Books in the The Medieval World series

First glorified as the Saviour of Christendom and then vilified as an enemy of the Church, Charles Martel's career has been written and rewritten from the time of his descendents. This important new study draws on strictly contemporary sources to assess his real achievements and offers new insights into a fascinating period.

The late-medieval Mediterranean world was dominated by half a dozen powerful empires, yet the conflict between the kings of Aragon-Catalonia and the counts of Anjou-Provence, which this book describes, involved the fates of the whole of the Mediterranean and shaped the history of Western Europe.

Offers a re-appraisal of Charles the Bald's achievement in his own time, and also explains why Charles, in spite of himself, can be seen as the maker of France.

The Welsh princes were one of the most important ruling elites in medieval western Europe. This volume examines their behaviour, influence and power in a period when the Welsh were struggling to maintain their independence and identity in the face of Anglo-Norman settlement.

Provides an assessment of the historical significance of the fall of Constantinople in 1204. Offering a perspective on the fourth crusade, this work looks at the development of Byzantine relations with the West in the crusading era, relates the conquest to the failure of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, and more.

Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources, Warren Brown examines the norms governing violence within medieval societies from the sixth to the fourteenth century, over an area covering the Romance and the Germanic speaking regions of the continent as well as England.

The Germanic Invasions of the fifth century brought about the collapse of the Roman Empire. 'The Barbarian Invasions' will change the way we think about those Dark Ages, looking at the Barbarians themselves rather than just their impact on the Roman empire.

In this ambitious history of lawlessness and legal retribution in medieval Europe, Trevor Dean ranges widely across the continent - and Britain. He uses court records to illuminate the lives of ordinary men and women, who often found themselves at the sharp end of the law.

Places Margery Kempe in the context of the society of late-medieval Kings. This book contains an exploration of Margery's spirituality.

In recent times it has been fashionable to disdain the reign of King Richard I. Serious historians apply differing standards to the history of Richard's reign than popular ones. This study clarifies his position and reign using modern analytical tools.

The history of the Church in England between the early 10th century and the middle of the 12th century forms a definable unit of study. In this text, Henry Loyn brings to bear all his formidable range of knowledge on this important topic.

This portrait of the Anglo-Scandinavian world is supplementary reading for 2nd/3rd year undergraduate courses in Medieval British history and the Norman Conquest. Set against the backdrop of Viking raids and the Norman Conquest of 1066, the book unravels the history of a feuding family that determined the course and fortunes of all the English.

A study of the career of St Ambrose (339-397), who was a key figure in the transition of the later Roman Empire into its mediaeval successor, Western Christendom. The text sets Ambrose's life in its full historical and theological context.

Founded upon an unrivalled knowledge of the original sources for the conquest, this is a cogent and lucid analysis of a key medieval subject hitherto largely ignored by historians.

A biography of Abbot Suger (1081-1151), regent of France and abbot of one of the most important abbeys in Europe during the time of the Georgian reforms in which the author questions his reputation both as architect of French royal power and of St Denis. In the MEDIEVAL WORLD series.

One of a series of books which looks at prominent figures from the medieval world. This text considers the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It makes use of a wide variety of sources and provides a reassessemnt of the character and action of the emperor himself and other prominent figures of his reign.

This text aims to provide a balanced portrait of one of the most controversial figures of 13th-century Europe and an assessment of the long-term significance of his career. The author describes how Charles I was able to carve out and control a huge power block in the Mediterranean.

This text sets out to do justice to Philip (II) Augustus as a man and a king and to redress the balance of assessment in relation to his contemporaries.

Although the crusader states in the Holy Land were never hugely powerful in themselves, they had significance out of all proportion to their size for medieval Christendom at large, and were the continuing focal point for the crusading impulse from the west, a topic discussed in this text.

This text studies the structures of a bastard feudal society in the context of aristocratic power and domination as it was exercised over a period of five centuries or more. A range of specialist studies are brought into focus and their general significance is evaluated.

During his reign (871-899), King Alfred revolutionized the governance of Wessex, advancing the process that would end in the creation of the kingdom of England. This book offers an analysis of Alfred's achievement. In doing so it illuminates the character and meaning of Anglo-Saxon kingship.

Malcolm Barber traces the origins and spread of Cathar dualist ideas, assesses their attraction for contemporaries, and describes the reaction of the ecclesiastical and lay authorities in the form of preaching campaigns, intellectual refutation, crusade, and inquisitorial investigations.

'Heresy' literally means choice, and medieval heresy saw the birth of the modern consumer. This book presents a study, which places the rise and fall of the heresies of the central middle ages in their broader context. It argues that the emergence of heresy in the twelfth century reflected lay impatience with the monopoly of the medieval Church.