This interdisciplinary study interprets the facade of Wells Cathedral as an integral part of thirteenth-century Church liturgy and politics. The facade promoted the aims of the church of Wells, the Fourth Lateran Council, and the English Church and State following Magna Carta.

This book provides an introduction to current work and new directions in the study of medieval liturgy. It focuses primarily on so-called occasional rituals such as burial, church consecration, exorcism and excommunication rather than on the Mass and Office. Recent research on such rites challenges many established ideas, especially about the extent to which they differed from place to place and over time, and how the surviving evidence should be interpreted. These essays are designed to offer guidance about current thinking, especially for those who are new to the subject, want to know more about it, or wish to conduct research on liturgical topics. Bringing together scholars working in different disciplines (history, literature, architectural history, musicology and theology), time periods (from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries) and intellectual traditions, this collection demonstrates the great potential that liturgical evidence offers for understanding many aspects of the Middle Ages. It includes essays that discuss the practicalities of researching liturgical rituals; show through case studies the problems caused by over-reliance on modern editions; explore the range of sources for particular ceremonies and the sort of questions which can be asked of them; and go beyond the rites themselves to investigate how liturgy was practised and understood in the medieval period.

Reading the Reverse Façade of Reims Cathedral bestows long overdue scholarly attention on the magnificent sculptural program of the reverse façade at Reims Cathedral, the coronation cathedral of French kings. Donna Sadler reveals how the imagery on the reverse façade not only conforms to a system of memory and mode of medieval narratology, but also articulates a dominant ideological position regarding the interdependence of ecclesiastical and royal powers.

The Das Kapital of the 20th century,Society of the Spectacle is an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960's, in particular the May 1968 uprisings in France, up to the present day, with global capitalism seemingly staggering around in it’s Zombie end-phase, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the late 20th century. This ‘Red and Black’ translation from 1977 is Introduced by Notting Hill armchair insurrectionary Tom Vague with a galloping time line and pop-situ verve, and given a more analytical over view by young upstart thinker Sam Cooper.

Sci-fi meets historical fact in this thrilling novel by ancient-language scholar Michael S. Heiser. Haunted by his parents' death and his career failures, Dr. Brian Scott has begun to settle for the life he's been given. Until he's kidnapped by military insiders known as The Group. Disappearances. Visitations. Murder. Brian and a team of world-class scholars are given a confidential mission: To prepare humanity for a new reality. They are here. But as the government's involvement with extraterrestrials is revealed, strange things begin to happen. Something isn't right. Unpeeling layer after layer of deception and counter-deception, Brian moves toward a shocking revelation that will forever alter how humanity sees itself. Every document cited in The Façade actually exists. Every ancient text discussed in The Façade is authentic. Every historical figure referred to or quoted in The Façade is real.

This collection of essays explores the intersection of art and violence in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It will appeal primarily to students and scholars in the fields of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and will also be of interest to readers with an interest in medieval and early modern art history.