This lively, first-hand
narrative of the turning-point in the affairs of the Council of
Basle was written by Aeneas Sylvius (later Pope Pius II) during his
unregenerate conciliar period. It provides us with an important
contemporary account of the personalities and principles involved in
the election of the anti-pope Felix V.
Originally published in 1967, this volume offers the first critical
edition and English translation of this work. Unavailable in recent
years, it has now been revised by Denys Hay and reissued by the
Oxford University Press. 312 pages
Readership: Scholars and students of medieval European
history; especially political, religious, and ecclesiastical
historians of the fifteenth century.
This new
edition contains the texts and translations of two key documents in
medieval English history. The Dialogus de Scaccario, or
Dialogue of the Exchequer, written by Richard fitzNigel - an insider
at the court of Henry II (1154-89), has long formed the basis of
historical knowledge of royal finance in the later twelfth century.
It focuses on the annual audit of the sheriffs' accounts that led to
the writing of the documents known as the pipe rolls. The Dialogus
details the personnel and procedures of revenue collection at a time
of critical importance for English government, administration, law,
and economic development. It is a practical handbook rather than a
theoretical treatise, and it occupies a unique place in English
history.
The Constitutio Domus Regis, dating from the reign of Henry I
(1100-35), is the first document to describe the payments made to
that group of men (and one woman) whose duty it was to look after
the king's bodily needs. Kings have always been surrounded by such
people, but it is not until the early years of the twelfth century
that we can begin to see these people in any detail. The Constitutio
is an enigmatic text and has been largely misunderstood by those who
have used it before now.
This edition is the first to collate all the relevant manuscripts
fully. The two documents are accompanied by new readable
translations, full introductions, and detailed notes, making them
accessible and comprehensible twelfth-century English texts.
Together, they provide a window into the workings and personnel of
medieval English government. 312 pages
Readership: Scholars and students of medieval English
history.
This volume in Oxford Medieval Texts
contains Eadmer's Lives of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald,
as well as the Miracles of Dunstan and Oswald. These three English
saints, together with Ęthelwold of Winchester, were key figures in
the Benedictine revival of the tenth century, which saw a
flowering of Anglo-Saxon religious, artistic, and literary
culture. Eadmer of Canterbury (c.1060-c.1130), the secretary,
confidant, and biographer of Saint Anselm, Archbishop of
Canterbury (1033-1109), was one of the most important historians
and biographers in the period after the Norman Conquest. His
works, written in Latin, look back constantly to the Anglo-Saxon
past, while at the same time they accurately reflect the
present-day realities of the wider European society into which
England had been forcibly integrated. Manuscripts of his Lives of
the Saints circulated widely in both in England and France, but
apart from his Life of Anselm they have been little studied, and
have remained largely untranslated. The works newly edited and
translated in this edition provide many insights into the wider
political history of the pre- and post-Conquest periods, as well
as important evidence for the cults of the saints in Canterbury
and Worcester. 468 pages
Readership: Scholars and
students of medieval history and religion; local historians of
Canterbury and Worcester; readers interested in hagiography.
Geoffrey of Burton's Life and Miracles of St Modwenna (BHL
2097) is among the most substantial pieces of twelfth-century
English hagiographic writing not previously to have appeared in
print. It was produced by the abbot of Burton, where Modwenna's
bones supposedly lay, in the period 1118-50, and consists of two
parts of unequal length: the vita or Life proper, and the
collection of miracle stories.
The first part, forming about four-fifths of the total text, was
based on an earlier Life by the Irish author Conchubranus, which
Geoffrey revised and modified in style and substance. His creative
rewriting of the Life throws much light on the Latinity, religious
attitudes, and historical consciousness of an early
twelfth-century Benedictine author. The second and shorter part of
the text is made up of accounts of the miraculous cures and
punishments connected with Modwenna's shrine at Burton. Geoffrey
composed these stories on the basis of oral traditions and his own
experience and they constitute a valuable source for the social
and religious history of this part of England in the Norman
period.
Readership: Scholars and
students of medieval history; particularly historians of the
twelfth century; religious and cultural historians; local
historians of Burton and the Midlands.
This is the first
English translation and the first modern critical edition of
Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia. Gervase wrote the
Otia Imperialia in the early thirteenth century for his
patron, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV. It presents an
encyclopedic melange of cosmographical, historical, and
geographical information and a wealth of learned and original
accounts of folklore and popular belief. It also contains advice
to Otto and pertinent remarks on the relationship between Empire
and Papacy, together with scientific and theological speculation.
The edition also includes Gervase's recently discovered Commentary
on the Lord's Prayer. Gervase was a voracious and eclectic reader;
his many borrowings are identified in this fully annotated
edition.
Readership:
Scholars and students of medieval history, religion, and
literature.
