Richard Ashdowne and Carolinne White (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780197266083
- eISBN:
- 9780191851476
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266083.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This collection considers key issues arising from the use of Medieval Latin in Britain from the 6th to 16th centuries. Although in this period Anglo-Latin was not the native language of its users, it ...
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This collection considers key issues arising from the use of Medieval Latin in Britain from the 6th to 16th centuries. Although in this period Anglo-Latin was not the native language of its users, it was nevertheless used extensively for a wide variety of functions from religion, literature, and philosophy to record-keeping and correspondence. It existed alongside a number of everyday native spoken languages, including English, Anglo-Norman French, and Welsh. The chapters examine Latin with regard to the many multilingual contexts in which it was used, looking beyond narrow comparisons with its Roman ancestor to see what medieval users did with Latin and the diverse effects this had on the language. The fifteen chapters are divided into three parts. The first part considers important examples of Latin usage in Britain during four successive periods, pre-Conquest, the 12th, long-14th, and 15th and 16th centuries. In the second part, examples of different spheres of use are examined, including the law, the church, music, and science (and its assimilation of Arabic). In the final part the use of Latin is considered alongside the many native languages of medieval Britain, looking at how the languages had different roles and how they influenced each other. In all the many contexts in which Latin was used, its use reveals continuity matched with adaptation to circumstance, not least in the development of new vocabulary for the language. Between these two poles users of Latin steered a course that suited their own needs and those of their intended audience.Less
This collection considers key issues arising from the use of Medieval Latin in Britain from the 6th to 16th centuries. Although in this period Anglo-Latin was not the native language of its users, it was nevertheless used extensively for a wide variety of functions from religion, literature, and philosophy to record-keeping and correspondence. It existed alongside a number of everyday native spoken languages, including English, Anglo-Norman French, and Welsh. The chapters examine Latin with regard to the many multilingual contexts in which it was used, looking beyond narrow comparisons with its Roman ancestor to see what medieval users did with Latin and the diverse effects this had on the language. The fifteen chapters are divided into three parts. The first part considers important examples of Latin usage in Britain during four successive periods, pre-Conquest, the 12th, long-14th, and 15th and 16th centuries. In the second part, examples of different spheres of use are examined, including the law, the church, music, and science (and its assimilation of Arabic). In the final part the use of Latin is considered alongside the many native languages of medieval Britain, looking at how the languages had different roles and how they influenced each other. In all the many contexts in which Latin was used, its use reveals continuity matched with adaptation to circumstance, not least in the development of new vocabulary for the language. Between these two poles users of Latin steered a course that suited their own needs and those of their intended audience.
H. E. J. Cowdrey
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199259601
- eISBN:
- 9780191717406
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259601.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Lanfranc of Pavia was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 to 1089, and so for nineteen critical years in the history of the Anglo-Norman church and kingdom after the Norman conquest of 1066. He came ...
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Lanfranc of Pavia was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 to 1089, and so for nineteen critical years in the history of the Anglo-Norman church and kingdom after the Norman conquest of 1066. He came to Canterbury with long experience of intellectual and ecclesiastical currents in mid-11th-century western Europe. At first concerned with the liberal arts, after migrating to Normandy he turned to sacred study; he commented upon the Pauline Epistles and engaged Berengar of Tours in eucharistic controversy. He became prominent in the flourishing monastic life of Normandy at Bec and as abbot of Duke William's foundation of Saint-Étienne at Caen. At Canterbury, he was King William's loyal and effective collaborator in renewing and reordering church life, using councils as a principal means. By no means a ‘court-prelate’, Lanfranc may be best characterized as a monk-archbishop, a role in which he was reinforced by being ex-officio abbot of a cathedral monastery at Canterbury. Canterbury's prestige and interests were a major concern; Lanfranc claimed for the see a primacy over the whole British Isles. Towards the great pope of his day, Gregory VII (1073-85), he was surprisingly cool. This is a full scholarly study of Lanfranc. It reconsiders his career and outstanding achievements in all major aspects, focusing on his qualities of wisdom, diligence, and statesmanship.Less
Lanfranc of Pavia was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 to 1089, and so for nineteen critical years in the history of the Anglo-Norman church and kingdom after the Norman conquest of 1066. He came to Canterbury with long experience of intellectual and ecclesiastical currents in mid-11th-century western Europe. At first concerned with the liberal arts, after migrating to Normandy he turned to sacred study; he commented upon the Pauline Epistles and engaged Berengar of Tours in eucharistic controversy. He became prominent in the flourishing monastic life of Normandy at Bec and as abbot of Duke William's foundation of Saint-Étienne at Caen. At Canterbury, he was King William's loyal and effective collaborator in renewing and reordering church life, using councils as a principal means. By no means a ‘court-prelate’, Lanfranc may be best characterized as a monk-archbishop, a role in which he was reinforced by being ex-officio abbot of a cathedral monastery at Canterbury. Canterbury's prestige and interests were a major concern; Lanfranc claimed for the see a primacy over the whole British Isles. Towards the great pope of his day, Gregory VII (1073-85), he was surprisingly cool. This is a full scholarly study of Lanfranc. It reconsiders his career and outstanding achievements in all major aspects, focusing on his qualities of wisdom, diligence, and statesmanship.
