The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy looks at the period between the reign of William the Conqueror and that of Henry VIII, bringing together physical evidence for the kings and their courts. John Steane looks at the symbols of power and regalia including crowns, seals and thrones. He considers Royal patronage, architecture and ideas on burials and tombs to unravel the details of their daily lives supported with many illustrations.

In the preceding 25 years to this book’s publication in 1985 there was an extensive and unprecedented burst of archaeological activity in evidence from below-ground deposits, above-ground structures, and artefacts. During the boom of the late 1960s and 1970s, which led to go much central town redevelopment, it was buried remains which yielded the most dramatic information. In the recession of the 1980s it was realised that upstanding remains had a lot to offer as well and they were being subject to ever more sophisticated study techniques. This book examines those recent developments in archaeology and assesses their bearing on the study of medieval English and Welsh history. Taking a series of important themes such as government, religion and the countryside, the book offers a chronological approach from the coming of the Vikings, 850 AD, to the Reformation in 1530. This approach focuses on the impact of man on the urban and rural landscape. An important text for students of ancient history.

The Age of Transition forms a bridge between the Societies of Medieval Archaeoloy and Post-Medieval Archaeology and this volume originates in a conference that the two societies hosted at the British Museum in November 1996. The contents include: The great divide (Hugh Tait); Thoughts on periodisation and change (Paul Courtney); Archaeology of transition: a continental view (Frans Verhaeghe); The evaluation of historical archaeology (Helmut Hundsbichler); Rural settlements (Christopher Dyer); Innovation and resistance in tomb sculpture (Phillip Lindley); Whitehall Palace and Westminster 1400-1600 (Simon Thurley); New techniques and materials for architectural ornament (Maurice Howard); Gentry houses (Nicholas Cooper); Urban housing in England 1400-1600 (John Schofield); Vernacular architecture, ordinary people and everyday culture (Matthew Johnson); The changin technology of warfare (Jonathan Coad); English households in transition 1450-1550: the ceramic evidence (David Gaimster and Beverley Nenk); Food and diet in late medieval and early modern London: the archaeobotanical evidence (John Giorgi); Changing fashions in dress accessories 1400-1600 (Geoff Egan and Hazel Forsyth); Seals and heraldry 1400-1600 (John Cherry).

Monarchy is an enduring institution that still makes headlines today. It has always been preoccupied with image and perception, never more so than in the period covered by this volume. The collection of papers gathered here from international scholars demonstrates that monarchical image and perception went far beyond cultural, symbolic and courtly display – although these remain important – and were, in fact, always deeply concerned with the practical expression of authority, politics and power. This collection is unique in that it covers the subject from two innovative angles: it not only addresses both kings and queens together, but also both the medieval and early modern periods. Consequently, this allows significant comparisons to be made between male and female monarchy as well as between eras. Such an approach reveals that continuity was arguably more important than change over a span of some five centuries. In removing the traditional gender and chronological barriers that tend to lead to four separate areas of studies for kings and queens in medieval and early modern history, the papers here are free to encompass male and female royal rulers ranging across Europe from the early-thirteenth to the late-seventeenth centuries to examine the image and perception of monarchy in England, Scotland, France, Burgundy, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Collectively this volume will be of interest to all those studying medieval and early modern monarchy and for those wishing to learn about the connections and differences between the two.