Saints and their Communities - Miracle Stories in Twelfth Century England

Saints and their Communities offers a new approach to the study of lay religion as evidenced in collections of miracle narratives in twelfth-century England. There are a number of problems associated with the interpretation of this hagiographical genre and an extended introduction discusses these. The first issue is the tendency to read these narratives as transparent accounts of lay religion as if it were something susceptible to static, 'ethnographic' treatment in isolation from wider social and political activities. The second issue is the challenge of explaining the miraculous as a credible part of cultural experience, without appealing to reductionist notions of a 'medieval mindset'.

Sagas, Saints and Settlements

This volume includes selected papers from an interdisciplinary symposium in Norse Studies held at the University of St Andrews. The symposium brought together scholars with a shared interest in medieval Scandinavian history and culture, especially the sagas, from a variety of disciplines, and this diversity is reflected in the papers published here.

Joan of Arc and Richard III - Sex, Saints and Government in the Middle Ages

Joan of Arc and Richard III loom large in the histories of their countries, but the myths surrounding them have always obscured just who they were and what they hoped to accomplish. In this book, medieval historian Charles Wood brings these fascinating figures to life through an original combination of traditional biography and wide-ranging discussion of the political and social world in which they lived. Wood draws on a range of unusual sources--from art and legal codes to chronicles and lives of saints--to present a new picture of medieval people and their concerns.

Poets, Saints and Visionaires of the Great Schism 1378 - 1417

The history of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), the period that witnessed a dual and later tricephalic papacy divided between an Avignonese, a Roman, and later a Pisan obedience, has usually found its niche in legal and theological writing. Few historians have dwelled on issues outside the questions of political legitimacy and conciliarism. In the present volume, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski broadens the historiography by canvassing the mental and emotive response to this exceptional event.

Backseat Saints

I have been a fan of Joshilyn Jackson's since gods in Alabama. She is a wonderful writer. Her descriptive powers amaze me. At one point in the book, she is writing about Rose's trip across the country in search of her mother. The line reads, "Desert air whirled through the car in a constant cyclone, catching up our hair and rifling through it, blowing all the Alabama off our skins." The words actually transport you to that car and that moment with Rose. I love it.
In case you couldn't tell, I would highly recommend this book to fans of women's fiction or Southern fiction. It's a great book from a very talented author.