Z. Murat (ed.), English Alabaster Carvings and their Cultural Contexts, 2019
English alabasters played a seminal role in the artistic development of late medieval and early m... more English alabasters played a seminal role in the artistic development of late medieval and early modern Europe. Carvings made of this lustrous white stone were sold throughout England and abroad, and as a result many survived the iconoclasm that destroyed so much else from this period. They are a unique and valuable witness to the material culture of the Middle Ages.
This volume incorporates a variety of new approaches to these artefacts, employing methodologies drawn from a number of different disciplines. Its chapters explore a range of key points connected to alabasters: their origins, their general history and their social, cultural, intellectual and devotional contexts.
A well-to-do prebendary of the eighteenth century might spend a part of his time in his cathedral... more A well-to-do prebendary of the eighteenth century might spend a part of his time in his cathedral close, a part in his other benefices, a part in some favourite country home, a part in London seeking favour in the court which could lead to a bishopric. He might even, like Dr Vesey Stanhope in Barchester Towers, spend years abroad, never doing a day's duty in Barchester Close – ‘and yet there was no reason against his doing duty except a want of inclination on his own part’. Dr Stanhope was doubtless intended to represent standards of the eighteenth century surviving into the nineteenth; and there is no doubt that non-residence was widespread, pluralism common in the eighteenth century. It has often and reasonably been said that these were no novelty: their roots go back to the refoundation of secular cathedrals after the Norman Conquest; non-residence and pluralism rose and fell in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, rose again to remarkable heights in the fifteenth; Thomas...
... English c. 1420-30. (Bodleian Library, MS Barlow 53 (R).)(Detail) Page 5. English Medieval In... more ... English c. 1420-30. (Bodleian Library, MS Barlow 53 (R).)(Detail) Page 5. English Medieval Industries CRAFTSMEN, TECHNIQUES, PRODUCTS EDITED BY JOHN BLAIR AND NIGELRAMSAY HAMBLEDON AND LONDON LONDON AND NEW YORK Page 6. ...
This is the story of Britain's greatest cathedral, from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the late t... more This is the story of Britain's greatest cathedral, from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the late twentieth century. Seven chronological chapters cover the history of Canterbury Cathedral from 597 to the present, while a further five thematic chapters discuss the Archives and Library, the liturgy and music, the monuments within the Cathedral, and the Cathedral School. Through all the chapters runs a continuous theme: the people who have, over the centuries, made up the community of the Cathedral and have continued the tradition of Christian worship there for more than a thousand years. This is a major work of wide-ranging and original scholarship; it is also a full and highly readable history, extensively illustrated with over 160 plates and figures. This book is intended for readers with an interest in Canterbury Cathedral; scholars and students of cultural, religious, ecclesiastical, and architectural history.
Review of Steven Thiry and Luc Duerloo, eds, Heraldic hierarchies. Identity, status and state int... more Review of Steven Thiry and Luc Duerloo, eds, Heraldic hierarchies. Identity, status and state intervention in early modern heraldry (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 2021, 273 p., ill.).
The destruction of England’s monasteries has long been seen as a critical trigger for the percept... more The destruction of England’s monasteries has long been seen as a critical trigger for the perception of the Middle Ages as a fundamentally distant and irrevocably different age: the ruins of the monasteries have stood as the most vivid reminders of a world that is past.1 A sense of poignancy is enhanced by the fact that one man, John Leland, took it upon himself — albeit with the aid of a royal commission, granted in 1533 or 1534 — to search the libraries of the monasteries and colleges for half a dozen years, in the run-up to the dissolution of the monasteries and then afterwards.2 He had been to the university of Paris, and may well have known of contemporary French scholars’ quests for ancient and rare texts in French royal abbeys;3 for England, however, his travels were without precedent. He made a vast number of notes, especially about books by English authors or concerning English history, as well as about English topography, and these were almost all printed in the early eigh...
Ely Abbey 672-1109 Ely 1109-1539, with Benedictine observance, Norman architecture and sculpture,... more Ely Abbey 672-1109 Ely 1109-1539, with Benedictine observance, Norman architecture and sculpture, the gothic cathedral, monastic buildings, library and archives Dean and Chapter 1541-1836, with archives, fabric, music and liturgy Ely Cathedral 1836-1980, with fabric, music, archives Ely Cathedral 1980-2000
Z. Murat (ed.), English Alabaster Carvings and their Cultural Contexts, 2019
English alabasters played a seminal role in the artistic development of late medieval and early m... more English alabasters played a seminal role in the artistic development of late medieval and early modern Europe. Carvings made of this lustrous white stone were sold throughout England and abroad, and as a result many survived the iconoclasm that destroyed so much else from this period. They are a unique and valuable witness to the material culture of the Middle Ages.
