Keith Stringer - Böcker

In Uniting the Kingdom? a group of the most distinguished historians from Britain and Ireland assemble to consider the question of British identity spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the present.Traditional chronological and regional frontiers are broken down as medievalists, early modernists and modernists debate the key issues of the British state: the conflicting historiographies, the nature of political tensions and the themes of expansion and contraction.This outstanding collection of essays forms an illuminating introduction to the most up-to-date thinking about the problems of British histories and identities.

In Uniting the Kingdom? a group of the most distinguished historians from Britain and Ireland assemble to consider the question of British identity spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the present.Traditional chronological and regional frontiers are broken down as medievalists, early modernists and modernists debate the key issues of the British state: the conflicting historiographies, the nature of political tensions and the themes of expansion and contraction.This outstanding collection of essays forms an illuminating introduction to the most up-to-date thinking about the problems of British histories and identities.

Modern historians of the Normans have tended to treat their enterprises andachievements as a series of separate and discrete histories. Such treatments arevalid and valuable, but historical understanding of the Normans also dependsas much on broader approaches akin to those adopted in this book. As thesuccessor volume to Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts,it complements and significantly extends its findings to provide a fuller appreciationof the roles played by the Normans as one of the most dynamic andtransformative forces in the history of medieval ‘Outer Europe’. It includespanoramic essays that dissect the conceptual and methodological issues concerned,suggest strategies for avoiding associated pitfalls, and indicate how farand in what ways the Normans and their legacies served to reshape sociopoliticallandscapes across a vast geography extending from the remoter cornersof the British Isles to the Mediterranean basin. Leading experts in their fieldsalso provide case-by-case analyses, set within and between different areas, ofthemes such as lordship and domination, identities and identification, namingpatterns, marriage policies, saints’ cults, intercultural exchanges, and diaspora–homeland connections.The Normans and the ‘Norman Edge’ therefore presents a potent combinationof thought-provoking overviews and fresh insights derived from newresearch, and its wide-ranging comparative focus has the advantage of illuminatingaspects of the Norman past that traditional regional or national historiesoften do not reveal so clearly. It likewise makes a major contributionto current Norman scholarship by reconsidering the links between Normanexpansion and ‘state-formation’; the extent to which Norman practices andpriorities were distinctive; the balance between continuity and innovation;relations between the Normans and the indigenous peoples and cultures theyencountered; and, not least, forms of Norman identity and their resilience overtime. An extensive bibliography is also one of this book’s strengths.

Modern historians of the Normans have tended to treat their enterprises and achievements as a series of separate and discrete histories. Such treatments are valid and valuable, but historical understanding of the Normans also depends as much on broader approaches akin to those adopted in this book. As the successor volume to Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts, it complements and significantly extends its findings to provide a fuller appreciation of the roles played by the Normans as one of the most dynamic and transformative forces in the history of medieval ‘Outer Europe’. It includes panoramic essays that dissect the conceptual and methodological issues concerned, suggest strategies for avoiding associated pitfalls, and indicate how far and in what ways the Normans and their legacies served to reshape sociopolitical landscapes across a vast geography extending from the remoter corners of the British Isles to the Mediterranean basin. Leading experts in their fields also provide case-by-case analyses, set within and between different areas, of themes such as lordship and domination, identities and identification, naming patterns, marriage policies, saints’ cults, intercultural exchanges, and diaspora–homeland connections.The Normans and the ‘Norman Edge’ therefore presents a potent combination of thought-provoking overviews and fresh insights derived from new research, and its wide-ranging comparative focus has the advantage of illuminating aspects of the Norman past that traditional regional or national histories often do not reveal so clearly. It likewise makes a major contribution to current Norman scholarship by reconsidering the links between Norman expansion and ‘state-formation’; the extent to which Norman practices and priorities were distinctive; the balance between continuity and innovation; relations between the Normans and the indigenous peoples and cultures they encountered; and, not least, forms of Norman identity and their resilience over time. An extensive bibliography is also one of this book’s strengths.

First full-length survey of the fluid relationship between these two areas at a time of rapid change.This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the development of northern England and southern Scotland in the formative era of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. How did "middle Britain" come to be divided between twoseparate unitary kingdoms called "England" and "Scotland"? How, and how differently, was government exercised and experienced? How did people identify themselves by their languages and naming practices? What major themes can be detected in the development of ecclesiastical structures and religious culture? What can be learned about the rural and the emerging urban environments in terms of lordly exploitation and control, settlement patterns and how the landscape itself evolved? These are among the key questions addressed by the contributors, who bring to bear multi-faceted approaches to medieval "middle Britain". Above all, by pursuing similarities and differences from a comparative "transnational" perspective it becomes clearer how the "old" interacted with the "new", what was exceptional and what was not, and how far the histories of northern England and southern Scotland point to common or not so commonfoundations and trajectories. KEITH STRINGER is Professor Emeritus of Medieval British History at Lancaster University; ANGUS WINCHESTER is Professor Emeritus of Local and Landscape History at Lancaster University.Contributors: Richard Britnell, Dauvit Broun, Janet Burton, David Ditchburn, Philip Dixon, Piers Dixon, Fiona Edmonds, Richard Oram, Keith Stringer, Chris Tabraham, Simon Taylor, Angus J.L. Winchester.