Hugh M. Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199251230
- eISBN:
- 9780191719134
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251230.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Since the Anglo-Norman period itself, the relations between the English and the Normans have formed a subject of lively debate. For most of that time, however, complacency about the inevitability of ...
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Since the Anglo-Norman period itself, the relations between the English and the Normans have formed a subject of lively debate. For most of that time, however, complacency about the inevitability of assimilation and of the Anglicisation of Normans after 1066 has ruled. This book first challenges that complacency, then goes on to explain why the two peoples merged and the Normans became English following years of ethnic hostility. Drawing on anthropological theory, the latest scholarship on Anglo-Norman England, and sources ranging from charters and legal documents to saints' lives and romances, it provides an exploration of ethnic relations on the levels of personal interaction, cultural assimilation, and the construction of identity, investigating the notion of ‘Englishness’ in the Middle Ages. As a result, the work provides a case study in pre-modern ethnic relations that combines both old and new approaches, and sheds new light on some of the most important developments in English history.Less
Since the Anglo-Norman period itself, the relations between the English and the Normans have formed a subject of lively debate. For most of that time, however, complacency about the inevitability of assimilation and of the Anglicisation of Normans after 1066 has ruled. This book first challenges that complacency, then goes on to explain why the two peoples merged and the Normans became English following years of ethnic hostility. Drawing on anthropological theory, the latest scholarship on Anglo-Norman England, and sources ranging from charters and legal documents to saints' lives and romances, it provides an exploration of ethnic relations on the levels of personal interaction, cultural assimilation, and the construction of identity, investigating the notion of ‘Englishness’ in the Middle Ages. As a result, the work provides a case study in pre-modern ethnic relations that combines both old and new approaches, and sheds new light on some of the most important developments in English history.
John McDonald and G. D. Snooks
- Published in print:
- 1986
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198285243
- eISBN:
- 9780191596636
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198285248.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
The authors apply modern theoretical and statistical methods to the unique data source of Domesday Book (1086) to analyse the system of manorial production and the nature of the national tax system ...
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The authors apply modern theoretical and statistical methods to the unique data source of Domesday Book (1086) to analyse the system of manorial production and the nature of the national tax system known as danegeld in eleventh‐century England. Domesday Book includes detailed information on land ‘ownership’, income, resources, and fiscal responsibility for almost every manor in 1086 and, in some cases, in 1066. As no other document of any period or country can match either its detail or comprehensiveness, William the Conqueror's survey provides a rich database for modern economists. By using methods not previously applied to this period, the authors provide a new interpretation of the Anglo‐Norman economy—the first since the work of J. H. Round and F. W. Maitland a century earlier. This classic study has been responsible for stimulating the interest of, and further research by, quantitative economic historians in the medieval period.Less
The authors apply modern theoretical and statistical methods to the unique data source of Domesday Book (1086) to analyse the system of manorial production and the nature of the national tax system known as danegeld in eleventh‐century England. Domesday Book includes detailed information on land ‘ownership’, income, resources, and fiscal responsibility for almost every manor in 1086 and, in some cases, in 1066. As no other document of any period or country can match either its detail or comprehensiveness, William the Conqueror's survey provides a rich database for modern economists. By using methods not previously applied to this period, the authors provide a new interpretation of the Anglo‐Norman economy—the first since the work of J. H. Round and F. W. Maitland a century earlier. This classic study has been responsible for stimulating the interest of, and further research by, quantitative economic historians in the medieval period.
