Malcolm Walsby – författare

The Lavals were one of the most important families in late medieval France, rising to a position of unsurpassed eminence by the mid sixteenth century. Yet, at the very point where they reached this position of unrivalled importance, all was put at risk by the dual challenges of dynastic failure and the Reformation. The vagaries of dynastic failure threatened their hard won success and these problems were compounded by the decision of crucial members of the family to support Protestantism in the middle of the century. By the end of the sixteenth century the fortunes of the family were in ruins and the brief eminence of Lavals in western France was over. This monograph offers a fresh look at several of the critical questions facing historians of late medieval and early modern France. It re-examines the clientage of a rising and enterprising family and explores the cultural patronage of a noble court. The book also provides a new insight into the nature of noble Protestantism, notably analysing the connections between nobles, patterns of family loyalty and religious conviction. Finally, it considers the events of wars of religion in western France from the perspective of a noble leadership that simultaneously played a vital role in sustaining the cause and did much to undermine it. This latter issue is examined in particular through the analysis of the relationship between the houses of Laval and Rohan, two Protestant families with shared loyalties but with rival dynastic ambitions. This study is based on a complete re-examination of the archive base in both Paris and the west of France and in English archives. For many centuries the destruction of the archives of the family of Laval during the French Revolution has prevented historians from undertaking a serious study of the family. Indeed, this book is the first monograph to be published on the Comtes de Laval since the manuscript volume written by Le Blanc de La Vignole in the seventeenth century. At the same time it engages with the historiography of both French and Anglo-Saxon historiographical traditions.

The Lavals were one of the most important families in late medieval France, rising to a position of unsurpassed eminence by the mid sixteenth century. Yet, at the very point where they reached this position of unrivalled importance, all was put at risk by the dual challenges of dynastic failure and the Reformation. The vagaries of dynastic failure threatened their hard won success and these problems were compounded by the decision of crucial members of the family to support Protestantism in the middle of the century. By the end of the sixteenth century the fortunes of the family were in ruins and the brief eminence of Lavals in western France was over. This monograph offers a fresh look at several of the critical questions facing historians of late medieval and early modern France. It re-examines the clientage of a rising and enterprising family and explores the cultural patronage of a noble court. The book also provides a new insight into the nature of noble Protestantism, notably analysing the connections between nobles, patterns of family loyalty and religious conviction. Finally, it considers the events of wars of religion in western France from the perspective of a noble leadership that simultaneously played a vital role in sustaining the cause and did much to undermine it. This latter issue is examined in particular through the analysis of the relationship between the houses of Laval and Rohan, two Protestant families with shared loyalties but with rival dynastic ambitions. This study is based on a complete re-examination of the archive base in both Paris and the west of France and in English archives. For many centuries the destruction of the archives of the family of Laval during the French Revolution has prevented historians from undertaking a serious study of the family. Indeed, this book is the first monograph to be published on the Comtes de Laval since the manuscript volume written by Le Blanc de La Vignole in the seventeenth century. At the same time it engages with the historiography of both French and Anglo-Saxon historiographical traditions.

The Lavals were one of the most important families in late medieval France, rising to a position of unsurpassed eminence by the mid sixteenth century. Yet, at the very point where they reached this position of unrivalled importance, all was put at risk by the dual challenges of dynastic failure and the Reformation. The vagaries of dynastic failure threatened their hard won success and these problems were compounded by the decision of crucial members of the family to support Protestantism in the middle of the century. By the end of the sixteenth century the fortunes of the family were in ruins and the brief eminence of Lavals in western France was over. This monograph offers a fresh look at several of the critical questions facing historians of late medieval and early modern France. It re-examines the clientage of a rising and enterprising family and explores the cultural patronage of a noble court. The book also provides a new insight into the nature of noble Protestantism, notably analysing the connections between nobles, patterns of family loyalty and religious conviction. Finally, it considers the events of wars of religion in western France from the perspective of a noble leadership that simultaneously played a vital role in sustaining the cause and did much to undermine it. This latter issue is examined in particular through the analysis of the relationship between the houses of Laval and Rohan, two Protestant families with shared loyalties but with rival dynastic ambitions. This study is based on a complete re-examination of the archive base in both Paris and the west of France and in English archives. For many centuries the destruction of the archives of the family of Laval during the French Revolution has prevented historians from undertaking a serious study of the family. Indeed, this book is the first monograph to be published on the Comtes de Laval since the manuscript volume written by Le Blanc de La Vignole in the seventeenth century. At the same time it engages with the historiography of both French and Anglo-Saxon historiographical traditions.

Printing in provincial France has not attracted the same interest as the main centres of print. Using archival as well as printed sources, this book provides a groundbreaking new understanding of the development of printing in the provinces. Though printing in Brittany started during the incunabula period, the presses disappeared in the first decade of the sixteenth century. This work analyses the role of booksellers during these critical years and examines the business models that enabled the presses to return to the duchy. It also looks at issues such as ownership of books, Protestantism and the effect of the wars of the Catholic League as well as offering a much expanded bibliography of editions printed in the duchy.Customers interested in this title may also be interested in French Vernacular Books, edited by Andrew Pettegree, Malcolm Walsby and Alexander Wilkinson.

