This introductory textbook offers a fully integrated perspective of medieval Britain, from 1000 to 1500. Written in an engaging and accessible style and organised thematically, the book emphasises elements of medieval life over political narrative. It will be an essential resource for undergraduate students taking courses on medieval Britain.

Though England was the emerging super-state in the medieval British Isles, its story is not the only one Britain can offer; there is a wider context of Britain in Europe, and the story of this period is one of how European Latin and French culture and ideals colonised the minds of all the British peoples. This engaging and accessible introduction offers a truly integrated perspective of medieval British history, emphasising elements of medieval life over political narrative, and offering an up-to-date presentation and summary of medieval historiography. Featuring figures, maps, a glossary of key terms, a chronology of rulers, timelines and annotated suggestions for further reading and key texts, this textbook is an essential resource for undergraduate courses on medieval Britain. Supplementary online resources include additional further reading suggestions, useful links and primary sources.

Deconstructs the early history of Britain, illustrating a transformative era with wide-ranging sources and an accessible narrative.

The new edition of Medieval England, 500-1500, edited by Emilie Amt and Katherine Allen Smith, spans several centuries in 102 documents that present the social and political history of England. The documents include constitutional highlights and records such as the Magna Carta and Froissart's Chronicles, as well as narrative sources describing the lived experiences of a range of historical actors. These narratives fit into thematic clusters covering topics such as the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, lay piety, later medieval commercial life, queenship, and Jewish communities. Thirty-nine new sources discuss significant events like the conquest of Wales, the Gregorian mission, and the Viking invasions. They also allow for multiple examples of particular genres, such as wills and miracle collections, to facilitate comparative analysis. Introductions and questions situate each source in the historical landscape and facilitate engagement with the text, inspiring readers to delve into the medieval past. The book also features 40 illustrations, a map, and an index of topics. Additional resources, including essay questions, web resources, and a timeline, can be found on the History Matters website (www.utphistorymatters.com).

While they often go hand-in-hand and the distinction between the two is frequently blurred, authority and power are distinct concepts and abilities - this was a problem that the Church tussled with throughout the High and Late Middle Ages. Claims of authority, efforts to have that authority recognized, and the struggle to transform it into more tangible forms of power were defining factors of the medieval Church's existence. As the studies assembled here demonstrate, claims to authority by members of the Church were often in inverse proportion to their actual power - a problematic paradox which resulted from the uneven and uncertain acceptance of ecclesiastical authority by lay powers and, indeed, fellow members of the ecclesia. The chapters of this book reveal how clerical claims to authority and power were frequently debated, refined, opposed, and resisted in their expression and implementation. The clergy had to negotiate a complex landscape of overlapping and competing claims in pursuit of their rights. They waged these struggles in arenas that ranged from papal, royal, and imperial curiae, through monastic houses, law courts and parliaments, urban religious communities and devotional networks, to contact and conflict with the laity on the ground; the weapons deployed included art, manuscripts, dress, letters, petitions, treatises, legal claims, legates, and the physical arms of allied lay powers. In an effort to further our understanding of this central aspect of ecclesiastical history, this interdisciplinary volume, which effects a broad temporal, geographical, and thematic sweep, points the way to new avenues of research and new approaches to a traditional topic. It fuses historical methodologies with art history, gender studies, musicology, and material culture, and presents fresh insights into one of the most significant institutions of the medieval world.

The Middle Ages are all around us in Britain. The Tower of London and the castles of Scotland and Wales are mainstays of cultural tourism and an inspiring cross-section of later medieval finds can now be seen on display in museums across England, Scotland, and Wales. Medieval institutions from Parliament and monarchy to universities are familiar to us and we come into contact with the later Middle Ages every day when we drive through a village or town, look up at the castle on the hill, visit a local church or wonder about the earthworks in the fields we see from the window of a train. The Oxford Handbook of Later Medieval Archaeology in Britain provides an overview of the archaeology of the later Middle Ages in Britain between AD 1066 and 1550. 61 entries, divided into 10 thematic sections, cover topics ranging from later medieval objects, human remains, archaeological science, standing buildings, and sites such as castles and monasteries, to the well-preserved relict landscapes which still survive. This is a rich and exciting period of the past and most of what we have learnt about the material culture of our medieval past has been discovered in the past two generations. This volume provides comprehensive coverage of the latest research and describes the major projects and concepts that are changing our understanding of our medieval heritage.

Medieval England presents the political and cultural development of English society from the Norman Conquest to the end of the Wars of the Roses. It is a story of change, progress, setback, and consolidation, with England emerging as a wealthy and stable country, many of whose essential features were to remain unchanged until the Industrial Revolution. Edmund King traces his chronicle through the lives of successive monarchs, the inescapable central thread of that epoch. The momentous events of the times are also recreated, from the compiling of the Domesday Book, through the wars with the Scots, the Welsh, and the French, to the Peasants' Revolt and the disastrous Black Death.