This volume incorporates a variety of new approaches to these artefacts, employing methodologies drawn from a number of different disciplines. Its chapters explore a range of key points connected to alabasters: their origins, their general history and their social, cultural, intellectual and devotional contexts.
A well-to-do prebendary of the eighteenth century might spend a part of his time in his cathedral... more A well-to-do prebendary of the eighteenth century might spend a part of his time in his cathedral close, a part in his other benefices, a part in some favourite country home, a part in London seeking favour in the court which could lead to a bishopric. He might even, like Dr Vesey Stanhope in Barchester Towers, spend years abroad, never doing a day's duty in Barchester Close – ‘and yet there was no reason against his doing duty except a want of inclination on his own part’. Dr Stanhope was doubtless intended to represent standards of the eighteenth century surviving into the nineteenth; and there is no doubt that non-residence was widespread, pluralism common in the eighteenth century. It has often and reasonably been said that these were no novelty: their roots go back to the refoundation of secular cathedrals after the Norman Conquest; non-residence and pluralism rose and fell in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, rose again to remarkable heights in the fifteenth; Thomas...
... English c. 1420-30. (Bodleian Library, MS Barlow 53 (R).)(Detail) Page 5. English Medieval In... more ... English c. 1420-30. (Bodleian Library, MS Barlow 53 (R).)(Detail) Page 5. English Medieval Industries CRAFTSMEN, TECHNIQUES, PRODUCTS EDITED BY JOHN BLAIR AND NIGELRAMSAY HAMBLEDON AND LONDON LONDON AND NEW YORK Page 6. ...
This is the story of Britain's greatest cathedral, from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the late t... more This is the story of Britain's greatest cathedral, from its Anglo-Saxon origins to the late twentieth century. Seven chronological chapters cover the history of Canterbury Cathedral from 597 to the present, while a further five thematic chapters discuss the Archives and Library, the liturgy and music, the monuments within the Cathedral, and the Cathedral School. Through all the chapters runs a continuous theme: the people who have, over the centuries, made up the community of the Cathedral and have continued the tradition of Christian worship there for more than a thousand years. This is a major work of wide-ranging and original scholarship; it is also a full and highly readable history, extensively illustrated with over 160 plates and figures. This book is intended for readers with an interest in Canterbury Cathedral; scholars and students of cultural, religious, ecclesiastical, and architectural history.
Review of Steven Thiry and Luc Duerloo, eds, Heraldic hierarchies. Identity, status and state int... more Review of Steven Thiry and Luc Duerloo, eds, Heraldic hierarchies. Identity, status and state intervention in early modern heraldry (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 2021, 273 p., ill.).
The destruction of England’s monasteries has long been seen as a critical trigger for the percept... more The destruction of England’s monasteries has long been seen as a critical trigger for the perception of the Middle Ages as a fundamentally distant and irrevocably different age: the ruins of the monasteries have stood as the most vivid reminders of a world that is past.1 A sense of poignancy is enhanced by the fact that one man, John Leland, took it upon himself — albeit with the aid of a royal commission, granted in 1533 or 1534 — to search the libraries of the monasteries and colleges for half a dozen years, in the run-up to the dissolution of the monasteries and then afterwards.2 He had been to the university of Paris, and may well have known of contemporary French scholars’ quests for ancient and rare texts in French royal abbeys;3 for England, however, his travels were without precedent. He made a vast number of notes, especially about books by English authors or concerning English history, as well as about English topography, and these were almost all printed in the early eigh...
Ely Abbey 672-1109 Ely 1109-1539, with Benedictine observance, Norman architecture and sculpture,... more Ely Abbey 672-1109 Ely 1109-1539, with Benedictine observance, Norman architecture and sculpture, the gothic cathedral, monastic buildings, library and archives Dean and Chapter 1541-1836, with archives, fabric, music and liturgy Ely Cathedral 1836-1980, with fabric, music, archives Ely Cathedral 1980-2000
Hospitals and almshouses were among the most familiar institutions of medieval England. While eve... more Hospitals and almshouses were among the most familiar institutions of medieval England. While every hospital would have been equipped with books for divine service, some also possessed large collections of library books. A great array of evidence is gathered in this volume, and includes detailed inventories from the English hospital of St Thomas in Rome. This volume also includes booklists for various professional and clerical libraries, including those of the College of Arms, the Inns of Court, the Court of Arches, town guilds, grammar schools, and the 'public' libraries of medieval England, such as London's Guildhall. This volume will be one of the most surprising and revealing to be published in this prestigious series.
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This volume incorporates a variety of new approaches to these artefacts, employing methodologies drawn from a number of different disciplines. Its chapters explore a range of key points connected to alabasters: their origins, their general history and their social, cultural, intellectual and devotional contexts.
This volume incorporates a variety of new approaches to these artefacts, employing methodologies drawn from a number of different disciplines. Its chapters explore a range of key points connected to alabasters: their origins, their general history and their social, cultural, intellectual and devotional contexts.