Search results for ""Author Robert Bartlett""

Book SynopsisThis engaging history of dynastic power in medieval Europe explores the role of family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of royal and imperial dynasties. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.Trade Review'Integrating numerous translated quotes from key primary sources into a fluently written history, this wide-ranging, authoritative and colourful overview will prove to be of enduring relevance, as a great story for the general reader and a treasure trove for researchers.' Jeroen Duindam, author of Dynasties. A Global History of Power 1300-1800'Blood Royal is a magisterial, comprehensive and imaginative exploration of dynastic principles and practices in medieval Europe, including the risks and perils of dynastic succession…Quite frankly, in terms of originality, there is no other book I know to rival it on any aspect of dynastic history.' William Chester Jordan, author of The Apple of His Eye: Converts from Islam in the Reign of Louis IX'Blood Royal is a tour de force. In dynastic politics, Bartlett has found a huge subject that has yet been little explored. He has researched it magisterially, ranging Europe-wide across vast numbers of sources in classical and vernacular European languages.'' Janet L. Nelson, author of King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne'Dynasty – where kinship and politics meet – is the subject of Robert Bartlett's latest ambitious exploration of Europe's medieval centuries. He commands an impressive range of regional experiences, explores change over time and uses helpful concepts in this study of the idea that made European kingdoms and nations – and still does.' Miri Rubin, author of Cities of Strangers: Making Lives in Medieval Europe'Bartlett's eye for the graphic and revealing incident, as well as for the historical insights encoded in medieval personal names, is just as evident here as it is in his previous books and in his several television series.' Len Scales, Times Literary Supplement'Absolutely brilliant.' Dan Snow, History Hit'Political stability in medieval Europe depended in the last resort on the births, marriages and deaths of ruling families. Scholarly and a pleasure to read, Bartlett's new book draws on an impressive range of sources in explaining how unpredictable dynastic politics shaped the history of Latin Christendom Byzantium from 500 to 1500.' Tony Barber, Financial Times, Best Books of 2020'Blood Royal bears all the hallmarks of a classic.' Levi Roach, Literary ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction. Royal Families; Part I. The Life Cycle: 1. Choosing a bride; 2. Waiting for sons to be born; 3. Fathers and sons; 4. Female sovereigns; 5. Mistresses and bastards; 6. Family dynamics; 7. Royal mortality; Part II. A Sense of Dynasty: 8. Names and numbering; 9. Saints, images, heraldry, family trees; 10. Responses to dynastic uncertainty: prophecy and astrology; 11. Pretenders and returners: dynastic imposters in the Middle Ages; 12. New families and new kingdoms; 13. Dynasties and the non-dynastic world; Conclusion; Appendices.

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Book SynopsisSeven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel named William Cragh to a wintry hill to be hanged. They placed a noose around his neck, dropped him from the gallows, and later pronounced him dead. But was he dead? This book tells the story of this putative miracle - why it happened, what it meant, and how we know about it.Trade Review"A gripping, educative and quite often disquieting excursion into [an] alien land... Robert Bartlett examines with verve, scholarship, and gusto the extraordinary story."--Maurice Keen, London Review of Books "Rich in drama, mystery, curiosity and coincidence... [Bartlett's] performance opens for us a panoramic window into the world of the Middle Ages and encapsulates an entire culture within the context of a botched execution and a theological inquiry. It is a virtuoso display of scholarship."--Jan Morris, The Times (London) "As well as revealing the mechanics of execution, the politics of a Marcher lordship and the dynamics of miracle, the testimony in the Cragh case enables us to explore issues as intimate and elusive as how medieval people remembered distant events and how they described units of space and time. Voices of the distant past can be heard again."--History Today "A delightful book... Professor Bartlett's 168 pages are ... more readable than most thrillers... [I]n The Hanged Man men and women long dead (and, in one case, resurrected) walk and talk across 800 years."--Byron Rogers, The Spectator "An absorbing book that is elegantly, lucidly and entertainingly written."--Sean McGLynn, Medieval History Magazine "It is ... a complex look at history from the point of view of a particular, diverse set of subjects ... that has the power to generate considerable interest in the medieval period."--Patricia Clare Ingham, American Historical Review "The Hanged Man... is a fascinating and well-told tale, well worth the reading."--James Given, Speculum "The author shows that memory is flawed--as modern witnesses all too often demonstrate--and is shaped by the fullness of experience... [T]he genius of this work is that ... it is a model for teasing every bit of evidence from a brief source to reveal the mental world of medieval people."--Joyce E. Salisbury, The Historian "The Hanged Man is an outstanding introduction to the politics and culture of late thirteenth-and early fourteenth-century Britain. I recommend it unequivocally."--Michael Cichon, Canadian Journal of History "The Hanged Man is a yarn in the best tradition, all the better for its historical provenance, a satisfying, engrossing, and remarkable read."--Michael G. Cornelius, Bloomsbury ReviewTable of ContentsPreface ix Chapter 1: The Story 1 Chapter 2: The Questioners 12 Chapter 3: The Plot Thickens 22 Chapter 4: An Autumn Day 34 Chapter 5: Death by Hanging 42 Chapter 6: Time and Space 53 Chapter 7: Colonial Wales 68 Chapter 8: The Lord 86 Chapter 9: The Lady 97 Chapter 10: Narrative,Memory, and Inquisition 106 Chapter 11: The New Saint 117 Chapter 12: Aftermath 124 Notes 143 Index 161

