This book examines a pivotal period in ancient human history: the fall of the Roman Empire and the birth of a new European civilization in the early Middle Ages. The Early Medieval World: From the Fall of Rome to the Time of Charlemagne addresses the social and material culture of this critical period in the evolution of Western society, covering the social, political, cultural, and religious history of the Mediterranean world and northern Europe. The two-volume set explains how invading and migrating barbarian tribes—spurred by raiding Huns from the steppes of Central Asia—contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and documents how the blending of Greco-Roman, Germanic, and Christian cultures birthed a new civilization in Western Europe, creating the Christian Church and the modern nation-state. A-Z entries discuss political transformation, changing religious practices in daily life, sculpture and the arts, material culture, and social structure, and provide biographies of important men and women in the transitional period of late antiquity. The work will be extremely helpful to students learning about the factors that contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire—an important and common topic in world history curricula.
The World Police Encyclopedia is the only existing reference work to systematically survey all the police systems in all the countries of the world (the 189 UN member states plus Switzerland). Each article describes police history; police education and training; structure of the force(s) in relation to the country's form of government and criminal justice system; police responsibilities and duties; most common crimes; structure and role of the courts; correction structure; organization and function of the police force(s); use of firearms; local and central interactions; community relations; and current issues and challenges. This unique resource will be of interest to scholars of history, foreign policy, and politics as well as government agencies, NGOs, and others involved in working internationally to control international and domestic crime.
The Travels of Sir John Mandeville is the chronicle of the alleged Sir John Mandeville, an explorer. His travels were first published in the late 14th century, and influenced many subsequent explorers such as Christopher Columbus.
This book raises awareness about gender perspective in political and legal theories and historical analysis. The impacts of feminist political and legal theories, as well as critical legal studies, have been embedded in all the papers in different ways and degrees. Differences among feminist political and legal ideas are visible in the different approaches. The ongoing issue of defining gender, for example, is a recurring theme in the texts. Some papers question the binary basis of the gender issue and the notion of gender as such, while others start from the binary dichotomy and attempt to expand the consideration towards a multi-dimensional understanding of gender identities. The main focus is on a feminist reconsideration of all relevant fields of legal knowledge. The primary aim is to demystify the seemingly neutral character of legal norms and legal knowledge and highlight the power relations at different layers, beginning with male and female legal subjects of Western heredity (in terms of culture, ethnicity, and race), then moving on to different needs and power relations among female persons of different races and classes, and finally addressing differentiating gender relations and identities beyond the framework of the women-men binary codification, i.e., also taking into consideration the multiple options of intersex, transgender, queering, etc. Taking seriously the issue of the “maleness” of political and legal theories is indeed a challenging and relevant endeavor for legal scholars. The male bias is present not only throughout history but also in the present, given that our “universal” categories of political and legal thought are still overburdened by unequal power relations. It is also important to open our minds and knowledge production for a gender-sensitive and gender-competent intersectional approach, which would also include various queer-, race- and class-based considerations. These tasks should be of interest not only to critical legal scholars but also all those belonging to mainstream legal and political thought.
This archival source document of the Middle Ages and Renaissance describes the development, manufacture and use of European staff weapons and provides new information using existing objects and archival material. Their effect on the modern map of Europe is discussed.
Mark Blackburn was one of the leading scholars of the numismatics and monetary history of the British Isles and Scandinavia during the early medieval period. He published more than 200 books and articles on the subject, and was instrumental in building bridges between numismatics and associated disciplines, in fostering international communication and cooperation, and in establishing initiatives to record new coin finds. This memorial volume of essays commemorates Mark Blackburn’s considerable achievement and impact on the field, builds on his research and evaluates a vibrant period in the study of early medieval monetary history. Containing a broad range of high-quality research from both established figures and younger scholars, the essays in this volume maintain a tight focus on Europe in the early Middle Ages (6th-12th centuries), reflecting Mark’s primary research interests. In geographical terms the scope of the volume stretches from Spain to the Baltic, with a concentration of papers on the British Isles. As well as a fitting tribute to remarkable scholar, the essays in this collection constitute a major body of research which will be of long-term value to anyone with an interest in the history of early medieval Europe.
The title of these memoirs may suggest that I wrote them against my will. That would be only half right. A part of me wanted to write an account of my life, and another part of me opposed doing so. In the end I overcame my misgivings and went ahead. I realize that writing one’s memoirs may sound pretentious since it used to be that only important people such as former presidents and retired diplomats did so. This is no longer the case; there are now “kids” of twenty-five who are writing memoirs. There are several advantages in recording one’s memoirs instead of writing history. For one thing readers can always criticize the historian if they find errors of fact. The memoirist is, however, incorrigible (in the original, Latin sense of the word) since no one can say, “That’s not how you remember that event.” Another advantage is that it doesn’t require a lot of research. I have written fifteen-page “scholarly articles” that have sixty-five footnotes. I’ve sometimes read whole books just to support one sentence with one footnote. For a long time I’ve thought how much fun it would be to write something that wouldn’t require months of research, and it was fun. Anyone who relaxes, closes his eyes and travels back in time will be astounded to discover how much is stored deep down in the recesses of the mind. I made outlines and drafts full of abbreviations, and then I dictated to my computer using MacSpeech Dictate. It’s wonderful to speak and see the words appear on the screen. Of course, the first draft required extensive editing for many reasons, but I enjoyed that too. In a sense I only did what grandparents have done since tape recorders were invented, but now technology enables us to turn it into a book. The bare bones, non-scintillating style of what I have produced is partially due to the fact that it was dictated. I could have spent months or even years polishing what I have written, but as the poet Andrew Marvell put it, “At my back I always hear/Time’s winged chariot hurrying near...” I mainly have my grandchildren in mind as an audience, but it may be that other relatives and even some friends will find the end product diverting. I have no illusions about any widespread interest, and I certainly don’t expect to sell any copies or earn any royalties. If there is a pattern to my life, it is that Divine Providence repeatedly saved me from my own foolishness. Time and again I wanted something desperately and didn’t get it, only to find that God had something much better in store for me. There were many more “close calls” than I discuss herein --- many too frightening to contemplate or record. Looking at what I’ve accomplished in another way, a cynical friend once told me I haven’t done as well as my friends expected, but I’ve done better than my enemies hoped! There is much to be thankful for. My teacher, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, read a draft of the manuscript and made many valuable suggestions. It is a pleasure to thank her publicly for her assistance and inspiration.
