Henry IV

Henry IV

Author: Chris Given-Wilson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 0300154208

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Henry IV (1399–1413), the son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, seized the English throne at the age of thirty-two from his cousin Richard II and held it until his death, aged forty-five, when he was succeeded by his son, Henry V. This comprehensive and nuanced biography restores to his rightful place a king often overlooked in favor of his illustrious progeny. Henry faced the usual problems of usurpers: foreign wars, rebellions, and plots, as well as the ambitions and demands of the Lancastrian retainers who had helped him win the throne. By 1406 his rule was broadly established, and although he became ill shortly after this and never fully recovered, he retained ultimate power until his death. Using a wide variety of previously untapped archival materials, Chris Given-Wilson reveals a cultured, extravagant, and skeptical monarch who crushed opposition ruthlessly but never quite succeeded in satisfying the expectations of his own supporters.


Understanding Medieval Primary Sources

Understanding Medieval Primary Sources

Author: Joel T. Rosenthal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-06-03

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1317796314

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Medieval society created many kinds of records and written material which differ considerably, giving us such sources as last wills, sermons, manorial accounts, or royal biographies. Primary sources are an exciting way for students to engage with the past and draw their own ideas about life in the medieval period. Understanding Medieval Primary Sources is a collection of essays that will introduce students to the key primary sources that are essential to studying medieval Europe. The sources are divided into two categories: the first part treats some of the many generic sources that have been preserved, such as wills, letters, royal and secular narratives and sermons. Chapter by chapter each expert author illustrates how they can be used to reveal details about medieval history. The second part focuses on areas of historical research that can only be fully discovered by using a combination of primary sources, covering fields such as maritime history, urban history, women’s history and medical history. Understanding Medieval Primary Sources will be an invaluable resource for any student embarking on medieval historical research.


A Prospering Society

A Prospering Society

Author: John Hare

Publisher: Univ of Hertfordshire Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1902806840

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"This book seeks to explore the changing nature of English society through a case study of countryside and town in southern England during the period from c.1380 to c.1520. It explores the influence of landscape and population on the agriculture of Wiltshire, the regional patterns of arable and pastoral farming, and the growing contrast between the large-scale mixed farming of the chalklands and the family farms of the claylands. It examines the changing situation of the rural tenant population as it reacted to the greater opportunities available in the land-market. During this period, Wiltshire became one of the great cloth-producing counties of England (as reflected in its rising taxable wealth). Such economic expansion generated jobs both within the industry and beyond, stimulating the market for food, services and manufactured goods. Salisbury was one of the greatest cities in the kingdom, and below this was a hierarchy of interesting lesser towns. But such growth generated its own problems: more and more people became dependent on the cloth trade and particularly on exporting cloth; if exports fell, as during the mid-fifteenth-century crisis, they suffered. As scholars are increasingly aware, the later Middle Ages was a period of considerable change, and this study contributes to debates about the nature of both change and continuity at a national level. It will also be of value to local historians interested in one of the most important periods in Wiltshire's history."--BLACKWELL'S.


Tales of Two Cities: Settlement and Suburb in Old Sarum and Salisbury

Tales of Two Cities: Settlement and Suburb in Old Sarum and Salisbury

Author: Hadrian Cook

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2024-07-04

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1803277602

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Telling the story of Old Sarum and Salisbury, from the mid-10th century to the start of the 20th, this book brings together the most up-to-date thinking on the archaeological evidence, and, through analysis of the rich documentary record, provides a fresh take on the story of this most illustrious cathedral city in the heart of southern England.


Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471

Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471

Author: Eliza Hartrich

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-08-14

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 019258281X

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Since the mid-twentieth century, political histories of late medieval England have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between the Crown and aristocratic landholders. Such studies, however, neglect to consider that England after the Black Death was an urbanising society. Towns not only were the residence of a rising proportion of the population, but were also the stages on which power was asserted and the places where financial and military resources were concentrated. Outside London, however, most English towns were small compared to those found in contemporary Italy or Flanders, and it has been easy for historians to under-estimate their ability to influence English politics. Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471 offers a new approach for evaluating the role of urban society in late medieval English politics. Rather than focusing on English towns individually, it creates a model for assessing the political might that could be exerted by towns collectively as an 'urban sector'. Based on primary sources from twenty-two towns (ranging from the metropolis of London to the tiny Kentish town of Lydd), Politics and the Urban Sector demonstrates how fluctuations in inter-urban relationships affected the content, pace, and language of English politics during the tumultuous fifteenth century. In particular, the volume presents a new interpretation of the Wars of the Roses, in which the relative strength of the 'urban sector' determined the success of kings and their challengers and moulded the content of the political programmes they advocated.


A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age

A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age

Author: Valerie L. Garver

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-09-17

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1350078212

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Winner of the 2020 PROSE Award for Multivolume Reference/Humanities Work was central to medieval life. Religious and secular authorities generally expected almost everyone to work. Artistic and literary depictions underlined work's cultural value. The vast majority of medieval people engaged in agriculture because it was the only way they could obtain food. Yet their work led to innovations in technology and production and allowed others to engage in specialized labor, helping to drive the growth of cities. Many workers moved to seek employment and to improve their living conditions. For those who could not work, charity was often available, and many individuals and institutions provided forms of social welfare. Guilds protected their members and created means for the transmission of skills. When they were not at work, medieval Christians were to meet their religious obligations yet many also enjoyed various pastimes. A consideration of medieval work is therefore one of medieval society in all its creativity and complexity and that is precisely what this volume provides. A Cultural History of Work in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on economies, representations of work, workplaces, work cultures, technology, mobility, society, politics and leisure.


English Inland Trade

English Inland Trade

Author: Michael Hicks

Publisher: Oxbow Books

Published: 2015-07-31

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1782978275

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The Southampton brokage books are the best source for English inland trade before modern times. Internal trade always matched overseas trade. Between 1430 and 1540 the brokage series records all departures through Southampton’s Bargate, the owner, carter, commodity, quantity, destination and date, and many deliveries too. Twelve such years make up the database that illuminates Southampton’s trade with its extensive region at the time when the city was at its most important as the principal point of access to England for the exotic spices and dyestuffs imported by the Genoese. If Southampton’s international traffic was particularly important, the town’s commerce was representative also of the commonplace trade that occurred throughout England. Seventeen papers investigate Southampton’s interaction with Salisbury, London, Winchester, and many other places, long-term trends and short-term fluctuations. The rise and decline of the Italian trade, the dominance of Salisbury and emergence of Jack of Newbury, the recycling of wealth and metals from the dissolved monasteries all feature here. Underpinning the book are 32 computer-generated maps and numerous tables, charts, and graphs, with guidance provided as to how best to exploit and extend this remarkable resource. An accompanying web-mounted database (http://www.overlandtrade.org) enables the changing commerce to be mapped and visualised through maps and trade to be tracked week by week and over a century. Together the book and database provide a unique resource for Southampton, its trading partners, traders and carters, freight traffic and the genealogies of the middling sort.


Law, Governance, and Justice

Law, Governance, and Justice

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-01-14

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 9004236422

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How law is made, how governance works, and the response of the governed remain crucial modern questions whose roots in many parts of the world reach deep into the past of medieval England. Scholars have long discussed these issues and new perspectives regularly emerge. This volume brings together contemporary views from leaders in the field and from younger scholars, both historians and literary critics. Classic themes and incidents are creatively revisited and new avenues of approach are suggested.