`An indispensable series for anyone who wishes to keep abreast of recent work in the field'. WELSH HISTORY REVIEW

Essays looking at the links between England and Europe in the long thirteenth century.

Papers on aspects of the growth of royal government during the century. The size and jurisdiction of English royal government underwent sustained development in the thirteenth century, an understanding of which is crucial to a balanced view of medieval English society. The papers here follow three central themes: the development of central government, law and justice, and the crown and the localities. Examined within this framework are bureaucracy and enrolment under John and his contemporaries; the Royal Chancery; the adaptation of the Exchequer in response to the rapidly changing demands of the crown; the introduction of a licensing system for mortmain alienations; the administration of local justice; women as sheriffs; and a Nottinghamshire study examining the tensions between the role of the king as manorial lord and as monarch. Contributors: NICK BARRATT, PAUL R. BRAND, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVID CROOK, ANTHONY MUSSON, NICHOLAS C. VINCENT, LOUISE WILKINSON

`Set to become an indispensible series for anyone who wishes to keep abreast of recent work in the field.' WELSH HISTORY REVIEWImportant papers playing a key role in re-awakening scholarly interest in a comparatively neglected period of English history.

Fruits of the most recent research on the thirteenth century in both England and Europe. The articles collected here reflect the continued and wide interest in England and its neighbours in the years between Magna Carta and the Black Death, with many of them particularly seeking to set England in its European context.There are three main strands to the volume. The first is the social dimension of power, and the norms and practice of politics: attention is drawn to the variety of roles open to members of the clergy, but also peasants and townsmen, and the populace at large. Several chapters explore the manifestations and instruments of social identity, such as the seals used by the leading elites of thirteenth-century London, and the marriage practices of the Englisharistocracy. The third main focus is the uses of the past. Matthew Paris, the most famous chronicler of the period, receives due attention, in particular his changing attitude towards the monarch, but the Vita Edwardi Secundi's portrayal of Thomas of Lancaster and the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut are also considered. Janet Burton is Professor of Medieval History at University of Wales: Trinity Saint David; Phillipp Schofield is Professor of Medieval History at Aberystwyth University; Björn Weiler is Professor of History at Aberystwyth University. Contributors: J.R. Maddicott, Phillipp Schofield, Harmony Dewez, John McEwan, Jörg Peltzer, Karen Stöber, Olga Cecilia Méndez González, Sophie Ambler, Joe Creamer, Lars Kjær, Andrew Spencer, Julia Marvin, Olivier de Laborderie

Examines how thirteenth-century clergymen used pastoral care - preaching, sacraments and confession - to increase their parishioners' religious knowledge, devotion and expectations.

Essays reflecting the most recent research on the thirteenth century, with a timely focus on the Treaty of Paris. Additional editors: Karen Stöber, Björn Weiler The articles collected here bear witness to the continued and wide interest in England and its neighbours in the "long" thirteenth century. The volume includes papers on the high politics of the thirteenth century, international relations, the administrative and governmental structures of medieval England and aspects of the wider societal and political context of the period. A particular theme of the papers is Anglo-French political history, and especially the ways in which that relationship was reflected in the diplomatic and dynastic arrangements associated with the Treaty of Paris, the 750th anniversary of which fell during 2009, a fact celebrated in this collection of essays and the Paris conference at which the original papers were first delivered. Contributors: Caroline Burt, Julie E. Kanter, Julia Barrow, Benjamin L. Wild, WilliamMarx, Caroline Dunn, Adrian Jobson, Adrian R. Bell, Chris Brooks, Tony K. Moore, David A. Trotter, William Chester Jordan, Daniel Power, Florent Lenègre