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Book SynopsisIn The Middle Ages and the Movies eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and nationalism in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, to Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Siegfried, the art-house classic The Seventh Seal and the epic historical drama El Cid. The historical accuracy of these films is examined, as well as other salient aspects – how was Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose translated from page to screen? Why is Monty Python and the Holy Grail funny? And how was Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky shaped by the Stalinist tyranny under which it was filmed?

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Book SynopsisThis is the first edition of the life of St Modwenna, an obscure Irish saint whose bones supposedly came to rest in the West Midlands abbey of Burton. Abbot Geoffrey of Burton's account of her life sheds much light on the Latinity, religious attitudes, and historical consciousness of this Benedictine author.Trade ReviewRobert Bartlett's edition ... is clear, accurate and furnished with a splendidly lucid translation ... For his edition of these miracle stories, Bartlett deserves our thanks. For rescuing a little known but fascinating example of Anglo-Irish hagiography, he places us still further in his debt. * English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Vita sancte moduenne virginis/Life of the Virgin Saint Modwenna ; Indexes

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Book SynopsisFrom its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints--the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the mostTrade ReviewWinner of the 2015 Otto Grundler Book Prize, The Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University Winner of the 2013 PROSE Award in European and World History, Association of American Publishers "[A]n indispensible point of departure for anyone interested in the cult of the saints in the Middle Ages. The book is based on an awe-inspiring familiarity with the hagiographical sources of both Eastern and Western churches, and is packed with intelligent, measured, and well-informed discussions of everything from the hierarchy of precedence of feasts in the old Roman calendar to the managerial problems of running a shrine. Students, scholars, and the general reader will all find it invaluable."--Eamon Duffy, New York Review of Books "Robert Bartlett's monumental study provides a comprehensive account of the development of the cult of the saints from the cult of martyrs (those who had died as witnesses for their faith during the Roman persecutions) and illustrates the centrality of saintly devotion in the lives and beliefs of Christians across Europe over the whole medieval period... Bartlett has a gift for succinct summary, both of complex (and confusing) narratives and for explaining theological controversy; his obvious abilities as a teacher appear throughout and his book will manifestly appeal to students... Robert Bartlett's achievement lies in his capacity to draw out the distinctive, and often amusing, attributes of different saints while showing how the cult of saints operated in medieval Europe."--Sarah Foot, Times Literary Supplement "[M]assive, erudite compendium of saint lore ... For a book so deeply grounded in original research ... The volume is remarkably accessible."--Barbara Newman, London Review of Books "It is a treat ... to see such erudition amassed this way; it is hard to imagine any aspect of the cult of the saints that Bartlett has left out in this extraordinarily comprehensive text. Yet there is enormous entertainment here as well... [W]ho, and when and where--this enormous and humane reference work gives all that, along with stories that are appalling and ghoulish and mysterious and funny."--Rob Hardy, The (Columbus, OH) Dispatch "[T]here is much to enjoy in the array of human behaviour, sacred and by our standards profane or just downright mad, chronicled in Bartlett's excellent study."--Diarmaid MacCulloch, Guardian "[T]his magisterial work of scholarship."--Richard Holloway, Independent "Devotion to the saints is manifestly still alive and well in the Catholic Church, and Bartlett's impressive compendium will serve to explain the cult's historical origins and evolution."--John Cornwell, Financial Times "Rich in original research, full of illuminating case studies, Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? is a major achievement from a distinguished medieval historian and a gold mine for those interested in religious history."--Helen Fulton, Times Higher Education "Bartlett convincingly explains how the 12th-century papacy sought to control a potentially anarchic process by demanding strict examination of cases, of which only about half were successful... With great thoroughness, Bartlett examines issues such as types of saint, relics, miracles, hagiography and doubt, more as an observer than as judge... Some of Bartlett's most valuable insights relate to the diversity of ways in which saints were revered and what they reveal about visions of the social order."--Constant Mews, Sydney Morning Herald "This is a remarkable book, which is thankfully both wonderfully informative and wonderfully readable... His book is just the kind of great scholarly synthesis that was once the norm, but which may well become rarer than now in the future. This is a long and very detailed book, but the patience of the reader in encompassing nearly 800 closely printed pages will be well rewarded."--Peter Costello, Irish Catholic "Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things is an excellent survey of the cult of the saints in the pre-modern period. The reader looking for explanations of the social and cultural functions of the holy dead could do far worse."--Frank McGough, Origins "It is hard to overemphasize the scholarship evident in this book... One could associate a work such as this with a certain dryness of tone but this is not the case. The book is very engaging and at the same time quite modular, that is, allowing the readers to jump around to concentrate on their areas of special interest. Bartlett is one of the world's leading medieval historians and he brings his expertise to bear on this very ambitious project."