H. E. J. COWDREY
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199259601
- eISBN:
- 9780191717406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259601.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Lanfranc's birthplace, Pavia, had its origin in the Roman municipium of Ticinum which was established before the Christian era on the River Ticino, just north of its confluence with the River Po. ...
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Lanfranc's birthplace, Pavia, had its origin in the Roman municipium of Ticinum which was established before the Christian era on the River Ticino, just north of its confluence with the River Po. Neither Lanfranc's own writings nor anything written about him gives any positive evidence for the impact upon his mind of Pavia's long history or of the events there in his childhood and youth. Yet the environment in which he grew up should be remembered when his later career is studied, most of all in the years during which he was actively engaged in the religious and secular affairs of the Anglo-Norman kingdom. Except for the assured fact of his progress from Pavia to the border of Normandy at Bec, the 1030s are the most obscure decade of Lanfranc's life. This chapter offers a glimpse into Lanfranc's early life, including his family, education, and career.Less
Lanfranc's birthplace, Pavia, had its origin in the Roman municipium of Ticinum which was established before the Christian era on the River Ticino, just north of its confluence with the River Po. Neither Lanfranc's own writings nor anything written about him gives any positive evidence for the impact upon his mind of Pavia's long history or of the events there in his childhood and youth. Yet the environment in which he grew up should be remembered when his later career is studied, most of all in the years during which he was actively engaged in the religious and secular affairs of the Anglo-Norman kingdom. Except for the assured fact of his progress from Pavia to the border of Normandy at Bec, the 1030s are the most obscure decade of Lanfranc's life. This chapter offers a glimpse into Lanfranc's early life, including his family, education, and career.
Helen Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199248865
- eISBN:
- 9780191719394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199248865.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book is a study of romance motifs and conventions, or ‘memes’: ideas that behave like genes or organisms in their ability to replicate, adapt, and survive in different forms and cultures. First ...
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This book is a study of romance motifs and conventions, or ‘memes’: ideas that behave like genes or organisms in their ability to replicate, adapt, and survive in different forms and cultures. First developed in French and Anglo-Norman romances of the 12th century, they were transmitted into English in the 13th-15th centuries, acquired a new and vibrant popularity when prints of medieval romances became the pulp fiction of the Tudor age, and underwent remarkable metamorphoses in the works of the great Elizabethan writers. Although the motifs themselves remain the same, sometimes even down to verbal detail, the usage and understanding of them changes over time, rather as a word may change meaning: the book offers in effect a historical semantics of the language of romance conventions. Differences in cultural usage and interpretation emerge not just in the reuse of traditional elements in new stories but even in successive recopyings of a single text. These differences become more marked as stories and motifs move across authors, periods, readership groups, and changing linguistic and historical circumstances. The book concludes in the early 17th century, since the generation into which Spenser and Shakespeare were born was the last to be brought up on these stories in their original forms, and which therefore had access to the full range of meanings they could encode.Less
This book is a study of romance motifs and conventions, or ‘memes’: ideas that behave like genes or organisms in their ability to replicate, adapt, and survive in different forms and cultures. First developed in French and Anglo-Norman romances of the 12th century, they were transmitted into English in the 13th-15th centuries, acquired a new and vibrant popularity when prints of medieval romances became the pulp fiction of the Tudor age, and underwent remarkable metamorphoses in the works of the great Elizabethan writers. Although the motifs themselves remain the same, sometimes even down to verbal detail, the usage and understanding of them changes over time, rather as a word may change meaning: the book offers in effect a historical semantics of the language of romance conventions. Differences in cultural usage and interpretation emerge not just in the reuse of traditional elements in new stories but even in successive recopyings of a single text. These differences become more marked as stories and motifs move across authors, periods, readership groups, and changing linguistic and historical circumstances. The book concludes in the early 17th century, since the generation into which Spenser and Shakespeare were born was the last to be brought up on these stories in their original forms, and which therefore had access to the full range of meanings they could encode.
Stephen Rippon
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199203826
- eISBN:
- 9780191708282
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203826.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines two case ‐studies in South Wales, where landscapes characterized by villages and common fields were created following the Anglo‐Norman conquest. In south‐east Monmouthshire, an ...
