The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy looks at the period between the reign of William the Conqueror and that of Henry VIII, bringing together physical evidence for the kings and their courts. John Steane looks at the symbols of power and regalia including crowns, seals and thrones. He considers Royal patronage, architecture and ideas on burials and tombs to unravel the details of their daily lives supported with many illustrations.
The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy looks at the period between the reign of William the Conqueror and that of Henry VIII, bringing together physical evidence for the kings and their courts. John Steane looks at the symbols of power and regalia including crowns, seals and thrones. He considers Royal patronage, architecture and ideas on burials and tombs to unravel the details of their daily lives supported with many illustrations.
The Middle Ages are all around us in Britain. The Tower of London and the castles of Scotland and Wales are mainstays of cultural tourism and an inspiring cross-section of later medieval finds can now be seen on display in museums across England, Scotland, and Wales. Medieval institutions from Parliament and monarchy to universities are familiar to us and we come into contact with the later Middle Ages every day when we drive through a village or town, look up at the castle on the hill, visit a local church or wonder about the earthworks in the fields we see from the window of a train. The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology in Britain provides an overview of the archaeology of the later Middle Ages in Britain between AD 1066 and 1550. 61 entries, divided into 10 thematic sections, cover topics ranging from later medieval objects, human remains, archaeological science, standing buildings, and sites such as castles and monasteries, to the well-preserved relict landscapes which still survive. This is a rich and exciting period of the past and most of what we have learnt about the material culture of our medieval past has been discovered in the past two generations. This volume provides comprehensive coverage of the latest research and describes the major projects and concepts that are changing our understanding of our medieval heritage.
This book explores an alternate history of the power and agency of 30 Hungarian queens over 400 years by a rigorous examination of the material culture connected with their lives. By researching the objects, images, and spaces, it demonstrates how these women expressed and displayed their power. Queens used material culture and space not only to demonstrate their own power to a wide, international audience, but also to consolidate their own position when it was weakened by external circumstances. Both the public and private image of the queen factors significantly in understanding in her own role at the strongly centralized Hungarian court, and, moreover, how her position and person strengthened and complemented that of the king.
This is the third volume of Anthony Emery's magisterial survey, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500, first published in 2006. Across the three volumes Emery has examined afresh and re-assessed over 750 houses, the first comprehensive review of the subject for 150 years. Covered are the full range of leading homes, from royal and episcopal palaces to manor houses, as well as community buildings such as academic colleges, monastic granges and secular colleges of canons. This volume surveys Southern England and is divided into three regions, each of which includes a separate historical and architectural introduction as well as thematic essays prompted by key buildings. The text is complemented throughout by a wide range of plans and diagrams and a wealth of photographs showing the present condition of almost every house discussed. This is an essential source for anyone interested in the history, architecture and culture of medieval England and Wales.
Parks were prominent and, indeed, controversial features of the medieval countryside, but they have been unevenly studied and remain only partly understood. Stephen Mileson provides the first full-length study of the subject, examining parks across the country and throughout the Middle Ages in their full social, economic, jurisdictional, and landscape context. The first half of the book investigates the purpose of these royal and aristocratic reserves, which have been variously claimed as hunting grounds, economic assets, landscape settings for residences, and status symbols. An emphasis on the aristocratic passion for the chase as the key motivation for park-making provides an important challenge to more recent views and allows for a deeper appreciation of the connection between park-making and the expression of power and lordship. The second part of the volume examines the impact of park creation on wider society, from the king and aristocracy to peasants and townsmen. Instead of the traditional emphasis on the importance of royal regulation, greater attention is paid to the effects of lordly park-making on other members of the landed elite and ordinary people. These widespread enclosures interfered with customary uses of woodland and waste, hunting practices, roads, and farming; not surprisingly, they could become a focus for aristocratic feud, popular protest, and furtive resistance. Combining historical, archaeological, and landscape evidence, this ground-breaking work provides fresh insight into contemporary values and how they helped to shape the medieval landscape.
In the later medieval centuries, a whole range of important social, political and artistic activities took place against the backdrop of the great English households. In this vividly illuminating book, C. M. Woolgar explores the details of life in these great houses. Based on an extensive investigation of household accounts and related primary documents, he examines the daily routines, the weekly and annual patterns, and the life-cycle observances of birth, childhood, marriage, death and burial. He also delineates the major changes that transformed the economy and geography of both lay and clerical households between 1200 and 1500.
The two volumes of The Archaeology of Medieval Europe will together comprise the first complete account of medieval archaeology across Europe. Archaeologists from academic institutions in fifteen countries are collaborating to produce these two books of sixteen thematic chapters each. In addition, every chapter will feature a number of 'box-texts', by specialist contributors, highlighting sites or themes of particular importance. The books will be comprehensively illustrated throughout, in both colour and b/w, including line drawings and specially commissioned maps. This ground-breaking set, which is divided chronologically into two (Vol. 1 extending from the Eighth to Twelfth Centuries AD, and Vol. 2 from the Twelfth to Sixteenth Centuries - to appear 2008), will enable readers to track the development of different cultures, and of regional characteristics, throughout the full extent of medieval Catholic Europe. In addition to revealing shared contexts and technological developments, the complete work will also provide the opportunity for demonstrating the differences that were inevitably present across the Continent - from Iceland to Italy, and from Portugal to Finland - and to study why such differences existed.
This Handbook provides an overview of the archaeology of the later Middle Ages in Britain between AD 1066 and 1550. Chapters cover topics ranging from later medieval objects, human remains, archaeological science, standing buildings, and sites such as castles and monasteries, to the well-preserved relict landscapes which still survive.
Oxbow says: This fascinating study of how people understood and used their senses in the late medieval period draws on evidence from a range of literary texts, documents and records, as well as material culture and architectural sources.
