Description
Book SynopsisDiscussion of display through a range of artefacts and in a variety of contexts: family and lineage, social distinction and aspiration, ceremony and social bonding, and the expression of power and authority. Medieval culture was intensely visual. Although this has long been recognised by art historians and by enthusiasts for particular media, there has been little attempt to study social display as a subject in its own right. And yet,display takes us directly into the values, aspirations and, indeed, anxieties of past societies. In this illustrated volume a group of experts address a series of interrelated themes around the issue of display and do so in a waywhich avoids jargon and overly technical language. Among the themes are family and lineage, social distinction and aspiration, ceremony and social bonding, and the expression of power and authority. The media include monumental effigies, brasses, stained glass, rolls of arms, manuscripts, jewels, plate, seals and coins. Contributors: MAURICE KEEN, DAVID CROUCH, PETER COSS, CAROLINE SHENTON, ADRIAN AILES, FRÉDÉRIQUE LACHAUD, MARIAN CAMPBELL, BRIAN and MOIRA GITTOS, NIGEL SAUL, FIONN PILBROW, CAROLINE BARRON and JOHN WATTS.
Trade ReviewHere is a world once largely the property of antiquarians brought together once again, properly valued and appreciated, and reintegrated into our picture of medieval society. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *
Table of ContentsThe historian, lineage and heraldry, 1050 - 1250, David Crouch; knighthood, heraldry and social exclusion in Edwardian England, Peter Coss; Edward III and the symbol of the Leopard, Caroline Shenton; heraldry in medieval England - symbols of politics and propaganda, Adrian Ailes; dress and social status in England before the sumptuary laws, Frederique Lachaud; medieval founders' relics - royal and Episcopal patronage at Oxford and Cambridge colleges, Marian Campbell; motivation and choice - the selection of medieval secular effigies, Brian and Moira Gittos; bold as brass - secular display in English medieval brasses, Nigel Saul; the knights of the bath - dubbing to knighthood in Lancastrian and Yorkist England, Fionn Pilbrow; chivalry, pageantry and merchant culture in medieval London, Caroline Barron; looking for the state in later medieval England, John L. Watts.
