Ideals and Practice of Knighthood – serie

Reviewing the first volume in this series, Christopher Allmand, writing in English Historical Review, said: `Once again, a volume of papers published by the Boydell Press has made a useful interdisciplinary contribution toan important and difficult subject. Historians may read this book with profit.' But not only historians, for the contributions to these volumes are wide-ranging, and cover all aspects of culture in the middle ages, with a strong emphasis on continental literature.

Latest research on the chivalric ethos of western Europe,10c-15c, from the practical (houses, armour) to the intellectual [conceptof holy war, loyalty, etc.].The Strawberry Hill conferences on medieval knighthood, from which these volumes spring, aim to bring together historians and literary scholars whose interests focus on medieval chivalry, to bridge the gulf between the two areas of specialisation and explore matters of common interest. Eight papers cover a wide area, both territorially and chronologically,but common themes emerge. One group of essays deals with the embellishments of lordship, both architectural and heraldic, studying residences and also developments in armour. A second group concerns ideals which motivated the aristocracy of western Europe, from the late 10th to the 15th centuries: romances, the Peace movement ofAquitaine, holy war, and loyalty; concentration on rationalism and free will in thewritings of the cultural circle which revolved around Sir John Fastolfis identified as an important element in the development of the EnglishRenaissance.Professor CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL teaches in the Department of History, University of East Anglia; Dr RUTH HARVEY is lecturer in French at Royal Holloway, University of London. Contributors: ADRIAN AILES, JEFFREY ASHCROFT, CHARLES COULSON,JONATHAN HUGHES, JANE MARTINDALE, PETER NOBLE, MATTHEW STRICKLAND,ANN WILLIAMS.