The History tells how they expanded the frontiers of the empire and brought back captured relics, booty, and prisoners of war to parade in triumph through the streets of Constantinople. Leo accompanied at least one expedition, and drew on his firsthand experience to provide vivid descriptions of sieges, pitched battles, ambushes, and single combat. His account of the conspiracy against Nikephoros II Phokas, murdered as he slept on the floor in front of his icons, is one of the most dramatic in Byzantine narrative histories."--page 4 of cover.

Perceptions about gender and sexuality have shaped the lives of men and women in every known culture and in every period of history. To study these perceptions one must delve into the underlying religious, social, philosophical and scientific influences. Understanding gender and sexuality during the Middle Ages requires an examination of the ideas, laws and institutions of the time--for example, the regulations of the Christian church, the anatomical studies of the medieval medical community, the chronicles of the time and the social criticism found in medieval literature. This reader brings such documents from throughout the medieval world into one collection. Representing a diverse range of ethnic, geographic and religious backgrounds, documents of the late Roman, Germanic, Anglo-Norman, Mediterranean, Byzantine, Slavic, Jewish and Islamic identities are all included. The book's chapters are organized according to nine areas--the Bible; Christian thought; chronicles; law; biology, medicine and science; literature; witchcraft and heresy; Judaism; and Islam--allowing for comparative examination of different societies and periods of the Middle Ages.

This Dictionary: explains technical Roman legal terms, translates & elucidate those Latin words which have a specific connotation when used in a juristic context or in connection with a legal institution or question, & provides a brief picture of Roman legal institutions & sources as a sort of an introduction to them. The objectives of the work, not the juristic character of available Latin writings, therefore, determined the inclusion or exclusion of any single word or phrase. This dict. is not intended to be a complete Latin-English dict. for all words which occur in the writings of the Roman jurists or in the various codifications of Roman law. The reader must consult a general Latin-English lexicon for ordinary words that have no specific meaning in law or juristic language. Reprinted 1980.

Between A.D. 200 and 1000, sponsorship at baptism evolved from a simple liturgical act into a mechanism for the creation of enduring relationships regarded as especially holy forms of kinship. Combining anthropological, historical, theological, and literary approaches, Joseph Lynch presents a comprehensive analysis of the origins and development in Western society of this "spiritual" kinship. Because of its solemnity and adaptability, such kinship gradually took its place alongside blood and marital ties as a fundamental part of medieval society, continuing to expand in high and late medieval Europe and to flourish even in modern times, particularly in Latin America. Professor Lynch traces the liturgical practices and theological beliefs undergirding sponsorship and examines its social purposes, including sacralization of personal firendships, creation of client/patron reltionships, extension of marital taboos, provision of protectors for the young, fostering of trust among adults, and dissemination of religious instruction. In the process he offers a rich array of insights into the Church's role in the passage of Western society from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Joseph H. Lynch is Professor of History and former Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Ohio State University. He is author of Simoniacal Entry into Religious Life form 1000 to 1260: A Social, Economic and Legal Study (Ohio State). Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.