innovative lens. The analysis showcases the Historia Normannorum's status as one of the most formative historical narratives of the Middle Ages, one which may even provide the earliest surviving example of an illustrated chronicle from the entire Latin West."--Back cover.
Download or read book Medieval Women Religious C 800 C 1500 written by Kimm Curran and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-01-24 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multi-disciplinary re-evaluation of the role of women religious in the Middle Ages, both inside and outside the cloister. Medieval women found diverse ways of expressing their religious aspirations: within the cloister as members of monastic and religious orders, within the world as vowesses, or between the two as anchorites. Via a range of disciplinary approaches, from history, archaeology, literature, and the visual arts, the essays in this volume challenge received scholarly narratives and re-examine the roles of women religious: their authority and agency within their own communities and the wider world; their learning and literacy; place in the landscape; and visual culture. Overall, they highlight the impact of women on the world around them, the significance of their presence in communities, and the experiences and legacies they left behind.
Download or read book Abbots and Abbesses as a Human Resource in the Ninth to Twelfth Century West written by Steven Vanderputten and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2018 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a record of the response, by eight expert scholars in the field of medieval monastic studies, to the question "To what extent did abbots and abbesses contribute as a `human resource' to the development of reformed monastic communities in the ninth- to twelfth-century west?" Covering a broad geographical area, papers consider one or several of three key points of interest: the direct contribution of abbots and abbesses to the shaping of reformed realities; their influence over future modes of leadership; and the way in which later generations of monastics relied upon the memory of a leader's life and achievements to project current realities onto a legitimizing past.
Download or read book Bury St Edmunds and the Norman Conquest written by Tom Licence and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2014 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Responses to the impact of the Norman Conquest examined through the wealth of evidence provided by the important abbey of Bury St Edmunds. Bury St Edmunds is noteworthy in so many ways: in preserving the cult and memory of the last East Anglian king, in the richness of its archives, and not least in its role as a mediator of medical texts and studies. All these aspects, and more, are amply illustrated in this collection, by specialists in their fields. The balance of the whole work, and the care taken to place the individual topics in context, has resulted in a satisfying whole, which placesAbbot Baldwin and his abbey squarely in the forefront of eleventh-century politics and society. Professor Ann Williams. The abbey of Bury St Edmunds, by 1100, was an international centre of learning, outstanding for its culting of St Edmund, England's patron saint, who was known through France and Italy as a miracle worker principally, but also as a survivor, who had resisted the Vikings and the invading king Swein and gained strength after 1066. Here we journey into the concerns of his community as it negotiated survival in the Anglo-Norman empire, examining, on the one hand, the roles of leading monks, such as the French physician-abbot Baldwin, and, on the other, the part played by ordinary women of the vill. The abbey of Bury provides an exceptionally rich archive, including annals, historical texts, wills, charters, and medical recipes. The chapters in this volume, written by leading experts, present differing perspectives on Bury's responses to conquest; reflecting the interests of the monks, they cover literature, music, medicine, palaeography, and the history of the region in its European context. DrTom Licence is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History and Director of the Centre of East Anglian Studies at the University of East Anglia. Contributors: Debbie Banham, David Bates, Eric Fernie, Sarah Foot, Michael Gullick, Tom Licence, Henry Parkes, Véronique Thouroude, Elizabeth van Houts, Thomas Waldman, Teresa Webber
Download or read book History of the Dukes of Normandy and the Kings of England by the Anonymous of B thune written by Paul Webster and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-02-24 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first quarter of the thirteenth century, an anonymous Flemish writer set in writing, in Old French, a chronicle of Normandy, England, Flanders and northern France. It ranged from the arrival of the Vikings in Normandy to the early years of the reign of King Henry III of England, ending with an account of the translation of the relics of St Thomas Becket to their magnificent new shrine in Canterbury Cathedral in 1220. Along the way, it adopted and formed part of a tradition of writing of the history of the dukes of Normandy and kings of England, a tradition which had developed in Latin in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and then continued in Old French. The work is famous for vibrant and informed description of the reign of King John, in particular the period of baronial reaction, Magna Carta, ensuing civil war and the nearly-successful invasion of England by Louis, heir to the kingdom of France. Flanders supplied troops to both sides, and this Flemish author sees these events in close detail, and from the Flemish, not the French or English, point of view. He may himself have been an eyewitness, directly involved, but if not he would have known many who had fought and died in this conflict. Janet Shirley’s translation of this chronicle, the first into English, brings the work of the Anonymous of Béthune to a new audience in this volume, accompanied by an introduction and historical notes by Paul Webster.
