Adela of Blois and Ivo of Chartres; Anglo-Norman families; Anglo-Scandinavian equestrian equipment; `Belrem'; Bookland, Folkland and Fiefs; Charters of David I; Counts of Boulogne under Eustace II; Dispute settlement; Financing Stephen's War; Fortification de Rouen; French literature in 12c England; Margam Annals; Ranulf II Earl of Chester's armed neutrality; Rochester cathedral priory c.1100; See of London. G.W.S. BARROW, P. DALTON, B. GAUTHIEZ, J. GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, J. GREEN, K. LOPRETE, J.S. MOORE, R.B. PATTERSON, S. REYNOLDS, I. SHORT, H.J. TANNER, A.J. TAYLOR, P. TAYLOR, H. TSURUSHIMA/I>.Wide-ranging volume of essays introducing new research in the fields of history, archaeology, literature and palaeography. Includes (amongst others) papers on 12th century French literature, settling disputes in Anglo-Norman England, financing Stephen's war and the Allen Brown Memorial lecture entitled Belrem. Contributors: ARNOLD J. TAYLOR, G.W.S BARROW, PAUL DALTON, BERNARDGAUTHIEZ, JAMES GRAHAM-CAMPBELL, JUDITH GREEN, KIMBERLEY LOPRETE,JOHN S. MOORE, ROBERT B. PATTERSON, SUSAN REYNOLDS, IAN SHORT, HEATHERJ. TANNER, PAMELA TAYLOR, and H. TSURUSHIMA.

An investigation of the depiction of warfare in contemporary writings, in both fictional narratives and factual accounts. War and combat were significant factors in the lives of all conditions of people during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; thousands of men, women and children prepared for, engaged in and suffered from the consequences of almost endemic armed conflict. However, while war and combat feature prominently in many of the forms of literature written at the time, the theme of warfare in some types of narrative source remains a relatively under-studied area. This book offers an investigation of the depiction of warfare in contemporary writings, in both fictional narratives and factual accounts, aiming to bridge the gap between the disciplines of literature and military history. Using both established sources and the latest research, the author examines how the application of what is now known about the practical and technological aspects of medieval warfare can aid us in our understanding of literature. She also demonstrates, via an investigation of a corpus of Old French chronicles, epics and romances, how the judicious study of sources that are not always considered reliable can, in turn, inform us about contemporary perceptions of, and attitudes towards, war and other forms of armed combat. Dr Catherine Hanley was formerly a Research Associate in the Department of French at the University of Sheffield; she is now a freelance editor and historicalnovelist.

This book surveys the monastic community at Westminster from the time when Edward the Confessor 1042-1066] adopted it as his burial church down to the end of the reign of king John. Originating according to legend during the Roman occupation, the West Minster was converted from a little collegiate church into a Benedictine monastery around 970. However, the growth of its significance largely dates from its massive endowment by king Edward, who commissioned a lavish rebuilding of the abbey church, a focal point in his programme of monarchical propaganda. Dr Mason covers every aspect of the abbey community in detail examining the careers of the abbots and priors, whilst ensuring that lesser figures are not neglected: monks; craftsmen; lay servants; the personnel of the royal court who were closely associated with the abbey. The author also considers the community's dealings with the growing ecclesiastical bureaucracy; the management of its properties, including its parochial churches; and its relationship with other religious houses. Dr EMMA MASON teaches in the Department of History, Birkbeck College.

For the first time, Sophie Harwood uses the Old French tradition as a lens through which to examine women and warfare from the 12th to the 14th centuries. The result is a skilled analysis of gender roles in the medieval era, and a heightened awareness of how important literary texts are to our understanding of the historical period in which they circulated. Medieval Women and War examines both the text and illustrations of over 30 Old French manuscripts to highlight the ways in many of the texts differ from their traditionally assumed (usually classical) sources. Structured around five pivotal female types – women cited as causes for violence, women as victims of violence, women as ancillaries to warriors, women as warriors themselves, and women as political influences – this important book unpicks gendered boundaries to shed new light on the social, political and military structures of warfare as well as adding nuance to current debates on womanhood in the middle ages.

First Published in 2005. Distinctly interdisciplinary, Kingship, Conquest, and Patria brings together French and Welsh studies with literary and historical analysis, genre study with questions of medieval colonialisms and national writing. It treats eight centuries' worth of insular and continental literature, placing the 12th- and 13th-century development of Arthurian romance in a history of fraught, ambiguous relations between Capetian France, Angevin England, and native Wales. Overall, the book aims to contextualize how French Arthurian romance and Welsh rhamant, despite being products of opposing cultures in an age of conquest, collectively revise the figure of King Arthur created by earlier insular tradition. At a time when contemporary monarchies sought to curtail the autonomy of both northern French and Welsh principalities, the literary image of kingship pointedly declines in romance and rhamant, replaced by an ideal of knightly independence. A focus on the romance portrait of King Arthur is the culmination of this study: Part I provides a survey of early British Arthurian material written in Latin and Welsh; Part II presents the historical contexts in northern France and Wales out of which the genre of Arthurian romance emerged; Part III turns to literary and sociopolitical analyses of Chrétien's five romances and the three Welsh rhamantau.