TEAMS Documents of Practice Series – serie

A selection of documents, translated primarily from medieval Latin but occasionally from Old French, that shows how religious women and their patrons managed resources to make monastic communities - particularly a variety of Cistercian communities - work. The records help us reconstruct how nuns and abbesses of Cistercian communities in the thirteenth century organized and kept records, managed their properties, responded to attempts at usurpation, and balanced their lives between devotional practices, which were part of their cloistered world, and family and social responsibilities beyond the convent walls.

This volume offers readers a revised and considerably expanded version of the first Regular Life, edited by McMillan and Kathryn Smith Fladenmuller in 1997. As the editors note in their introduction, "The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the Rules of life of the major religious orders within the monastic, canonical, and mendicant traditions." Included are admonitions on and examples of the various forms of regular life by Antony, Syncletica, Pachomius, Basil, Cassian, Augustine, Caesarius of Arles, Benedict of Nursia, Columbanus, and Benedict of Aniane, plus selections from Rules for Cluniacs, Carthusians, Cistercians, the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers, and the followers of Saints Francis, Clare, and Dominic.

The book explores the beginnings of the continental European notarial tradition, acquainting readers with the format of notarial documents, the books containing notarial acts, and with the variety of notarial acts. Sample documents have been selected for their interest and their illustration of specific types of contracts. All are from the 1327-28 notarial registry of Jean Holanie, the royal public notary of Montpellier.

It is the purpose of this small book to offer to the reader selections from Stone's modest compilation of the internal life of his own monastic community—obituaries of monks, the celebration of the liturgy, even the weather—set against the wider events of the tumultuous fifteenth century in England.

In this volume, readers experience, in English translation, the colorful and varied textual fabric of the most important literary and creative repertory of the Middle Ages. The public, organized worship of the Church had a central role in medieval life. Studying its forms and genres allows readers not only to become aware of one of the most important influences on culture and religion, but also to consider these texts, which were widely disseminated and had fundamental effects on daily life.

This modernized extract from The Great Chronicle of London covers the reign of England’s first Tudor king, Henry VII (1485-1509). It gives an eye-witness account of events in London, and of news from elsewhere, from the viewpoint of a well-to- do citizen who was closely involved in civic administration. It describes many notable public events: riots and uprisings, executions, coronations, royal marriages and funerals, and ceremonial activities involving the mayor and aldermen. Its year by year entries also cover matters like the weather, the cost of living, taxes, and the effects of building work undertaken in the city. Although its compiler worked to a scheme common to other London chronicles from the period, he was ready to express his own views on a number of matters, and wrote with keen observation and occasional wit.

This modernized extract from The Great Chronicle of London covers the reign of England's first Tudor king, Henry VII (1485-1509). It gives an eye-witness account of events in London, and of news from elsewhere, from the viewpoint of a well-to- do citizen who was closely involved in civic administration. It describes many notable public events: riots and uprisings, executions, coronations, royal marriages and funerals, and ceremonial activities involving the mayor and aldermen. Its year by year entries also cover matters like the weather, the cost of living, taxes, and the effects of building work undertaken in the city. Although its compiler worked to a scheme common to other London chronicles from the period, he was ready to express his own views on a number of matters, and wrote with keen observation and occasional wit.

This sourcebook is designed to introduce students to the everyday lives of the Jews who lived in the German Empire, northern France and England from the 11th to the mid-14th centuries. The volume consists of translations of primary sources written by or about medieval Jews, each source accompanied by an introduction that provides historical context. Through the sources, students can become familiar with the spaces that Jews frequented, their daily practices and rituals and their thinking.The subject matter ranges from culinary preferences and details of sexual lives, to garments, objects and communal buildings. The documents testify to how Jews enacted their Sabbath and holidays, celebrated their weddings, births and other lifecycle events, and mourned their dead. Some of the sources focus on the relationships they had with their Christian neighbours, the local authorities and the Church, while others shed light on their economic activities and professions.With contributions by members of the "Beyond the Elite: Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Europe" research team: Neta Bodner, Nureet Dermer, Aviya Doron, Miri Fenton, Etelle Kalaora, Albert Kohn, Andreas Lehnertz, Adi Namia-Cohen, Hannah Teddy Schachter and Amit Shafran.

This volume explores the will-making process in late medieval England for all levels of society. Wills are some of the most studied records of the late Middle Ages and capture the evidence of what people owned and the patterns of family relationships. These documents, compiled from several archives and city records, cast a light on many aspects of medieval life, including gender distinctions and the heavy influence of the church. Included are wills from widows, tradespeople and artisans, clergy, and high-ranking wealthy people, and through these sources he shows how wills, inventories, and testaments prepared people and their souls for the afterlife.

This volume explores the will-making process in late medieval England for all levels of society. Wills are some of the most studied records of the late Middle Ages and capture the evidence of what people owned and the patterns of family relationships. These documents, compiled by Robert A. Wood from several archives and city records, cast a light on many aspects of medieval life, including gender distinctions and the heavy influence of the church. Included are wills from widows, tradespeople and artisans, clergy, and high-ranking wealthy people. Through these sources Wood is able to show how wills, inventories and testaments prepared people and their souls for the afterlife.

Depositions (or testimony) in marriage cases brought before fifteenth-century English church courts reveal the attitudes and feelings of medieval people towards the marital bond.

The material contained here derives from a wide variety of printed and manuscript sources, chosen to give some idea of the rich diversity of evidence available to the historian of English medicine and its place in society during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and early sixteenth centuries. Latin and French have been translated into modern English, while vernacular texts have been slightly modified, and obsolete or difficult words explained. Middle English has otherwise been retained to give the past an authentic voice and to emphasize the similarities as well as the differences between the experience of modern readers and that of the inhabitants of late medieval England

"Since the audience for this text is assumed to be primarily students of medieval history, nothing from a specifically literary text has been included. Further, since archaeology deals in artifacts and other physical remains, it is impractical to supply material from that discipline. Therefore, only material from record sources is provided . . . These are the only written materials that permit some measure of personalized contact with specific men and women from the past, so this gives them a special importance." - from the Introduction

In this volume, readers experience, in English translation, the colorful and varied textual fabric of the most important literary and creative repertory of the Middle Ages. The public, organized worship of the Church had a central role in medieval life. Studying its forms and genres allows readers not only to become aware of one of the most important influences on culture and religion, but also to consider these texts, which were widely disseminated and had fundamental effects on daily life.