Although the gentry played a central role in medieval England, this study is the first sustained exploration of its origins and development between the mid-thirteenth and the mid-fourteenth century. Arguing against views which see the gentry as formed or created earlier, the text investigates as well the relationship between lesser landowners and the Angevin state; the transformation of knighthood; and the role of lesser landowners in society and politics.

First Published in 2004. Four things dominated the life of the mediaeval noble: warfare, politics, land and family. It is with these central themes that this book is concerned. It encompasses the whole of the upper segment of the late medieval society; examines the relation of social status and political influence; describes the noble household and council; examines in detail the territorial and familial policies pursued by great landholders; emphasises the inter-relationship of local and national affairs; is arranged thematically, making it ideal for student use and has implications for the whole medieval period.

Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England offers a new history of Middle English romance, the most popular genre of secular literature in the English Middle Ages. Michael Johnston argues that many of the romances composed in England from 1350-1500 arose in response to the specific socio-economic concerns of the gentry, the class of English landowners who lacked titles of nobility and hence occupied the lower rungs of the aristocracy. The end of the fourteenth century in England witnessed power devolving to the gentry, who became one of the dominant political and economic forces in provincial society. As Johnston demonstrates, this social change also affected England's literary culture, particularly the composition and readership of romance. Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England identifies a series of new topoi in Middle English that responded to the gentry's economic interests. But beyond social history and literary criticism, it also speaks to manuscript studies, showing that most of the codices of the "gentry romances" were produced by those in the immediate employ of the gentry. By bringing together literary criticism and manuscript studies, this book speaks to two scholarly communities often insulated from one another: it invites manuscript scholars to pay closer attention to the cultural resonances of the texts within medieval codices; simultaneously, it encourages literary scholars to be more attentive to the cultural resonances of surviving medieval codices.

Essays in this collection examine the lifestyles and attitudes of the gentry in late-medieval England. Through surveys of the gentry's military background, administrative and political roles, social behavior, and education, the reader is provided with an overview of how the group's culture evolved and how it was disseminated.

Just as class is a key term for understanding modern Europe, so hierarchy and order are the key terms for the earlier period. These exceptional essays by some of the leading historians in the field are designed to allow students to get a better grasp on this critical subject. Life in the late medieval and early modern periods was simply organized in a very different way to that of the industrial or post-industrial society we are accustomed to. Each essay tackles a different aspect of this European-wide experience - whether looking at the nobility, the gentry, the commons or the religious castes, the contributors greatly increase our ability to understand the complex and fascinating phenomenon of how society ticks and how it is perceived by its members to tick.

Monarchy, Aristocracy and the State in Europe 1300 - 1800 is an important survey of the relationship between monarchy and state in early modern European history. Spanning five centuries and covering England, France, Spain, Germany and Austria, this book considers the key themes in the formation of the modern state in Europe. The relationship of the nobility with the state is the key to understanding the development of modern government in Europe. In order to understand the way modern states were formed, this book focusses on the implications of the incessant and costly wars which European governments waged against each other, which indeed propelled the modern state into being. Monarchy, Aristocracy and the State in Europe 1300-1800 takes a fascinating thematic approach, providing a useful survey of the position and role of the nobility in the government of states in early modern Europe.