Watch a Windows Media trailer for this book.

For centuries, the Feast of Fools has been condemned and occasionally celebrated as a disorderly, even transgressive Christian festival, in which reveling clergy elected a burlesque Lord of Misrule, presided over the divine office wearing animal masks or women's clothes, sang obscene songs, swung censers that gave off foul-smelling smoke, played dice at the altar, and otherwise parodied the liturgy of the church. Afterward, they would take to the streets, howling, issuing mock indulgences, hurling manure at bystanders, and staging scurrilous plays. The problem with this popular account—intriguing as it may be— is that it is wrong.In Sacred Folly, Max Harris rewrites the history of the Feast of Fools, showing that it developed in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries as an elaborate and orderly liturgy for the day of the Circumcision (1 January)—serving as a dignified alternative to rowdy secular New Year festivities. The intent of the feast was not mockery but thanksgiving for the incarnation of Christ. Prescribed role reversals, in which the lower clergy presided over divine office, recalled Mary's joyous affirmation that God "has put down the mighty from their seat and exalted the humble." The "fools" represented those chosen by God for their lowly status.The feast, never widespread, was largely confined to cathedrals and collegiate churches in northern France. In the fifteenth century, high-ranking clergy who relied on rumor rather than firsthand knowledge attacked and eventually suppressed the feast. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century historians repeatedly misread records of the feast; their erroneous accounts formed a shaky foundation for subsequent understanding of the medieval ritual. By returning to the primary documents, Harris reconstructs a Feast of Fools that is all the more remarkable for being sanctified rather than sacrilegious.

In England in the late thirteenth century, a young chorister at the Cathedral of Saint Aelred, an outcast due to his crippled foot, sympathizes with the city's other outcasts, the Jews, and sets out to prove their leader innocent of murder.

These three anthologies are all relatively unknown, particularly in the English-speaking world, outside of professional medieval Latinist circles. Though excerpts from the Regensburg and Ripoll poems have been published in English translation, only the Ripoll poems have been translated completely, and only into Spanish and French. Making these anthologies available in a bilingual edition with commentary will make the insight they provide into several aspects of medieval life accessible to medieval historians as well as the more general public. The Regensburg poems take the form of epistolary exchanges in Leonine hexameters, mainly between a male teacher and his female students, who appear to have been nuns. Some of the sixty-eight short poems imply an erotic relationship between teacher and student. The poems afford us rare glimpses into the education of women at this time. The Ripoll poems are a collection of twenty love poems, probably written in Lorraine around 1150 and copied in Ripoll. All twenty poems were written by a single unknown poet, except for one, a misogynistic poem also found in other manuscripts. The Chartres poems comprise seven performed at the post-Christmas festivities in Chartres around 1180, when the world was turned upside down in a carnivalesque suspension of the normal social order. This collection offers unique insight into the kind of poems performed during these "feasts of fools." The last four poems are by two of the most famous medieval Latin poets, Walter of Chytillon and Peter of Blois, the canonist.

I’m an outcast and a loner, named for death itself. Fate wasn’t supposed to have plans for me. But then she came back—the girl I once kissed in a thorn-covered chapel in the woods. She came back, and I could no more resist her than I could pry out my own heart. And by some trick of fate, she wants me as much as I want her. The only problem? She also wants the man who owns Thornchapel, Auden Guest. And so do I. Eight years ago, I did something to Auden, something terrible. He hurt me back the only way he knew how, and so here we are: our hatred seasoned with pain and my loneliness seasoned with longing. The only thing we can agree on is Proserpina Markham, and she wants us to find a way to be together—all three of us. If Auden wants to earn her as his submissive, then he has to earn me as well. But with the discovery of bones behind the altar and the carnal revel of Beltane fast approaching, it’s becoming clear that Thornchapel’s secrets are much deeper and older than any of us could have ever guessed. And no matter how bright and merry a feast of sparks may be, it’s always followed by ashes. And darkness. Feast of Sparks is Book Two in the Thornchapel quartet. Content warnings can be found at thesierrasimone.com/contentnotes

In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, the master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn’t the only threat. Violent black cyclone clouds hover, promising a storm of devastating proportions as student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against elements both natural and unnatural. Watch a Windows Media trailer for this book.

Make every day a spell-tacular celebration with the Harry Potter-inspired cookbook mugglenet.com calls "beautiful, well-laid out, and easy to read" and features "a large variety of recipes – something for every event". What better way to celebrate than by whipping up a magically delicious meal in your kitchen? From sumptuous fall and winter feasts to delectable desserts and tea-time treats, this book has all of your holidays and special occasions covered, with an extra magical twist. Celebrate in true wizarding world style with recipes like: - Pumpkin Pasties - Cauldron Cakes - Roast Beef - Yorkshire Pudding - Chocolate Gateau - Bath Buns - Rock Cakes - and many more! Bring your love for wizardry and magic into the kitchen and onto the table with The Unofficial Hogwarts for the Holidays Cookbook—the perfect gift for any Potterhead. With 75 delicious recipes, easy step-by-step instructions, and spellbinding full-color photographs, this cookbook is sure to stupify any fan of the boy who lived. Tuck in!