--Richard Rymarz, Catholic Books Review "[M]agisterial... [A] fascinating and illuminating read... Bartlett's book will also be welcome to those who have experienced something of the power of the cult of the saints in their own time and place... [H]is style balances rigor and a near-encyclopedic breadth with accessibility and humor... Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? will remain a classic study of the saints, their cults and their faithful for a long time... Robert Bartlett's masterpiece."--Holly J. Grieco, America "Bartlett's work is astonishingly comprehensive, and the balance he strikes between narration and analysis is admirable."--David J Collins, Theological Studies "Bartlett is not content to simply refer to the findings of others second-hand. Rather, he returns to the sources, the great majority of them in Latin, and does the spade-work himself. This particular approach, and the concern for meticulous research that it evinces, puts Bartlett's magisterial study in a different league from so many others. The result is a volume that is at once staggeringly scholarly and yet, owing to Bartlett's light touch, surprisingly accessible. No library should be without a copy."--Salvador Ryan, Irish Theological Quarterly "Bartlett writes with relish for his subject, tells its marvelous stories well, injects judicious doses of good humor, and leaves one with the sense that the cult of the saints is a pervasive feature of Christianity's historical texture."--Anne Thayer, Sehepunkte "The history book I most enjoyed this year was also my first of 2014. I tucked into Robert Bartlett's Why Can The Dead Do Such Great Things (Princeton University Press) on New Year's Day and could not have hoped for a more stimulating festive read. A sweeping study of medieval saints, covering the entire Christian world from Late Antiquity to the Reformation, it is also a compendium of anecdotes, such as one rarely finds in a work of scholarship. Whether it be St Modwenna of Burton and her red cow, the Bishop of Lincoln who bit off two chunks of Mary Magdalene's arm, or Queen Bathildis cleaning out toilets, all of human--and much of divine--life is here."--Tom Holland, History Today "This is a fascinating book and one to which to return."--Martin Wellings, Methodist Recorder "In addition to being readable and fascinating, Bartlett's book forms a virtual curriculum on medieval religion in particular and medieval history in general."--Thomas F. X. Noble, American Historical Review "Bartlett has provided readers interested in hagiography and the medieval cult of the saints with a magisterial and wholly engrossing book."--Rachel Koopmans, Biography "With this book Robert Bartlett serves up a wondrous synthesis: awesome in its breadth, saturating in its detail, and delightful in its humanity... This is a book that has a long reach and should hold a place in every medievalist's library."--Anne E. Lester, Catholic Historical Review "This is a very important book that offers the first comprehensive study of the cult of the saints from late antiquity to the Reformation in both Western and Eastern Christianity. Such work rests on an extraordinary knowledge of the textual and iconographic sources and of the vast scholarship that exists on these topics... An impressive achievement."--Andre Vauchez, Speculum "The author of this study has produced what is to this reviewer's knowledge the first textbook on the premodern cult of the saints and at--I cannot resist the temptation--a miraculously low price. Luckily, Robert Bartlett is more than equal to the task... Bartlett's writing is measured and deft, as one would expect from a scholar of his caliber."--David Defries, The HistorianTable of ContentsList of Illustrations xv Preface xvii Part I Developments 1 Chapter 1 Origins (100-500) 3 The Martyrs 3 The Religious Revolution of the Fourth Century 7 Translations 10 Rituals of Commemoration and Invocation 13 Confessor Saints 16 The Birth of Hagiography 19 The First Miracle Books 22 Chapter 2 The Early Middle Ages (500-1000) 27 The View from the 590s 29 Gregory the Great 43 The Benedictine Centuries 47 New Christendoms: Eastern and Northern Europe 52 Chapter 3 The High and Later Middle Ages (1000-1500) 57 Papal Canonization 57 Mendicant Saints 65 Lay Female Saints 71 New Devotions 77 Chapter 4 The Protestant Reformation 85 Part II Dynamics 93 Chapter 5 The Nature of Cult 95 Name, Body, Text 95 Patronage and Invocation: The Mutual Relationship 103 Chapter 6 Saints' Days 113 Liturgy 113 The Hierarchy of Feast-days 120 Saints' Days and Local Identity 129 Holy Days and Holidays 133 Chapter 7 Types of Saint 137 Counting Saints 137 Categorizing Saints 150 Saints as Patrons 221 Chapter 8 Relics and Shrines 239 Body Parts 239 Contact Relics 244 The Shrine in the Church 250 Running a Shrine 259 Reliquaries 263 Relic Collections 276 Relics in Movement 282 Relics in Law and War 311 Relics in Dispute 324 Chapter 9 Miracles 333 The Meaning of Miracle 333 Patterns of Miracles 342 Healing Miracles 349 Miracles of Provision 365 Visions, Prophecy, and Rapture 368 Saints in War 378 Saints and Demons 383 Saints and Animals 390 Liberation 398 Punitive Miracles 401 Chapter 10 Pilgrimage 410 Origins and Definitions 410 Pilgrim Garb and Status 417 Motives 421 The Shrines of Medieval Christendom 425 Logistics 433 Pilgrim Guides and Pilgrim Badges 439 Chapter 11 Dedications and Naming 444 Dedication of Churches and Altars 444 Place Names 454 Personal Names 459 Chapter 12 Images of the Saints 471 The Image in Early Christianity 471 Byzantine Iconoclasm 475 Images in the Medieval West 480 Chapter 13 The Literature of Sanctity 504 Types of Hagiography 504 Reasons for Writing 510 The Hagiographers 513 The Life 518 Legendaries 546 Miracle Books 558 Sermons 570 The Literature of Canonization Proceedings 576 Vernacular Hagiography 578 Chapter 14 Doubt and Dissent 587 Early Polemics 587 Western Heretics 591 Sceptics and Scoffers 596 Policing the Saints 602 Chapter 15 Reflections 609 Saints and Gods 609 Saints and Nature 618 Saints and the Dead 621 Tomb-shrines in Judaism and Islam 626 Saints and Ancestors 630 Comparisons and Conclusions 633 Glossary 639 Bibliography of Works Cited 641 Index 735

