Joel T. Rosenthal – författare

One of the great challenges facing historians of any era is to make the strangeness of the past comprehensible in the present. This task is especially difficult for scholars of the Middle Ages, a period that can seem particularly alien to modern sensibilities. In Telling Tales, Joel Rosenthal takes us on a journey through some familiar sources from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England to show how memories and recollections can be used to build a compelling portrait of daily life in the late Middle Ages. Rosenthal is a senior medievalist whose work over the years has spanned several related areas, including family history, women’s history, the life cycle, and memory and testimony. In Telling Tales, he brings all of these interests to bear on three seemingly disparate bodies of sources: the letters of Margaret Paston, depositions from a dispute between the Scropes and Grosvenors over a contested coat of arms, and Proof of Age proceedings, whereby the legal majority of an heir was established.In Rosenthal’s hands these familiar sources all speak to questions of testimony, memory, and narrative at a time when written records were just becoming widespread. In Margaret Paston, we see a woman who helped hold family and family business together as she mastered the arduous and complex task of letter writing. In the knights whose tales were elicited for the Scrope and Grosvenor case, we witness the bonding of men-at-arms in the Hundred Years War. From the Proofs of Age, we have brief tales that are rich in the give-and-take of daily life in the village—memories of baptisms, burials, a trip to market, a fall from a roof, or marriage to another juror’s sister. From a historian at the top of his craft, Telling Tales shows how medievalists can turn scraps of recollection into a synthetic story, one that enables us to recapture the strange and lost country of the European Middle Ages.

Originally published in 1972, The Purchase of Paradise is an account of medieval philanthropy and looks at the late medieval aristocracy as a social, rather than political group. The book analyses their voluntary behaviour, their gift giving and the Church, and addresses the nature of charity in the Middle Ages, providing an insight into the noble families of the time. The book depicts charitable practices within the family, such as the buying of prayers for relatives, and the family traditions of support for favoured houses lasting through several generations. The book shows that the family was the most operative unit for most forms of benefaction and ecclesiastical contact, and that the hard necessities of baronial politics were often ignored when men turned their thoughts to philanthropy and prayers for their immortal souls. The book will of value to historians and sociologists alike, as well as those working in the field of anthropology.

Originally published in 1972, The Purchase of Paradise is an account of medieval philanthropy and looks at the late medieval aristocracy as a social, rather than political group. The book analyses their voluntary behaviour, their gift giving and the Church, and addresses the nature of charity in the Middle Ages, providing an insight into the noble families of the time. The book depicts charitable practices within the family, such as the buying of prayers for relatives, and the family traditions of support for favoured houses lasting through several generations. The book shows that the family was the most operative unit for most forms of benefaction and ecclesiastical contact, and that the hard necessities of baronial politics were often ignored when men turned their thoughts to philanthropy and prayers for their immortal souls. The book will of value to historians and sociologists alike, as well as those working in the field of anthropology.

First published in 1976, Nobles and the Noble Life, 1295-1500 offers a rounded picture of aristocratic life in England from the time Edward I began to call his great councillors together in ‘House of Lords’ through to the end of the Middle Ages. Professor Rosenthal’s treatment of the aristocracy takes full note of political and economic as well as personal aspects of nobility including the importance of status and the quest for security. He argues that in order to understand the nobility fully the student should consider it in the context of more modern views of elite groups and class structures. This book will be of interest to students of history primarily but also achieve a wider readership among academics more concerned with historical or political sociology than with medieval studies in their strictest sense.

First published in 1976, Nobles and the Noble Life, 1295-1500 offers a rounded picture of aristocratic life in England from the time Edward I began to call his great councillors together in ‘House of Lords’ through to the end of the Middle Ages. Professor Rosenthal’s treatment of the aristocracy takes full note of political and economic as well as personal aspects of nobility including the importance of status and the quest for security. He argues that in order to understand the nobility fully the student should consider it in the context of more modern views of elite groups and class structures. This book will be of interest to students of history primarily but also achieve a wider readership among academics more concerned with historical or political sociology than with medieval studies in their strictest sense.

Published in the year 2006, The Purchase of Pardise is a valuable contribution to the field of Major Works.

Medieval society created many kinds of records and written material which differ considerably, giving us such sources as last wills, sermons, manorial accounts, or royal biographies. Primary sources are an exciting way for students to engage with the past and draw their own ideas about life in the medieval period.Understanding Medieval Primary Sources is a collection of essays that will introduce students to the key primary sources that are essential to studying medieval Europe. The sources are divided into two categories: the first part treats some of the many generic sources that have been preserved, such as wills, letters, royal and secular narratives and sermons. Chapter by chapter each expert author illustrates how they can be used to reveal details about medieval history. The second part focuses on areas of historical research that can only be fully discovered by using a combination of primary sources, covering fields such as maritime history, urban history, women’s history and medical history. Understanding Medieval Primary Sources will be an invaluable resource for any student embarking on medieval historical research.

Medieval society created many kinds of records and written material which differ considerably, giving us such sources as last wills, sermons, manorial accounts, or royal biographies. Primary sources are an exciting way for students to engage with the past and draw their own ideas about life in the medieval period.Understanding Medieval Primary Sources is a collection of essays that will introduce students to the key primary sources that are essential to studying medieval Europe. The sources are divided into two categories: the first part treats some of the many generic sources that have been preserved, such as wills, letters, royal and secular narratives and sermons. Chapter by chapter each expert author illustrates how they can be used to reveal details about medieval history. The second part focuses on areas of historical research that can only be fully discovered by using a combination of primary sources, covering fields such as maritime history, urban history, women’s history and medical history. Understanding Medieval Primary Sources will be an invaluable resource for any student embarking on medieval historical research.

