This collection of fifteen essays from the 1992 Harlaxton Symposium cover a wide variety of themes, including ecclesiastical, political, and social and economic history, royal books and libraries, and aspects of piety. Contributors include: R Hayes (William Alnwick, Bishop of Norwich and Lincoln); B Thompson (The laity, the alien priories and the redistribution of ecclesiastical property); M Jones (The relief of Avranches, 1439); D Williams (Richard III and his overmighty subjects); J Laughton (Women in court in 15th-century Chester); P Maddern (Concepts and practices of friendship among Norfolk gentry); A Sutton (Caxton's social miliue and friends); S McKendrick (The Romuleon' and the manuscripts of Edward IV); J Stratford (The royal library in England before Edward IV); J Alexander (The pulpit with the four doctors at St James's, Castle Acre, Norfolk) .

In this authoritative history of 15th-century England, William Denton provides a comprehensive overview of the political, social, and cultural developments of the era. From the Wars of the Roses to the rise of the Tudor monarchy, Denton's meticulous research and engaging prose make this book an essential resource for anyone interested in British history or the medieval period. With insightful analysis and detailed accounts of key events and figures, England in the Fifteenth Century is a masterpiece of historical writing. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Few historians have had a greater impact on their chosen period than K.B. McFarlane. This complete collection of the articles that he published during his lifetime represents the core of his work.

Of all the activities of the most neglected century in English History, England's trade has received the least attention in proportion to its importance. It was obviously in the course of the later Middle Ages, and more particularly in the fifteenth century, that there took place the great transformation from medieval England, isolated and intensely local, to the England of the Tudor and Stuart age, with its world-wide connections and imperial designs. It was during the same period that most of the forms of international trade characteristic of the Middle Ages were replaced by new methods of commercial organization and regulation, national in scope and at times definitely nationalistic in object, and that a marked movement towards capitalist methods and principles took place in the sphere of domestic trade. Yet little has been written concerning English trade in this period. First published in 1933, this classic volume goes a long way to fills this gap superbly. There is an abundance of material, and the writers have compiled a statistical analysis of the Enrolled Customs Account from 1377-1482, which provides an essential measure of the nature, volume, and movement of English foreign commerce during the period.

In Fifteenth-Century Lives, Karen A. Winstead identifies and explores a major shift in the writing of Middle English saints’ lives. As she demonstrates, starting in the 1410s and ’20s, hagiography became more character-oriented, more morally complex, more deeply embedded in history, and more politically and socially engaged. Further, it became more self-consciously literary and began to feature women more prominently—and not only traditional virgin martyrs but also matrons and contemporary holy women. Winstead shows that this literature placed a premium on scholarship and teaching. Hagiography celebrated educators and scholars to a greater extent than ever before and became a vehicle for educating readers about Christian dogma. Focusing both on authors well known, such as John Lydgate and Margery Kempe, and on others less known, such as Osbern Bokenham and John Capgrave, Winstead argues that the values promoted by fifteenth-century hagiography helped to shape the reformist impulses that eventually produced the Reformation. Moreover, these values continued to influence post-Reformation hagiography, both Protestant and Catholic, well into the seventeenth century. In exploring these trends in fifteenth-century hagiography, identifying the factors that contributed to their emergence, and tracing their influence in later periods, Fifteenth-Century Lives marks an important contribution to revisionary scholarship on fifteenth-century literature. It will appeal to students and scholars of late medieval English literature and late medieval religion.