Middle English Literature

Middle English Literature

Author: Christopher Cannon

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2008-04-07

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0745624413

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This book provides a boldly original account of Middle English literature from the Norman Conquest to the beginning of the sixteenth century. It argues that these centuries are, in fundamental ways, the momentous period in our literary history, for they are the long moment in which the category of literature itself emerged as English writing began to insist, for the first time, that it floated free of any social reality or function. This book also charts the complex mechanisms by which English writing acquired this power in a series of linked close readings of both canonical and more obscure texts. It encloses those readings in five compelling accounts of much broader cultural areas, describing, in particular, the productive relationship of Middle English writing to medieval technology, insurgency, statecraft and cultural place, concluding with an in depth account of the particular arguments, emphases and techniques English writers used to claim a wholly new jurisdiction for their work. Both this history and its readings are everywhere informed by the most exciting developments in recent Middle English scholarship as well as literary and cultural theory. It serves as an introduction to all these areas as well as a contribution, in its own right, to each of them.


The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England

The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England

Author: Nigel Saul

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9780198205029

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A thorough and well-illustrated history with eight long essays by leading scholars which cover the history and culture of England, rather than the British Isles, from the 5th to the 15th century. Contents: Medieval England - Identity, Politics and Society ( Nigel Saul ); Anglo-Saxon England ( Janet L Nelson ); Conquered England ( George Garnett ); Late Medieval England 1215-1485 ( Chris Given-Wilson ); Economy and Society ( Christopher Dyer ); Piety, Religion and the Church ( Henrietta Leyser ); The Visual Arts ( Nicola Coldstream ); Language and Literature ( Derek Pearsall ).


History of Britain and Ireland

History of Britain and Ireland

Author: DK

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-12-20

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0744024404

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Discover the pivotal political, military, and cultural events that shaped British and Irish history, from Stone Age Britain to the present day, in this revised and updated ebook. Combining over 700 photographs, maps, and artworks with accessible text, the History of Britain and Ireland is an invaluable resource for families, students, and anyone seeking to learn more about the fascinating story of the England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Spanning six distinct periods of British and Irish history, this ebook is the best way to find out how Britain transformed with the Norman rule, fought two world wars in the 20th century, and faced new economic challenges in the 21st century. DK's visual guide places key figures - from Alfred the Great to Winston Churchill - and major events - from Roman invasion to the Battle of Britain - in their wider context, making it easier than ever before to learn how they influenced Britain and Ireland's development through the age of empire into the modern era.


The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire

The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire

Author: P. J. Marshall

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-08-02

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 9780521002547

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Up to World War II and beyond, the British ruled over a vast empire. Modern western attitudes towards the imperial past tend either towards nostalgia for British power or revulsion at what seem to be the abuses of that power. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire adopts neither of these approaches. It aims to create historical understanding about the British empire on the assumption that such understanding is important for any informed appreciation of the modern world. Through striking illustration and a text written by leading experts, this book examines the experience of colonialism in North America, India, Africa, Australia, and the Caribbean, as well as the impact of the empire on Britain itself. Emphasis is placed on social and cultural history, including slavery, trade, religion, art, and the movement of ideas. How did the British rule their empire? Who benefited economically from the empire? And who lost?


See Inside History of Britain

See Inside History of Britain

Author: Rob Lloyd Jones

Publisher: Usborne Publishing Limited

Published: 2014-06-01

Total Pages: 16

ISBN-13: 9781409550198

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This lift-the-flap book for older children covers life in Britain from Anglo-Saxon invasions to the 21st century.


Gunners from the Sky

Gunners from the Sky

Author: Paul Chrystal

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2023-10-30

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1399088092

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This is the story of the 1st Air Landing Light Regiment RA and its role in the Italian campaign and at the Battle of Arnhem. It is also the story of one of its soldiers: 14283058 Gunner Eric Wright Chrystal, father of the authors. Eric joined the army in September 1942 and, after training, joined the newly formed glider-borne regiment the following year. He first saw action in Italy in 1943, where he was seriously wounded. On 17 September 1944, two years to the day since he enlisted, he and the regiment were landed by glider near to Arnhem in the Netherlands. The authors recount set their father’s experiences in context by describing the formation of the unit and the many months of training in England. Their involvement in the Italian campaign, where Eric served with E Troop, 3 Battery, is then recounted, detailing their actions at Rionero, Foggia and Campobasso, where Eric was wounded. It then moves on to describe 1st Air Landing Light Regiment’s preparation for and involvement in Operation Market (the Airborne half of Market Garden). This very detailed account of the fighting highlights the regiment’s pivotal (but often neglected) role near Arnhem bridge. Here, after nine days of intense combat, Eric was among the many captured and held until the end of the war. The inclusion of Eric’s own eyewitness testimony lends a very personal touch to this excellent account of the regiment’s experience of combat and life in the PoW camps.


Mr. Pepys and the Turk

Mr. Pepys and the Turk

Author: Andrew C. Rouse

Publisher: SPECHEL

Published: 2014-07-08

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 9630894556

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“Mr. Pepys and The Turk” is SPECHEL’s first inroad into publication. In line with the mission embodied in its name, this book and subsequent publications will be available in ebook and print-on-demand form, making it considerably more accessible than if it were solely a physical object. “Mr Pepys and Turk” tells of English popular notions of the “Turk” through history, centring upon the diary entries of civil servant Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) and the street ballads which he loved to collect. The author’s fascination with this subject stems from his dual life as an academic/folk singer, but also from having lived and worked most of his adult life in Hungary’s only city with two domed mosques, a minaret and other Turkish remains. Hungary is a country where the Turk gets bad press through incomplete and biased formal education and popular conception, yet one of the most charming children’s rhymes of which (included here in the author’s translation) features Mehmet the Turk. Unlike Hungary, England was not invaded by the Turk, unless you count a very brief visit to the Cornish coast, the only surviving trace of which is England’s oldest public house called “The Turk’s Head”. Yet popular misconceptions abound in both cultures through various media, including a seventeenth-century English street ballad about a battle in Hungary between the European forces and the Ottoman Empire. Here, then, is the “Turk”, not a historical man but a popular concept – lustful, terrible, but also poor and innocent as English popular notions fashion and refashion him through time and perspective.