Tradition and Belief - Religious Writing in Late Anglo-Saxon England
In this major study of Angle-Saxon religious tests sermons, homilies, and saints' lives written in Old English -- Clare A. Lees reveals how the invention of preaching transformed the early medieval church, and thus the culture of medieval England in placing Anglo-Saxon prose within a social matrix, her work offers a new way of seeing medieval literature through the lens of cultures.To show how the preaching mission of the later Anglo-Saxon church was constructed and received, Lees explores the emergence of preaching from the traditional structures of the early medieval church -- its institutional knowledge, genres, and beliefs.
In this collection of essays Nicholas Brooks explores some of the earliest and most problematical sources, both written and archaeological, for early English history. In his hands, the structure and functions of Anglo-Saxon origin stories and charters (whether authentic or forged) illuminate English political and social structures, as well as ecclesiastical, urban and rural landscapes. As well as previously published essays, Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church, 400-1066 includes a new account of the English origin myth and a review of the developments in the study of Anglo-Saxon charters over the last twenty years.
The History of Medicine - The Middle Ages 500 - 1450
During the Middle Ages (ca. 529-1100), the rise of Christianity had a definite effect on the practice of medicine. Pope Gregory (ca. 540-604) stressed the importance of prayer over medicine, and over time that sentiment became pervasive. Each time a person was healed, it was considered a miracle. The church taught that since God sometimes sent illness as punishment, that prayer and repentance could lead to recovery. When Christians used herbal remedies, the church wanted the magic spells to be replaced with prayers of devotion. Eventually, as different schools of thought emerged, tension developed between church-related cures and folk medicine.
Church and Chronicle in the Middle Age - Essays Presented to John Taylor
The decline of the Merovingians and the rise of the Garolingians is a topic that is usually seen through Carolingian eyes. In large measure this is the inevitable outcome of the distribution of source-material. Apart from the Liber historiae Francorum and the continuations to the chronicle of Fredegar, most of our evidence is not actually contemporary, and the continuations were commissioned by members of the Carolingian family. This problem of the sources makes it particularly important for the Merovingianist to scrutinise his or her information with extreme care.
Squires in the Slums - Settlements and Missions in Late Victorian Britain
Settlements were a distinctive aspect of late-Victorian church life in which individual philanthropic Christians were encouraged to live and work in communities amongst the poor and set an example for the underprivileged through their own actions. Often overlooked by historians, settlements are of great value in understanding the values and culture of the 19th century. Settlement missions were first conceived when Samuel Barnett, the incumbent of St Jude's, Whitechapel, in the East End of London, sought to introduce them as a major aspect of Victorian church life.
