Books in the Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West series

Alexander III was one of the most important popes of the Middle Ages. His papacy (1159-81) marked a significant watershed in the history of the Western Church and Society. Alexander made many contributions to the law of the Church that had a major impact on Western society, notably on marriage. This title presents a reassessment of his papacy.

A study devoted to the life and after-life of St John of Beverley. The hagiographic works on John extend over nearly six hundred years. The author uses these sources as an opportunity to examine the ways in which an Anglo-Saxon saint was promoted over a long period of time by different hagiographers.

Presents a study of Burchard's "Decretum", a popular book of Catholic canon law compiled just after the year 1000. This book provides a window into the development of legal and theological reasoning in the medieval West, and suggests that the flowering of law and theology began far earlier, and for different reasons, than scholars had supposed.

Explores ways in which Rome itself was preserved, envisioned, and transformed by its residents, and also by the many pilgrims who flocked to the shrines of the martyrs. This book considers how northern European cultures (in particular, the Irish and English) imagined and imitated the city as they understood it.

From the mid-12th-century until its dissolution, St Albans laid claim to being the premier Benedictine monastery in England. Aiming to contribute towards a picture of monastic life, this study focuses in particular on individual abbots during the period of its greatest prosperity.

This text examines the Council of Bourges which took place in medieval France in order to form a representative government. In the 21st century, government by elected representatives is commonplace and taken for granted; but in 1225 it was a novelty with an uncertain future.

"The Book of Donors for Strasbourg Cathedral" is an extraordinary medieval document dating from ca 1320-1520, with 6,954 entries from artisan, merchant and aristocratic classes. This title analyzes the "Book of Donors" manuscript and shows the types and patterns of gifts made to the cathedral.

Ansgar and Rimbert, ninth-century bishops and missionaries to Denmark and Sweden, are fixtures of medieval ecclesiastical history. By revising our understanding of Carolingian northeastern expansion after Charlemagne, this title provides fresh insight into the political and ecclesiastical history of early medieval Europe.

Hugh of Amiens (c 1085-1164) was an important intellectual figure in the twelfth century. This book examines all of Hugh's writings to uncover a better understanding not only of this individual, but also of the twelfth-century as a whole, especially the theological preoccupations of the period.

Contains papers by a number of students of Robert Louis Benson that deal with matters central to Benson's historical interests - ecclesiastical institutions and administration, emperorship and papacy, canon law, political ideology, and historiography. This book aims to contribute to the study of the Middle Ages.

Dating from the fourth century AD, the prophecy of the 'Sibylla Tiburtina' was one of medieval Europe's most widely disseminated Latin eschatological prophecies. This study addresses the variety of non-political interests and concerns which medieval readers brought to the prophecy.

Concerns social and religious life in the city of Toulouse during the period 1150 - 1250 AD. This book reveals how religious orders managed an insurance network providing pensions, old age care and burial for lay society. The chapters on hospitals, charities, entertainers, judges, heretics and usurers bring the daily life of the period to life.

A detailed study of Hugh of Flavigny and his chronicle, which is recognised as one of the most important narratives of a crucial period of European history, that is, the Investiture Contest. This work also investigates the context of the work in terms of ecclesiastical politics.

Discusses issues such as episcopal (self-)representation, conceptualization of office and authority, cultural production (images, texts, material objects, space) and ecclesiology/ideology. This book contends that ideas about episcopal office and conduct were conditioned by and contingent upon time, place, and pastoral constituency.

St Katherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints in both the Orthodox and Latin Churches in the later Middle Ages. This book provides an examination of the way how her cult spread from the Greek-speaking lands of the Eastern Mediterranean and into Western Europe.