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Book SynopsisThroughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family - a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And why did some royal families survive and thrive, while others did not? Drawing on a rich and memorable body of sources, this engaging and original history of dynastic power in Latin Christendom and Byzantium explores the role played by family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of the royal and imperial dynasties of Europe. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett makes enthralling sense of the complex web of internal rivalries and loyalties of the ruling dynasties and casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.Trade Review'Integrating numerous translated quotes from key primary sources into a fluently written history, this wide-ranging, authoritative and colourful overview will prove to be of enduring relevance, as a great story for the general reader and a treasure trove for researchers.' Jeroen Duindam, author of Dynasties. A Global History of Power 1300-1800'Blood Royal is a magisterial, comprehensive and imaginative exploration of dynastic principles and practices in medieval Europe, including the risks and perils of dynastic succession…Quite frankly, in terms of originality, there is no other book I know to rival it on any aspect of dynastic history.' William Chester Jordan, author of The Apple of His Eye: Converts from Islam in the Reign of Louis IX'Blood Royal is a tour de force. In dynastic politics, Bartlett has found a huge subject that has yet been little explored. He has researched it magisterially, ranging Europe-wide across vast numbers of sources in classical and vernacular European languages.'' Janet L. Nelson, author of King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne'Dynasty – where kinship and politics meet – is the subject of Robert Bartlett's latest ambitious exploration of Europe's medieval centuries. He commands an impressive range of regional experiences, explores change over time and uses helpful concepts in this study of the idea that made European kingdoms and nations – and still does.' Miri Rubin, author of Cities of Strangers: Making Lives in Medieval Europe'Bartlett's eye for the graphic and revealing incident, as well as for the historical insights encoded in medieval personal names, is just as evident here as it is in his previous books and in his several television series.' Len Scales, Times Literary Supplement'Absolutely brilliant.' Dan Snow, History Hit'Political stability in medieval Europe depended in the last resort on the births, marriages and deaths of ruling families. Scholarly and a pleasure to read, Bartlett's new book draws on an impressive range of sources in explaining how unpredictable dynastic politics shaped the history of Latin Christendom Byzantium from 500 to 1500.' Tony Barber, Financial Times, Best Books of 2020'Blood Royal bears all the hallmarks of a classic.' Levi Roach, Literary ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction. Royal Families; Part I. The Life Cycle: 1. Choosing a bride; 2. Waiting for sons to be born; 3. Fathers and sons; 4. Female sovereigns; 5. Mistresses and bastards; 6. Family dynamics; 7. Royal mortality; Part II. A Sense of Dynasty: 8. Names and numbering; 9. Saints, images, heraldry, family trees; 10. Responses to dynastic uncertainty: prophecy and astrology; 11. Pretenders and returners: dynastic imposters in the Middle Ages; 12. New families and new kingdoms; 13. Dynasties and the non-dynastic world; Conclusion; Appendices.

