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A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World
Author:  Christopher Harper-Bill
Published:  2007
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

By the time of the Conquest, the Normans had been established in Normandy for over a hundred and fifty years. They had transformed themselves from pagan Northmen into Christian princes; their territories extended from England, southern Italy and Sicily to distant Antioch, and their influence had spread throughout western Europe and the Mediterranean. Duke William's victory at Hastings and the resulting Anglo-Norman union brought England into the mainstream of European history and culture, with far-reaching consequences for Western civilisation. These specially commissioned studies are concerned with the achievements of the cross-Channel realm. They make a major contribution toan understanding of the hundred years that witnessed great change and major developments in English and Norman government and society. There are surveys of the two constituent parts, of Normandy under the Angevin kings, of the place of kingdom and duchy in the politics and culture of the North Sea, and of the parallel Norman achievement in the Mediterranean. There are overviews both of secular administration and of the church, and a study of 'feudalism' and lordship. Within the broad field of cultural history, there are discussions of language, literature, the writing of history, and ecclesiastical architecture. Maps, genealogies, time lines.
Contributors LESLEY ABRAMS, MATTHEW BENNETT, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL, ELISABETH VAN HOUTS, EMMA MASON, RICHARD PLANT, CASSANDRA POTTS, DANIEL POWER, IAN SHORT, ANN WILLIAMS.   paperback   ISBN 978-1-843-83341-3

Price:  £19.99





Chronicle of Hainaut by Gilbert of Mons
Author:  Laura Napran
Published:  2005
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

The importance of the late twelfth-century Chronicle of Hainaut (Chronicon Hanoniense) as an historical record cannot be overestimated. Gilbert of Mons was an eye-witness to important events affecting Count Baldwin V of Hainaut, and provides much significant information about persons and affairs within France and the Empire, particularly Count Philip of Flanders, King Philip Augustus and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa; he had a keen interest in noble marriages, making his chronicle an unmatched source for genealogical and prosopographical material for this region. Moreover, his work is a mine of information on a great many subjects, such as the crusades, political events, noble women, the lives of saints, lord-tenant relationships, customary practices and the association of churches with lay advocates; it is particularly informative on military matters, giving detailed accounts of sieges, campaigns and tournaments. This volume presents a clear translation, accompanied by detailed annotations clarify the text, identifying people, events and concepts, an introduction, and bibliography.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83120-4

Price:  £45.00





Culture, Identity and Nationalism
Author:  Timothy Baycroft
Published:  2004
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

This study examines the evolution of national and regional, cultural and political identities in that northern region of France which borders Belgium, over the two centuries which followed the French Revolution. During that time the region was transformed by the development of the industrial economy, population shifts, war and occupation, and numerous changes of political regime. Through an analysis of a wide range of issues, including language, regional and national political movements, educational policy, attitudes towards immigrants and the border, the press, trade unions, and the church - as well as the attitude of the French State - the author questions traditional interpretations of the process of national assimilation in France. At the same time he illustrates how the Franco-Belgian border, originally an arbitrary line through a culturally homogeneous region, became not only a significant marker forthe identity of the French Flemish, but a real cultural division.
TIMOTHY BAYCROFT is lecturer in French history, University of Sheffield.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-861-93269-6

Price:  £45.00





French Revolutionaries and English Republicans
Author:  Rachel Hammersley
Published:  2005
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Following the cataclysmic events of 1789 some of those involved in the Revolution began to take seriously the possibility of a French republic. Various ideas developed about the form this should take and the models on which it could be based, from those of ancient Greece and Rome, to modern republics such as Geneva or the United States of America. However, a small number of thinkers - centred around the radical, Paris-based Cordeliers Club - looked to thewritings of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English republicans for guidance about realising ancient republican ideals in the modern world. This book offers an intellectual history of the Club, through a close analysis of texts and the relationships between their authors. Its main focus is on individual club members and their translations of and borrowings from the works of such thinkers as Marchamont Nedham, James Harrington, Algernon Sidney and Thomas Gordon: the author shows how the Cordeliers adapted and developed those ideas so as to make them serve contemporary circumstances and concerns, and demonstrates that even after the establishment of a French republicin 1792, members of the Cordeliers Club continued to make use of English republican ideas in order to respond to key constitutional and political questions.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-861-93273-3

Price:  £40.00





The Evolution of Norman Identity, 911-1154
Author:  Nick Webber
Published:  2005
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

During the period 911-1154, a newly-constituted people came to control not only a Frankish duchy, but also the kingdoms of England and Sicily. This people, composed of Scandinavian settlers and Frankish natives, came to be known as the Normans. This book examines the growth of the concept of the Norman people (gens Normannorum), through the self-perception of group members [Normanitas or 'Norman-ness'] and the perceptions of 'others'. Using identity models which deal with the interaction of various types of communities, it examines narrative sources (both internally and externally produced) in order to establish what it meant to be a Norman, both to the Normans themselves, and to those with whom they had contact. Beyond these perceptions of self and otherness, examination focuses in particular on the role of the Norman leaders (as the embodiment of Norman identity), the effects of language, the importance of conquest and the sense of homeland, up until the significant change in rulership in both England and Sicily in 1154.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83119-8

Price:  £45.00





The History of the Norman People
Author:  . Wace
Published:  2004
Medium: Book         Publisher:  Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Wace's Roman de Rou relates the origins of Normandy from the time of Rollo (Rou) to the battle of Tinchebray. It was commissioned by Henry II as a way of both celebrating the Norman past and justifying the right of Norman rulers to the throne of England: the accounts it gives of the early life of William the Conqueror and of the battle of Hastings, which occupy a substantial portion of the work, make it a valuable historical document as well as an important work of literature. Wace related the events partly in Alexandrines and partly in the octosyllabic rhyming couplets used by the romance writers of the day; indeed, at a time when the boundary between romance and history was blurred, he created a cast of characters and recounted a series of battles and adventures in a style worthy of any of the great masters of romance. He was also exceptionally good, like other contemporary romance writers, at realistic conversations, such as those between King Harold and his brother Gyrth before the battle of Hastings. As a historian, Wace was dedicated to the truth and willing to undertake personal research in order to verify the accuracyof his statements. As a storyteller, he had the ability to render events more dramatic by showing how they arose from the interplay of human beings. The translation, by GLYN S. BURGESS, is accompanied by full editorial notes(in collaboration with Elisabeth van Houts) and an introduction; the volume is completed by a critical essay by Dr van Houts.
GLYN S. BURGESS is Emeritus Professor of the University of Liverpool.
ELISABETH VAN HOUTS lectures in medieval history, University of Cambridge.   paperback   ISBN 978-1-843-83007-8

Price:  £19.99




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