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This chapter examines two case ‐studies in South Wales, where landscapes characterized by villages and common fields were created following the Anglo‐Norman conquest. In south‐east Monmouthshire, an extensive area of coastal marshland was reclaimed and that part which fell within English lordships saw the creation of villages and common fields, while that part which lay within the Welsh lordship of Caerleon had dispersed settlement and enclosed fields. The same is seen on the adjacent dryland areas. In Pembrokeshire, there was a marked north–‐south division in landscape character either side of a twelfth‐century frontier zone—‐the Landsker—‐once again with villages and common fields restricted to the Englishry to the south. Even the architecture of churches, and their position in the landscape, is very different. Flemish settlement may have been significant in some areas.Less
This chapter examines two case ‐studies in South Wales, where landscapes characterized by villages and common fields were created following the Anglo‐Norman conquest. In south‐east Monmouthshire, an extensive area of coastal marshland was reclaimed and that part which fell within English lordships saw the creation of villages and common fields, while that part which lay within the Welsh lordship of Caerleon had dispersed settlement and enclosed fields. The same is seen on the adjacent dryland areas. In Pembrokeshire, there was a marked north–‐south division in landscape character either side of a twelfth‐century frontier zone—‐the Landsker—‐once again with villages and common fields restricted to the Englishry to the south. Even the architecture of churches, and their position in the landscape, is very different. Flemish settlement may have been significant in some areas.
Veronica Ortenberg
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198201595
- eISBN:
- 9780191674945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201595.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, History of Religion
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to provide a study of the exchanges between England and the Continent, and an analysis of parallels between those areas. The book ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to provide a study of the exchanges between England and the Continent, and an analysis of parallels between those areas. The book is largely about ecclesiastical relationships and the type of cultural contact that arose mainly in an ecclesiastical milieu. The ultimate aim of the study is to examine the repercussions between late Anglo-Saxon and early Anglo–Norman England and the Continent on both English and European culture, spirituality, and art, taking into account every possible textual and visual testimony to their existence.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to provide a study of the exchanges between England and the Continent, and an analysis of parallels between those areas. The book is largely about ecclesiastical relationships and the type of cultural contact that arose mainly in an ecclesiastical milieu. The ultimate aim of the study is to examine the repercussions between late Anglo-Saxon and early Anglo–Norman England and the Continent on both English and European culture, spirituality, and art, taking into account every possible textual and visual testimony to their existence.
Ardis Butterfield
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199574865
- eISBN:
- 9780191722127
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574865.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
The Familiar Enemy re‐examines the linguistic, literary, and cultural identities of England and France within the context of the Hundred Years War. During this war, two highly ...
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The Familiar Enemy re‐examines the linguistic, literary, and cultural identities of England and France within the context of the Hundred Years War. During this war, two highly intertwined peoples developed complex strategies for expressing their aggressively intimate relationship. The special connection between the English and the French has endured into the modern period as a model for Western nationhood. This book reassesses the concept of ‘nation’ in this period through a wide‐ranging discussion of writing produced in war, truce or exile from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, concluding with reflections on the retrospective views of this time of war created by the trials of Jeanne d'Arc and by Shakespeare's Henry V. It considers works and authors writing in French, ‘Anglo‐Norman’, and in English, in England and on the continent, with attention to the tradition of comic Anglo‐French jargon (a kind of medieval franglais), to Machaut, Deschamps, Froissart, Chaucer, Gower, Charles d'Orléans and many lesser‐known or anonymous works. Chaucer traditionally has been seen as a quintessentially English author. This book argues that he needs to be resituated within the deeply francophone context, not only of England but the wider multilingual cultural geography of medieval Europe. It thus argues that a modern understanding of what ‘English’ might have meant in the fourteenth century cannot be separated from ‘French’, and that this has far‐reaching implications both for our understanding of English and the English, and of French and the French.Less
The Familiar Enemy re‐examines the linguistic, literary, and cultural identities of England and France within the context of the Hundred Years War. During this war, two highly intertwined peoples developed complex strategies for expressing their aggressively intimate relationship. The special connection between the English and the French has endured into the modern period as a model for Western nationhood. This book reassesses the concept of ‘nation’ in this period through a wide‐ranging discussion of writing produced in war, truce or exile from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, concluding with reflections on the retrospective views of this time of war created by the trials of Jeanne d'Arc and by Shakespeare's Henry V. It considers works and authors writing in French, ‘Anglo‐Norman’, and in English, in England and on the continent, with attention to the tradition of comic Anglo‐French jargon (a kind of medieval franglais), to Machaut, Deschamps, Froissart, Chaucer, Gower, Charles d'Orléans and many lesser‐known or anonymous works. Chaucer traditionally has been seen as a quintessentially English author. This book argues that he needs to be resituated within the deeply francophone context, not only of England but the wider multilingual cultural geography of medieval Europe. It thus argues that a modern understanding of what ‘English’ might have meant in the fourteenth century cannot be separated from ‘French’, and that this has far‐reaching implications both for our understanding of English and the English, and of French and the French.