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Book SynopsisHow did people of the medieval period explain physical phenomena, such as eclipses or the distribution of land and water on the globe? What creatures did they think they might encounter: angels, devils, witches, dogheaded people? This fascinating book explores the ways in which medieval people categorized the world, concentrating on the division between the natural and the supernatural and showing how the idea of the supernatural came to be invented in the Middle Ages. Robert Bartlett examines how theologians and others sought to draw lines between the natural, the miraculous, the marvelous and the monstrous, and the many conceptual problems they encountered as they did so. The final chapter explores the extraordinary thought-world of Roger Bacon as a case study exemplifying these issues. By recovering the mentalities of medieval writers and thinkers the book raises the critical question of how we deal with beliefs we no longer share.Trade Review'… engaging, accessible and thought-provoking … The book eloquently indicates the complexity of medieval ideas.' BBC History Magazine'…this is an engaging and readable book that presents much food for thought, both for medievalists and for non-specialist readers.' The Times Higher Education Supplement'The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages is sure to interest scholars and students from a range of fields. In this work, Bartlett has offered an encouraging model of how academic writing can not only spur the intellect but also stir the imagination and spark humor.' Christopher LeCluyse, H-German'The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages is a handsomely produced, wide-ranging collection on medieval scientific and theological understandings of nature and the supernatural, originally given as the four Wiley lectures in Belfast and retaining their accessible but magisterial tone.' The Times Literary Supplement'… full of pertinent and fascinating material, strikingly illustrated with photographs, and richly providing a sustained broad view of key, mysterious outlooks and images that developed and declined over long periods.' The Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of Contents1. The boundaries of the supernatural; 2. 'The machine of this world': ideas of the physical universe; 3. Dogs and dog-heads: the inhabitants of the world; 4. 'The secrets of nature and art': Roger Bacon's Opus maius.

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Book SynopsisThis study of Gerald discusses the political path he had to tread and portrays him as an example of the medieval world.

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Book SynopsisThe text edited and translated in this volume recounts the first century of the history of the Augustinian priory of Llanthony in Monmouthshire, from its origin around 1100 as an isolated hermitage, through the introduction of the Augustinian Order and the move to a more secure location outside Gloucester, to the later twelfth century.

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Book SynopsisA wave of internal conquest, settlement and economic growth took place in Europe during the High Middle Ages, which transformed it from a world of small separate communities into a network of powerful kingdoms with distinctive cultures. In this vivid and provocative book Robert Bartlett vividly shows how Europe was itself a product of colonization, as much as it was later a colonizer, and what this did to shape the continent and the world today.

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Book SynopsisPresents one of the great ages of European civilization through a sequence of images accompanied by an informed commentary. This book helps readers to explore and understand different facets of the Middle Ages, an era of breathtaking artistic achievement and of religious faith in a world where life was often coarse and cruel and cut short by war.Trade Review'A gloriously detailed and richly illustrated visual record of medieval society ' - BBC History'A masterpiece … a tour de force' - Church Times'A sumptuous book, full of detail and colour … a real treat for anyone interested in the period' - Rachel Bellerby, suite101.comTable of ContentsPerspectives on the Medieval World • 1. Prologue: What Made the Middle Ages? • 2. Salvations of the Soul • 3. Earthly Powers • 4. Medieval Art: The Present Legacy • 5. Everyday Life • 6. The Life of the Mind • 7. Christians and non-Christians • 8. Epilogue: The End of the Middle Ages

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