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The remarkable treasure of gold and silver from England and France which Richard II had amassed by the end of his reign in 1399 is fully revealed for the first time in this richly illustrated book. The author explores the nature of the objects themselves, their provenance and later fate, and examines the crucial role the treasure played in diplomacy and in financing the Hundred Years War, especially at the time of Agincourt. --
A reinterpretation of Richard II's reign and deposition from the perspective of one of the leading nobles who opposed him.
Chantries were religious institutions endowed with land, goods and money. At their heart was the performance of a daily mass for the spiritual benefit of their founders, and the souls of all faithful dead. To Church reformers, they exemplified some of medieval Catholicism’s most egregious errors; but to the orthodox they offered opportunities to influence what occurred in an unknowable afterlife. The eleven essays presented here lead the reader through the earliest manifestations of the chantry, the origins and development of ‘stone-cage’ chapels, royal patronage of commemorative art and architecture, the chantry in the late medieval parish, the provision of music and textiles, and a series of specific chantries created for William of Wykeham, Edmund Audley, Thomas Spring and Abbot Islip, to the eventual history and the cultural consequences of their suppression in the mid-16th century.
How St. George became the patron saint of England has always been a subject of speculation. He was not English, nor was his principal shrine there - the usual criteria for national patronage ; yet his status and fame came to eclipse that of all other saints. Edward III's use of the saint in his wars against the French established him as a patron and protector of the king ; unlike other saints George was adopted by the English to signify membership of the "community of the realm". This book traces the origins and growth of the cult of St. George, arguing that, especially after Edward's death, George came to represent a "good" politics (deriving from Edward's prosecution of a war with spoils for everyone) and could be used to rebuke subsequent kings for their poor governance. Most medieval kings came to understand this fact, and venerated St. George in order to prove their worthiness to hold their office. The political dimension of the cult never completely displaced the devotional one, but it was so strong that St. George survived the Reformation as a national symbol - one that continues in importance in the recovery of a specifically English identity.
Medieval tombs often depict husband and wife lying side-by-side: demonstrating, as in the words of Philip Larkin's poem An Arundel Tomb, their "stone fidelity". This is the first book to address the phenomenon of the "double tomb", drawing the rich history of tomb sculpture into dialogue with discourses of power, marriage, gender and emotion, and placing them in the context of ecclesastical material culture of the time more broadly. It offers new interpretations of some of the most famous medieval monuments, such as those found in Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, as well as drawing attention to a host of lesser-known memorials from throughout Europe. In turn, these monuments provide a vantage point from which to reconsider the culture of medieval marriage, from wedding rings and dresses, to the sacramental symbolism of matrimony, and embodied ritual practices. Whilst it is tempting to read these sculptures as straightforward expressions of romantic feeling, the author argues that a closer look reveals the artifice behind the emotion: the artistic, religious, political and legal agenda underlying the rhetoric of married love.
This collection of ground-breaking essays celebrates Mark Ormrod’s wide-ranging influence over several generations of scholars. The seventeen chapters in this collection focus primarily on the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and are grouped thematically on governance and political resistance, culture, religion and identity.
The first book to explore the importance of alchemy and its links to the occult in the period between 1320 and 1400. Alchemists didn't just try to turn metals into gold: they studied planetary influences on metals and people, refined plants and minerals in the search for medicines. This book illustrates how this branch of thought became more popular as the practical and theoretical knowledge of alchemists spread throughout England.
