While the terms used to describe the tracery of medieval church windows are familiar (Early English Decorated Perpendicular) there has been no really detailed attempt to examine it as a distinct stylistic architectural form a gap which this book seeks to address. Based upon a visual catalogue of over 250 images of surviving types & styles from churches throughout England it traces the progression of ideas & the continuity of motifs & themes in tracery patterns from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries showing how different themes emerged within the main architectural styles; it also looks at the distinction between a windows architectural form & its tracery style & describes the several different tracery techniques. The volume is completed with a detailed glossary. Stephen Hart is a retired architect & the author of numerous works including Flint Flushwork. ...

Drawing on the cuisine of the Middle Ages from the fall of the Roman Empire to Henry VIIIs break with Rome this new treatment of a classic book explores the relationship between food religion & the ever-widening gap between the tables of the rich & the poor. Featured is an appetizing collection of recipes inspired by medieval manuscripts richly illustrated throughout with stunning scenes of food feasting & cooking from paintings tapestries & drawings. The Medieval Cookbook" has been thoughtfully adapted for the modern kitchen whilst retaining the true essence of dining in medieval Britain." ...

In this charming book Celia Fisher explores the beautiful flower illustration in medieval herbals & manuscripts illustrating around 140 different flowers & plants in glorious full colour. Many of the illustrations come from herbals in which plants began to be depicted with realism by artists in the 14th century. But in the 15th century a different kind of flower illustration emerged in the margins of illuminated manuscripts. From around 1480 flowers became the dominant feature of the decorative borders of Books of Hours created in the southern Netherlands. The wonderfully innovative style showed the flowers as if they had been plucked from their stems & scattered onto the page where they cast little trompe loeil shadows as if they were indeed three-dimensional. Flower lovers & those interested in medieval art & history will find this richly illustrated book informative entertaining & above all a joy to behold. ...

Help your child get to the top of the class fast with this Eyewitness Project Book" on medieval life. From fearless knights to bloodthirsty jousts watch your child take their knowledge of medieval life to the next level using this fill-in home-study workbook. Test their knowledge & train their brains with hands-on activities amazing stickers & quick-fire quiz pages. Do the activities together & encourage your child to practise essential skills at home to keep them one step ahead of the class. Fun-filled curriculum based exercises will help them progress with complete confidence. Reward stickers a progress chart & pull-out certificate make learning about medieval life fun & easy!" ...

An important & timely volume...an elegant summary of complex theory & synthesis of an impressive body of material. It will be eagerly read by current & future generations of archaeologists & will demonstrate the significance of historical archaeology to a much wider scholarly audience." Dr Kate Giles University of York. The aim of this book is to explore how medieval life was actually lived
- how people were born & grew old how they dressed how they inhabited their homes the rituals that gave meaning to their lives & how they prepared for death & the afterlife. Its fresh & original approach uses archaeological evidence to reconstruct the material practices of medieval life death & the afterlife. Previous historical studies of the medieval "lifecycle" begin with birth & end with death. Here in contrast the concept of life course theory is developed for the first time in a detailed archaeological case study. The author argues that medieval Christian understanding of the "life course" commenced with conception & extended through the entirety of life to include death & the afterlife. Five thematic case studies present the archaeology of medieval England (c.1050-1540 CE) in terms of the body the household the parish church & cemetery & the relationship between the lives of people & objects. A wide range of sources is critically employed: osteology costume material culture iconography & evidence excavated from houses churches & cemeteries in the medieval English town & countryside. Medieval Life reveals the intimate & everyday relations between age groups between the living & the dead & between people & things. Roberta Gilchrist is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading."
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Monasteries are among the most intriguing & enduring symbols of Britains medieval heritage. Simultaneously places of prayer & spirituality power & charity learning & invention they survive today as haunting ruins great houses & as some of our most important cathedrals & churches. This book examines the growth of monasticism & the different orders of monks; the architecture & administration of monasteries; the daily life of monks & nuns; the art of monasteries & their libraries; their role in caring for the poor & sick; their power & wealth; their decline & suppression; & their ruin & rescue. With beautiful photographs it illustrates some of Britains finest surviving monastic buildings such as the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral & the awe-inspiring ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire. ...

Sir Anthony Kenny continues his magisterial new history of Western philosophy with a fascinating guide through more than a millennium of thought from 400 AD onwards charting the story of philosophy from the founders of Christian & Islamic thought through to the Renaissance. The middle ages saw a great flourishing of philosophy & the intellectual endeavour of the era reaches its climax in the thirteenth & fourteenth centuries with the systems of the great schoolmen such as Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus. Specially written for a broad popular readership but serious & deep enough to offer a genuine understanding of the great philosophers Kennys lucid & stimulating history will become the definitive work for anyone interested in the people & ideas that shaped the course of Western thought. ...

The medieval economy was centred on a phenomenal growth in trade of all kinds of goods yet few have studied the actual network of roads that was so vital to medieval trading. Starting with the basic concept of a road in medieval times & discussing the increasing need to travel this book explores the evidence from documents & maps that provide clues as to where the roads of medieval Britain led connecting the study of individual roads together to paint an image of the broader road network. The author also uses findings from archaeological surveys & birds-eye-view photographs to trace the centuries-old routes & illustrate the winding tracks that once carried goods to market. ...

As the Viking Age gave way to the Middle Ages the development of Scandinavian armies showed special local characteristics due both to the rough terrain & the relatively egalitarian nature of society. Though Denmarks proximity to Germany led to the appearance there of a kind of feudal system & some heavy armoured cavalry in Sweden & Norway there was fairly willing co-operation between the few nobles & the many free farmers. This book shows how armies were of local infantry levies raised by democratic methods to defend home territory. It also details how the crossbow became very important along with ambush tactics & winter campaigning employing the use of sledges & skis. ...

Suffolk was one of the most important regions of England in the middle ages. Even by 1200 it was wealthy densely populated highly commercialised & urbanised; & it survived the impact of three of the most tumultuous events of the last millennium the Great Famine (1315-22) the Black Death (1349) & the Peasants Revolt (1381) to become by 1500 one of the richest & most industrialised regions of England based on cloth manufacture fishing & tanning. This first volume in a series which will become the definitive History of Suffolk describes documents & analyses these events. It combines an accessible & readable summary of the current state of knowledge with fresh insights drawn from extensive investigations of primary sources. Overall it offers a guide to & re-evaluation of the history of late medieval Suffolk. Mark Bailey is senior visiting lecturer at the University of Leeds & Headmaster of The Grammar School at Leeds. ...