Tony Hunt
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263952
- eISBN:
- 9780191734083
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263952.003.0019
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter examines the history and developments in Francophone studies in Great Britain during the twentieth century. It explains that the study of Old French in Great Britain began very soon ...
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This chapter examines the history and developments in Francophone studies in Great Britain during the twentieth century. It explains that the study of Old French in Great Britain began very soon after the establishment of chairs of French in British universities and that as the last decade of the twentieth century dawned, twenty-nine British universities were teaching Old French as a component of a French degree course and 90 per cent of them as an obligatory element involving sixty-two specialist teachers. This trend suggests the continuing vigour of Anglo-Norman studies, which had already run such a successful course since the beginning of the century.Less
This chapter examines the history and developments in Francophone studies in Great Britain during the twentieth century. It explains that the study of Old French in Great Britain began very soon after the establishment of chairs of French in British universities and that as the last decade of the twentieth century dawned, twenty-nine British universities were teaching Old French as a component of a French degree course and 90 per cent of them as an obligatory element involving sixty-two specialist teachers. This trend suggests the continuing vigour of Anglo-Norman studies, which had already run such a successful course since the beginning of the century.
Ardis Butterfield
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199574865
- eISBN:
- 9780191722127
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574865.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This revisits the symbolic importance attached to language and stories of national origin in some of the earliest examples of written ‘English’ and ‘French’ – the former, on Hengist and Horsa, ...
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This revisits the symbolic importance attached to language and stories of national origin in some of the earliest examples of written ‘English’ and ‘French’ – the former, on Hengist and Horsa, actually written in French and the latter, the so‐called Strasbourg Oaths, in a hybrid mixture of Latin and vernacular. It then considers the linguistic mobility of French in England and on the continent in the thirteenth century. It argues, by means of recent linguistic research, that Anglo‐Norman is a misleading term, and should be replaced by the broader Anglo‐French: once we learn to look at French across both sides of the Channel, in England and in different areas of France, older, rigid models of dialect and linguistic change seem inadequate to describe the ways in which both ‘French’ and ‘Anglo‐French’ fragment under scrutiny into shifting, porous and, most importantly, shared instances of language variation.Less
This revisits the symbolic importance attached to language and stories of national origin in some of the earliest examples of written ‘English’ and ‘French’ – the former, on Hengist and Horsa, actually written in French and the latter, the so‐called Strasbourg Oaths, in a hybrid mixture of Latin and vernacular. It then considers the linguistic mobility of French in England and on the continent in the thirteenth century. It argues, by means of recent linguistic research, that Anglo‐Norman is a misleading term, and should be replaced by the broader Anglo‐French: once we learn to look at French across both sides of the Channel, in England and in different areas of France, older, rigid models of dialect and linguistic change seem inadequate to describe the ways in which both ‘French’ and ‘Anglo‐French’ fragment under scrutiny into shifting, porous and, most importantly, shared instances of language variation.
R. R. Davies
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208785
- eISBN:
- 9780191678141
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208785.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book examines the period when Wales struggled to retain its independence and identity in the face of the Anglo-Norman conquest and subsequent English rule. It explores the nature of power and ...
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This book examines the period when Wales struggled to retain its independence and identity in the face of the Anglo-Norman conquest and subsequent English rule. It explores the nature of power and conflict within native Welsh society as well as the transformation of Wales under the English crown. An account of the last major revolt under Owain Glyn Dwr forms the culmination of this work.Less
This book examines the period when Wales struggled to retain its independence and identity in the face of the Anglo-Norman conquest and subsequent English rule. It explores the nature of power and conflict within native Welsh society as well as the transformation of Wales under the English crown. An account of the last major revolt under Owain Glyn Dwr forms the culmination of this work.