Download or read book Religious Conflict at Canterbury Cathedral in the Late Twelfth Century written by James Barnaby and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive study of a bitter dispute which occupied the archbishops and monks of Canterbury throughout the 1180s and 1190s. For fifteen years the monks of Christ Church Canterbury waged a war against their archbishop, over a plan to build a church to provide funds for their administration, dedicated to Thomas Becket. Fearing the loss of their most beloved (and lucrative) saint to this new institution, the monks embarked on a course of action which saw rioting in the streets of Canterbury, their excommunication, and the cathedral placed under siege by the archbishop. Although at first glance an internal dispute between the archbishop and his cathedral chapter, it had a wide-ranging impact. The monks travelled thousands of miles in support of their cause, enlisting the backing of popes, cardinals, and the elites of Europe. In England, the kings during the period took a personal interest in the dispute, sometimes attempting to resolve it and sometimes hindering any chance of peace. This book, the first full account of the conflict, draws on the huge collection of letters it provoked (one of the largest compiled in the twelfth century), alongside other sources such as monastic culture, to offer a detailed narrative of this complicated feud between Archbishops Baldwin of Forde, Hubert Walter and their cathedral monks; it also considers the continuations of the dispute in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In addition, it analyses the key themes of the conflict: the role of royalty, travel, and the deployment of Thomas Becket.
Download or read book King John and Religion written by Paul Webster and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2015 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the personal religion of King John, presenting a more complex picture of his actions and attitude.
Download or read book Cathedrals Communities and Conflict in the Anglo Norman World written by Paul Dalton and published by Boydell Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true importance of cathedrals during the Anglo-Norman period is here brought out, through an examination of the most important aspects of their history. Cathedrals dominated the ecclesiastical (and physical) landscape of the British Isles and Normandy in the middle ages; yet, in comparison with the history of monasteries, theirs has received significantly less attention. This volume helps to redress the balance by examining major themes in their development between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. These include the composition, life, corporate identity and memory of cathedral communities; the relationships, sometimes supportive, sometimes conflicting, that they had with kings (e.g. King John), aristocracies, and neighbouring urban and religious communities; the importance of cathedrals as centres of lordship and patronage; their role in promoting and utilizing saints' cults (e.g. that of St Thomas Becket); episcopal relations; and the involvement of cathedrals in religious and political conflicts, and in the settlement of disputes. A critical introduction locates medieval cathedrals in space and time, and against a backdrop of wider ecclesiastical change in the period. Contributors: Paul Dalton, Charles Insley, Louise J. Wilkinson, Ann Williams, C.P. Lewis, RichardAllen, John Reuben Davies, Thomas Roche, Stephen Marritt, Michael Staunton, Sheila Sweetinburgh, Paul Webster, Nicholas Vincent
Download or read book The Place of the Social Margins 1350 1750 written by Andrew Spicer and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary volume illuminates the shadowy history of the disadvantaged, sick and those who did not conform to the accepted norms of society. It explores how marginal identity was formed, perceived and represented in Britain and Europe during the medieval and early modern periods. It illustrates that the identities of marginal groups were shaped by their place within primarily urban communities, both in terms of their socio-economic status and the spaces in which they lived and worked. Some of these groups – such as executioners, prostitutes, pedlars and slaves – performed a significant social and economic function but on the basis of this were stigmatized by other townspeople. Language was used to control and limit the activities of others within society such as single women and foreigners, as well as the victims of sexual crimes. For many, such as lepers and the disabled, marginal status could be ambiguous, cyclical or short-lived and affected by key religious, political and economic events. Traditional histories have often considered these groups in isolation. Based on new research, a series of case studies from Britain and across Europe illustrate and provide important insights into the problems faced by these marginal groups and the ways in which medieval and early modern communities were shaped and developed.