Books printed in the fifteenth century have been the subject of much in-depth research. In contrast, the beginning of the sixteenth century has not attracted the same scholarly interest. This volume brings together studies that charter the development of printing and bookselling throughout Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It presents new research and analysis on the impact of the Reformation, on how texts were transmitted and on the complex relationships that affected the production and sale of books. The result is a wide-ranging reappraisal of a vital period in the history of the printed book.Contributors include Zsuzsa Barbarics-Hermanik, Jürgen Beyer, Amy Nelson Burnett, Neil Harris, Brenda M. Hosington, Johannes Hund, Henning P. Jürgens, Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba, Hans-Jörg Künast, Urs Bernhard Leu, Matthew McLean, Andrew Pettegree, David Shaw, Christoph Volkmar, Hanno Wijsman and Alexander Wilkinson.

French Books III & IV complete a comprehensive bibliographical survey of all books published in France in the first age of print. It lists over 40,000 editions printed in France in languages other than French during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries together with bibliographical references, an introduction and indexes. It draws on the analysis of over 3,000 collections situated in libraries throughout the world. French Books will be an invaluable research tool for all students and scholars interested in the history, culture and literature of France, as well as historians of the early modern book world.For vols. I & II please go to French Vernacular Books.

Netherlandish Books offers a unique overview of what was printed during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Low Countries. This bibliography lists descriptions of over 32,000 editions together with bibliographical references, an introduction and indexes. It draws on the analysis of collections situated in libraries throughout the world. This is the first time that all the books published in the various territories that formed the Low Countries are presented together in a single bibliography. Netherlandish Books is an invaluable research tool for all students and scholars interested in the history, culture and literature of the Low Countries, as well as historians of the early modern book world.Customers interested in this title may also be interested in French Vernacular Books, edited by Andrew Pettegree, Malcolm Walsby and Alexander Wilkinson.

Scholars of pre-modern literary culture rely almost exclusively on texts that have survived: mostly those that have reached the comparative safety of modern library collections. But the urge to record, catalogue and advertise the wealth of new publications in the age of print created an additional and valuable resource: book lists. Printers made lists of their available stock; owners catalogued their libraries; religious authorities drew up indexes of banned books; assessors inventoried collections and stock as part of the settlement of estates, or legal proceedings. This volume examines an array of such lists taken from a variety of European countries during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The result is a wide-ranging re-evaluation of one of the most interesting and underused resources for early modern book history.Contributors include: Jürgen Beyer, Flavia Bruni, Gina Dahl, Cristina Dondi, Shanti Graheli, Neil Harris, Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba, Alexander Marr, Kasper van Ommen, Andrea Ottone, Leigh T.I. Penman, Benito Rial Costas, John Sibbald, Kevin M. Stevens and Malcolm Walsby.

Winner of the 2021 SCSC Bainton Prize for Reference WorksBooksellers and Printers in Provincial France 1470-1600 is the first comprehensive guide to the Renaissance French book trade outside of Paris and Lyon. This volume presents short biographies for over 2700 booksellers, printers and bookbinders - over sixty of whom are identified as fictitious. The biographies are accompanied wherever possible by the details of commercial partnerships, the type used by printers and reproductions of over a hundred signatures. The book provides the details of over six hundred women who either married into the trade or were independently active. The introductory essay analyses the nature, evolution and geographic dispersion of the members of the trade. It is an indispensable tool for understanding the French Renaissance book world.

Often considered the advent of mass media, the use of books and prints by Protestants has been widely studied and has generated a rich and plentiful bibliography. In contrast, the production and use of the same media by the proponents of the Counter-Reformation have not received the attention they deserve, especially in the context of the Low Countries. The twelve chapters in this volume provide new perspectives on the efficacy of the handpress book industry to support the Catholic strategy in the Spanish Low Countries and underline the mutually beneficial relationship between the Counter-Reformation and the typographic world. This volume represents an important contribution to our understanding of the sociocultural and socioeconomic background of the Catholic Netherlands.

Anyone who has studied the history of the Reformation, the book and communication will have come across or been influenced by Andrew Pettegree's contributions to these fields. The forty-four essays in this Festschrift and its companion volume have been commissioned to cover the broad scope of Pettegree's areas of interest and expertise, and to reflect and build upon them. The pieces, written by forty-three scholars based at over thirty institutions, are organised around nine key themes, ranging from the intersections of religion and print to the history of book collecting, the periodical press and pioneering book historical research methodologies. This first volume contains nineteen essays. Together with the second volume, 'The Book World of Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of Andrew Pettegree, Volume 2', it offers a wid-ranging survey of the state of current scholarship on religion, printing and media change in early modern Europe. Contributors to this volume: Riccardo Bavaj, Flavia Bruni, Arthur der Weduwen, Alastair Duke, Bruce Gordon, Brian Hanson, Mack Holt, Richard Kirwan, Katell Laveant, Ian Maclean, Guido Marnef, Jonathan Reid, Alec Ryrie, Grant Tapsell, Margo Todd, Natale Vacalebre, Arjan van Dijk, Malcolm Walsby, and Elise Watson.