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198112792
- eISBN:
- 9780191707599
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112792.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, Women's Literature
This book argues that, in the multilingual culture of medieval England, the French of England needs to be taken into account alongside the English writings of figures such as Margery Kempe and Julian ...
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This book argues that, in the multilingual culture of medieval England, the French of England needs to be taken into account alongside the English writings of figures such as Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich. This is by considering that the francophone literary culture of medieval women in England extends the usual model by some two centuries and greatly enlarges the corpus of texts written by and for women, particularly from c. 1100-c.1300 and beyond. The book explores and demonstrates this contention by focussing on the discourses of virginity and the saints' lives composed by women, together with traditions of women's patronage and composition both as individuals and in female communities. Virginity is explored as a potential model of agency for women and the book examines the capacity of the virgin to give as well as to be given in the texts and documents of the period.Less
This book argues that, in the multilingual culture of medieval England, the French of England needs to be taken into account alongside the English writings of figures such as Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich. This is by considering that the francophone literary culture of medieval women in England extends the usual model by some two centuries and greatly enlarges the corpus of texts written by and for women, particularly from c. 1100-c.1300 and beyond. The book explores and demonstrates this contention by focussing on the discourses of virginity and the saints' lives composed by women, together with traditions of women's patronage and composition both as individuals and in female communities. Virginity is explored as a potential model of agency for women and the book examines the capacity of the virgin to give as well as to be given in the texts and documents of the period.
John Hudson
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206880
- eISBN:
- 9780191677359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206880.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book examines seignorial control of land in order to illuminate both the power of Anglo-Norman lordship and the functioning and development of law within society. The book examines the areas of ...
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This book examines seignorial control of land in order to illuminate both the power of Anglo-Norman lordship and the functioning and development of law within society. The book examines the areas of co-operation or conflict between kings, lords, and vassals. It also explores the extent the honour was an independent social and political unit; how the relationships and land-holding within honours worked; the characteristics of a good lord; the constraints which existed upon the exercise of seignorial power and patronage; and the aspirations of vassals, especially with regard to land. Above all, the book asks how the aims and actions of lords and vassals were facilitated or constrained by power and ideas, and particularly by what might be referred to as legal norms. The book argues that some loose description of certain affairs as legal is still valid, both in terms of analytic utility and of the thought of the time. It concludes that power had certainly an effect on the normal conduct of affairs concerning land-holding and law, but the use of power to flout the workings of law and justice was condemned.Less
This book examines seignorial control of land in order to illuminate both the power of Anglo-Norman lordship and the functioning and development of law within society. The book examines the areas of co-operation or conflict between kings, lords, and vassals. It also explores the extent the honour was an independent social and political unit; how the relationships and land-holding within honours worked; the characteristics of a good lord; the constraints which existed upon the exercise of seignorial power and patronage; and the aspirations of vassals, especially with regard to land. Above all, the book asks how the aims and actions of lords and vassals were facilitated or constrained by power and ideas, and particularly by what might be referred to as legal norms. The book argues that some loose description of certain affairs as legal is still valid, both in terms of analytic utility and of the thought of the time. It concludes that power had certainly an effect on the normal conduct of affairs concerning land-holding and law, but the use of power to flout the workings of law and justice was condemned.
John Hudson
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206880
- eISBN:
- 9780191677359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206880.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter deals with connections between homage and land-holding. It reveals the homage relationship to be central to both the creation and the termination of tenurial bonds. The bulk of the ...
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This chapter deals with connections between homage and land-holding. It reveals the homage relationship to be central to both the creation and the termination of tenurial bonds. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to distraint and the enforcement of services. Distraint, the removal from the vassal of chattels or land, is seen as the main process by which a lord could discipline his tenants, although many other informal pressures could be brought to bear. This chapter closes with a discussion of good and bad lordship, with particular attention to the warranty of land. Examination of these areas reveals the considerable security of tenure enjoyed by vassals in Anglo-Norman England.Less
This chapter deals with connections between homage and land-holding. It reveals the homage relationship to be central to both the creation and the termination of tenurial bonds. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to distraint and the enforcement of services. Distraint, the removal from the vassal of chattels or land, is seen as the main process by which a lord could discipline his tenants, although many other informal pressures could be brought to bear. This chapter closes with a discussion of good and bad lordship, with particular attention to the warranty of land. Examination of these areas reveals the considerable security of tenure enjoyed by vassals in Anglo-Norman England.
