Search results for ""Author Prof. Michael Staunton""

In-depth study of an important writer and close associate of Becket. Herbert of Bosham (c.1120-c.1194) was one of the most brilliant, original and versatile thinkers of the twelfth century. Herbert was Thomas Becket's closest confidant, a theologian, biblical commentator, historian, letter-writer and Hebrew scholar; he wrote a Life of St Thomas unlike any other contemporary biography, produced one of the most visually-arresting illuminated Bible books of his age, and composed a commentary on the Psalms inspired by Jewish scholarship. His uncompromising character, and the originality and complexity of his thought, meant that Herbert's works were largely ignored during his lifetime and forgotten for centuries, but more recently they have begun to receive the attention and approval that their author insisted they deserved. The chapters in this book, the first to be devoted to Herbert's life and works, examine his eventful and troubled life, his remarkable corpus of works,and how they came to be neglected and rediscovered. They provide an introduction to his life, writings and legacy, direction to existing scholarship on the subject, and new insights on, interpretations of and discoveries about anidiosyncratic representative of the "twelfth-century renaissance". MICHAEL STAUNTON is Associate Professor of History at University College Dublin. Contributors: Julie Barrau, Laura Cleaver, Matthew Doyle, Anne J. Duggan, Christopher de Hamel, Sabina Flanagan, Michael Staunton, Nicholas Vincent.

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The contexts for the works of eleventh and twelfth-century historians are here brought to the fore. History was a subject popular with authors and readers in the Anglo-Norman world. The volume and richness of historical writing in the lands controlled by the kings of England, particularly from the twelfth century, has long attracted the attention of historians and literary scholars, whilst editions of works by such writers as Orderic Vitalis, John of Worcester, Symeon of Durham, William of Malmesbury, Gerald of Wales, Roger of Howden, and Matthew Paris has made them well known. Yet the easy availability of modern editions obscures both the creation and circulation of histories in the Middle Ages. This collection of essays returns to the processes involved in writing history, and in particular to the medieval manuscript sources in which the works of such historians survive. It explores the motivations of those writing about the past in the Middle Ages, and the evidence provided by manuscripts for the circumstances in which copies were made. It also addresses the selection of material for copying, combinations of text and imagery, and the demand for copies of particular works, shedding new light on how and why history was being read, reproduced, discussed, adapted, and written. LAURA CLEAVER is Senior Lecturer in Manuscript Studies, Institute of English Studies, University of London; ANDREA WORM is Professor of Art History. Kunsthistorischen Institut, Eberhard Karls University, Tubingen. Contributors: Stephen Church, Kathryn Gerry, Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Laura Pani, Charles C. Rozier, Gleb Schmidt, Laura Slater, Michael Staunton, Caoimhe Whelan, Andrea Worm

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Who wrote about the past in the Middle Ages, who read about it, and how were these works disseminated and used? History was a subject popular with authors and readers in the Anglo-Norman world. The volume and richness of historical writing in the lands controlled by the kings of England, particularly from the 12th century, has long attracted the attention of historians and literary scholars. This collection of essays returns to the processes involved in writing history, and in particular to the medieval manuscript sources in which the works of such historians survive. It explores the motivations of those writing about the past in the Middle Ages (such as Orderic Vitalis, John of Worcester, Symeon of Durham, William of Malmesbury, Gerald of Wales, Roger of Howden, and Matthew Paris), and the evidence provided by manuscripts for the circumstances in which copies were made.

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