Arc Companions – serie

The noble Cavendishes were one of the most influential families in the politics and culture of early modern England and beyond. A Companion to the Cavendishes offers a comprehensive account of the Cavendish family's creative output and cultural significance in the seventeenth century. It discusses the writings of individuals including William and Margaret Cavendish, and William's daughters Jane and Elizabeth; family members' work and patronage in other media such as music, architecture, and the visual arts; their participation in contemporary developments in politics, philosophy, and horsemanship; and the networks in which they moved both in England and in continental Europe. It also covers the work of less well-known family members such as the poet and biographer George Cavendish and the composer Michael Cavendish. This volume combines path-breaking scholarship with discussion of existing research, making it an invaluable resource for all those interested in this fascinating and diverse group of men and women.This book is available as Open Access.

Pilgrimage to shrines and places of particular holiness was a feature of all three major religious traditions in medieval Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. Pilgrims exposed themselves to risk and loss in order to experience the spiritual benefits of devotion to the shrine of a saint or a holy place. This authoritative and comprehensive Companion offers a thematic approach to the experience of the medieval pilgrim, from departure to return. The central focus is on how pilgrims prepared for and negotiated their journeys; what they saw and did at shrines; and how they understood their journeys. The Holy Land stands at the centre of the book, because it was the main site of pilgrimage for Jewish, Christian, and Muslim pilgrims, but pilgrimages to other sites across Europe and the Near East, and to the shrines of local saints, are also explored.

This reference work examines the ways in which some medieval behaviours and identities were categorized as criminal or deviant. It also explores the implications of modern demonization of the Middle Ages. As well as discussing constructions of deviance, this book further explores the behaviours and identities which provoked these labels and processes. The model is one of reciprocity between behaviours and processes of demonization and criminalization. Each authoritative essay engages carefully with this approach, examining behaviours, the ways they were demonized, and the relationship between the two processes. The three parts of the volume are centred around forms of discursive and normative power—religious ideologies, political ideologies, and legalism. The authors also explore issues of political discourse, spiritual censure, justice and punishment, and the construction of taboos.

Translation played an essential role throughout the Middle Ages, bridging the gap between literate and lay, and enabling intercourse between languages in multi-lingual Europe. Because of its universality and its vitality, and because it unlocked the door to antiquity's cultural heritage, medieval translation was extremely diverse, ranging from the literality and Latinity of legal documents to the free adaptation of courtly romance. This guide to medieval translation covers religious and vernacular texts, treating translation’s multilingual contexts, its didactic and social agenda, and its rhetorical presuppositions. The contributors also address the theoretical and pragmatic problems faced by modern translators of medieval works as they attempt to mediate between past and present.

This invaluable reference work addresses sex, gender, and sexuality in medieval Europe and North Africa, providing an important update previous handbooks from the 1990s. With lucid definitions, theoretical engagement, and wide geographic coverage, it is the new indispensable guide to the subject. The editors and authors establish institutional foundations and explore expressions of sex and sexuality across medieval cultures, analyzing examples from legal, religious, artistic, literary, medical, and other sources. This handbook begins with a section devoted to definitions and vocabulary before progressing to cultural topics and concluding with geographically-specific traditions and practices related to sexuality. Essays authored by specialists in relevant fields include both primary and secondary sources, contain examinations of the three major religions, and address broader cultural and historical ramifications of these topics.

This New Companion to Critical Thinking on Chaucer brings together preeminent scholars from around the world and adopts a novel approaching, beginning with the basics: Chaucer's words. Each chapter explores a single word from the Chaucerian corpus to develop readings that extend across the author's works. Without being limited to a particular text or theoretical approach, contributors model scholarly thinking in action, posing questions and offering analyses from textual, theoretical, historical, and material approaches. The result is a comprehensive collection of essays that illuminates Chaucer's aesthetics, philosophical complexity, and continued relevance. Part innovative scholarship, part how-to manual, the volume includes apparatus to help less experienced readers of Chaucer negotiate its contents. In addition to fourteen main essays, the volume also includes three response essays, each modelling how a seasoned scholar uses the chapters to develop his or her own thinking about Chaucer. Thus, the companion offers something to audiences of all levels who wish to read, research, and enjoy Chaucer, his language, and his works.

The noble Cavendishes were one of the most influential families in the politics and culture of early modern England and beyond. A Companion to the Cavendishes offers a comprehensive account of the Cavendish family's creative output and cultural significance in the seventeenth century. It discusses the writings of individuals including William and Margaret Cavendish, and William's daughters Jane and Elizabeth; family members' work and patronage in other media such as music, architecture, and the visual arts; their participation in contemporary developments in politics, philosophy, and horsemanship; and the networks in which they moved both in England and in continental Europe. It also covers the work of less well-known family members such as the poet and biographer George Cavendish and the composer Michael Cavendish. This volume combines path-breaking scholarship with discussion of existing research, making it an invaluable resource for all those interested in this fascinating and diverse group of men and women.This book is available as Open Access.

Social network analysis is revolutionizing our understanding of business, politics, public health, and now history. In this book, the first collection of network analysis case studies dedicated to the study of the European Middle Ages, fourteen scholars present their ground-breaking research on subjects as varied as saints’ lives, royal households, landholding society, ecclesiastical structures, town life, and financial dealings. Spanning the chronological breadth of the medieval era, this collection is international in both its subject matter and its scholarship. With leading researchers from across Europe, this book announces the arrival of an exciting new subdiscipline in Medieval Studies.

This reference work examines the ways in which some medieval behaviours and identities were categorized as criminal or deviant. It also explores the implications of modern demonization of the Middle Ages. As well as discussing constructions of deviance, this book further explores the behaviours and identities which provoked these labels and processes. The model is one of reciprocity between behaviours and processes of demonization and criminalization. Each authoritative essay engages carefully with this approach, examining behaviours, the ways they were demonized, and the relationship between the two processes. The three parts of the volume are centred around forms of discursive and normative power—religious ideologies, political ideologies, and legalism. The authors also explore issues of political discourse, spiritual censure, justice and punishment, and the construction of taboos.

This collection expands previous regional and individual studies of queenship and female political agency in order to engage in a comparative study of premodern female rule on a global scale. While the field of queenship studies and examinations of gender and power have been flourishing, the literature has tended to be dominated by studies of European royalty. This volume aims toembrace and develop the trend towards an increasingly global outlook for the field of queenship studies. Case studies of women from different periods, places, and religions are deliberately mixed to compare and contrast the realities of queenship in varied settings. Lesser studied examples of queens are provided alongside fresh perspectives on more familiar figures and regions. The authors increase our understanding of understudied individuals and groups of queens, and they encourage the comparison of the practice of queenship in the premodern era. This authoritative and comprehensive Companion will be required readingfor all scholars and students of premodern gender and political studies.