John Hudson
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206880
- eISBN:
- 9780191677359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206880.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The primary attention of this chapter is the royal administration of justice. It seeks to provide an interpretative account on the reforms of Henry II and their effect on land-holding and law. This ...
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The primary attention of this chapter is the royal administration of justice. It seeks to provide an interpretative account on the reforms of Henry II and their effect on land-holding and law. This chapter attempts to reconcile the evidence that the Anglo-Norman world was not one of autonomous lordships but of considerable royal involvement, and that the social effects of customs in Anglo-Norman England did not differ greatly from those of Common Law rules, with the continuing impression that Henry II's and subsequent reforms really did make a difference. After briefly sketching a chronology of the reforms, the chapter deals with the judicial aspects of his reforms, and then with their effect on land-holding. At the end of the chapter, it provides a reemphasis of the importance of developments before 1135, and the limits to the changes resulting from the reforms.Less
The primary attention of this chapter is the royal administration of justice. It seeks to provide an interpretative account on the reforms of Henry II and their effect on land-holding and law. This chapter attempts to reconcile the evidence that the Anglo-Norman world was not one of autonomous lordships but of considerable royal involvement, and that the social effects of customs in Anglo-Norman England did not differ greatly from those of Common Law rules, with the continuing impression that Henry II's and subsequent reforms really did make a difference. After briefly sketching a chronology of the reforms, the chapter deals with the judicial aspects of his reforms, and then with their effect on land-holding. At the end of the chapter, it provides a reemphasis of the importance of developments before 1135, and the limits to the changes resulting from the reforms.
R. R. Davies
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208785
- eISBN:
- 9780191678141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208785.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The Anglo-Norman lords had come to accept by the late twelfth century that the total subjugation of Wales was, at least for the time being, beyond their reach. So had England's government. Wales was ...
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The Anglo-Norman lords had come to accept by the late twelfth century that the total subjugation of Wales was, at least for the time being, beyond their reach. So had England's government. Wales was to be a partially conquered country. The acknowledgement of this situation was reflected in the increasing use in official documents of a formal terminology to express the duality: on the one hand, the part of Wales that remained under native rule was referred to as ‘Wales’ or ‘Wales proper’, while the rest of the country was designated ‘the March of Wales’ and its rulers ‘the barons of the March’. A brief review of the March in the late twelfth century will serve to indicate the extent of Anglo-Norman penetration in Wales by that date and to emphasize the very variable quality of Anglo-Norman control.Less
The Anglo-Norman lords had come to accept by the late twelfth century that the total subjugation of Wales was, at least for the time being, beyond their reach. So had England's government. Wales was to be a partially conquered country. The acknowledgement of this situation was reflected in the increasing use in official documents of a formal terminology to express the duality: on the one hand, the part of Wales that remained under native rule was referred to as ‘Wales’ or ‘Wales proper’, while the rest of the country was designated ‘the March of Wales’ and its rulers ‘the barons of the March’. A brief review of the March in the late twelfth century will serve to indicate the extent of Anglo-Norman penetration in Wales by that date and to emphasize the very variable quality of Anglo-Norman control.
R. R. Davies
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208785
- eISBN:
- 9780191678141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208785.003.0020
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
By 1415, Wales had been conquered, finally and irreversibly. The story of that conquest dominated the history of the country for the 350 years covered by this book. What was surprising was that ...
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By 1415, Wales had been conquered, finally and irreversibly. The story of that conquest dominated the history of the country for the 350 years covered by this book. What was surprising was that conquest had taken so long. Already by 1093 the odds against the survival of Wales's political independence seemed hopeless. But the Welsh showed remarkable resourcefulness and resilience. For almost two centuries they survived and even, periodically, flourished. They took full advantage of their own terrain, climate, and hardiness; they exploited the lack of stamina and frequent diversions of the Anglo-Norman invaders; they capitalized on the domestic preoccupations and periodic impotence of the English monarchy. Even the completion of the process of conquest did not bring political or governmental unity to Wales. Indeed, the country's natural particularism had been further entrenched by the piecemeal and protracted character of the Anglo-Norman conquest.Less
By 1415, Wales had been conquered, finally and irreversibly. The story of that conquest dominated the history of the country for the 350 years covered by this book. What was surprising was that conquest had taken so long. Already by 1093 the odds against the survival of Wales's political independence seemed hopeless. But the Welsh showed remarkable resourcefulness and resilience. For almost two centuries they survived and even, periodically, flourished. They took full advantage of their own terrain, climate, and hardiness; they exploited the lack of stamina and frequent diversions of the Anglo-Norman invaders; they capitalized on the domestic preoccupations and periodic impotence of the English monarchy. Even the completion of the process of conquest did not bring political or governmental unity to Wales. Indeed, the country's natural particularism had been further entrenched by the piecemeal and protracted character of the Anglo-Norman conquest.