Published in the year 2006, The Purchase of Pardise is a valuable contribution to the field of Major Works.

There are, contends Joel Rosenthal, two suppositions that have achieved almost full and unquestionable acceptance in contemporary social history and family studies. The first is that at any given time in any given culture one particular form or model of the family dominates; the second is that historical changes in the family operate in a single and compelling direction.In Patriarchy and Families of Privilege in Fifteenth-Century England, the author joins quantitative and legal evidence with case studies to yield a depiction of the family as something at once corporeal, fictive, and symbolic.

In Old Age in Late Medieval England, Joel T. Rosenthal explores the life spans, sustained activities, behaviors, and mentalites of the individuals who approached and who passed the biblically stipulated span of three score and ten in late medieval England. Drawing on a wide variety of documentary and court records (which were, however, more likely to specify with precision an individual's age on reaching majority or inheriting property than on the occasion of his or her death) as well as literary and didactic texts, he examines "old age" as a social construct and web of behavioral patterns woven around a biological phenomenon.Focusing on "lived experience" in late medieval England, Rosenthal uses demographic and quantitative records, family histories, and biographical information to demonstrate that many people lived into their sixth, seventh, and occasionally eighth decades. Those who survived might well live to know their grandchildren. This view of a society composed of the aged as well as of the young and the middle aged is reinforced by an examination of peers, bishops, and members of parliament and urban office holders, for whom demographic and career-length information exists. Many individuals had active careers until near the end of their lives; the aged were neither rarities nor outcasts within their world. Late medieval society recognized the concept of retirement, of old age pensions, and of the welcome release from duty for those who had served over the decades.

This volume contains collected papers on medieval England's "names and naming patterns - mostly forenames or Christian names, but with some attention to family names." According to Rosenthal, there are "three lines of assault upon the culture and practice by way of analysis of names and naming" - "micro-social or family dynamic, village life, and limited name stock that confronts us when we tally the range of names that served the bulk of the population."—from the Introduction

The volume represents the second part of Rosenthal's cataloging of historical scholarship on Ricardian, Lancastrian, and Yorkist England, covering categories from political and legal history to social and intellectual history and the arts. As Rosenthal notes in the introduction, its size (1,888 entries for the decade) "hardly gives much support to those who warn us of the imminent demise of the more traditional lines of historical endeavor and inquiry."

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History is an annual publication of historiographical essays on the pre-modern world. As a venue for sustained investigations, it plays a significant role in the dissemination of interpretative scholarship that falls in the niche between the journal article and the monograph.This is the penultimate volume in series 3 and primarily comprises essays in memory of Paul E. Szarmach, the eminent Old English scholar and former executive director of the Medieval Academy of America and director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.

Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History is an annual publication of historiographical essays on the pre-modern world. As a venue for sustained investigations, it plays a significant role in the dissemination of interpretative scholarship that falls in the niche between the journal article and the monograph.This is the final volume in series 3 and primarily comprises essays in memory of Paul E. Szarmach, the eminent Old English scholar and former executive director of the Medieval Academy of America and director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.

Eating and drinking are essential to life and therefore of great interest to the historian. As well as having a real fascination in their own right, both activities are an integral part of the both social and economic history. Yet food and drink, especially in the middle ages, have received less than their proper share of attention. The essays in this volume approach their subject from a variety of angles: from the reality of starvation and the reliance on 'fast food' of those without cooking facilities, to the consumption of an English lady's household and the career of a cook in the French royal household.

This volume is the first part of Rosenthal's cataloging of historical scholarship on Ricardian, Lancastrian, and Yorkist England, and covers categories from political and legal history to social and intellectual history and the arts. This volume is a must for any scholar of the period.

The eleven essays offered in Women, Marriage, and Family in Medieval Christendom reflect the spirit and originality of Father Michael M. Sheehan, for whom the volume was collected. The essays consider three thematic categories that were dominant in most of Sheehan's own scholarly work: the role, position, and contributions of medieval women; the development of Christian marriage, especially in the High Middle Ages; and the secular family with its legal and emotional relationships. A close reading of the papers, particularly those concerned with the themes of marriage and the family, reveal what we can designate as the Sheehan school of social history. The collection expands on several of Sheehan's research areas, and while it shows a considerable interest in medieval England, it does not disregard the Continent. The volume is a worthy tribute to Sheehan and will be of great interest to students of social and legal history, women's history, the development of marriage, and the idea of the family.

This concise and unique volume explores the vital relationship between testimony, memory, and the community in medieval society.

This concise and unique volume explores the vital relationship between testimony, memory, and the community in medieval society.

Caroline M. Barron is the world's leading authority on the history of medieval London. For half a century she has investigated London's role as medieval England's political, cultural, and commercial capital, together with the urban landscape and the social, occupational, and religious cultures that shaped the lives of its inhabitants. This collection of eighteen papers focuses on four themes: crown and city; parish, church, and religious culture; the people of medieval London; and the city's intellectual and cultural world. They represent essential reading on the history of one of the world's greatest cities by its foremost scholar.