Robert Bartlett
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203612
- eISBN:
- 9780191675898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203612.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Between the 11th and the 13th centuries, the political map of Europe and the Mediterranean was transformed by a series of conquests which established, more or less securely, new ruling classes in ...
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Between the 11th and the 13th centuries, the political map of Europe and the Mediterranean was transformed by a series of conquests which established, more or less securely, new ruling classes in countries as distant and diverse as Ireland and Palestine, Andalusia and Prussia. In these places a new military and landed elite of foreign origin — a colonial aristocracy — intruded into and was imposed upon the indigenous society. Moreover, beyond this comparability of situation is the fact that the alien aristocracies all shared certain traditions of Latin and Frankish origin. Thus, when one analyses the changes brought about by the partial Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland or the creation of the Mark of Brandenburg on formerly Slav terrain or the establishment of Outremer, the crusader colony in the Middle East, one is struck, simultaneously, by the contrasts between these different areas and by the common cultural and political baggage brought by the invaders.Less
Between the 11th and the 13th centuries, the political map of Europe and the Mediterranean was transformed by a series of conquests which established, more or less securely, new ruling classes in countries as distant and diverse as Ireland and Palestine, Andalusia and Prussia. In these places a new military and landed elite of foreign origin — a colonial aristocracy — intruded into and was imposed upon the indigenous society. Moreover, beyond this comparability of situation is the fact that the alien aristocracies all shared certain traditions of Latin and Frankish origin. Thus, when one analyses the changes brought about by the partial Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland or the creation of the Mark of Brandenburg on formerly Slav terrain or the establishment of Outremer, the crusader colony in the Middle East, one is struck, simultaneously, by the contrasts between these different areas and by the common cultural and political baggage brought by the invaders.
Rees Davies
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203612
- eISBN:
- 9780191675898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203612.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
From the late 11th century onwards — in other words from the period of ‘the awakening of Europe’ and ‘the making of the Middle Ages’ — Ireland and Wales may appropriately be regarded as two of the ...
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From the late 11th century onwards — in other words from the period of ‘the awakening of Europe’ and ‘the making of the Middle Ages’ — Ireland and Wales may appropriately be regarded as two of the western frontier zones of medieval Europe. They stood at one of the peripheries of the area of feudal imperialism associated with the Norman conquest and colonisation, and indeed this seemed to slow down and even to frustrate its apparently remorseless advance. They were also frontier lands in cultural terms, where a new, confident, aggressive, north-western European, Latin- and French-dominated aristocratic and ecclesiastical culture came into contact, and often confrontation, with native cultures profoundly different in their economic configuration. The saga of the Anglo-Norman penetration of Ireland began in 1169, almost exactly a century later than that of Wales. After making rapid and impressive initial progress, it was already clearly faltering by the second half of the 13th century.Less
From the late 11th century onwards — in other words from the period of ‘the awakening of Europe’ and ‘the making of the Middle Ages’ — Ireland and Wales may appropriately be regarded as two of the western frontier zones of medieval Europe. They stood at one of the peripheries of the area of feudal imperialism associated with the Norman conquest and colonisation, and indeed this seemed to slow down and even to frustrate its apparently remorseless advance. They were also frontier lands in cultural terms, where a new, confident, aggressive, north-western European, Latin- and French-dominated aristocratic and ecclesiastical culture came into contact, and often confrontation, with native cultures profoundly different in their economic configuration. The saga of the Anglo-Norman penetration of Ireland began in 1169, almost exactly a century later than that of Wales. After making rapid and impressive initial progress, it was already clearly faltering by the second half of the 13th century.
