A discussion by a broadly respected authority of the complicated relationship between theology and ordinary life in the early church. The first section of the book scrutinizes theology with a view to understanding its bearing upon Christian understandings of life (the theological “stories” of Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Augustine). The second section examines aspects of ordinary life and explores how Christians related them to religious ideas (the family, hospitality, citizenship, mona...

A practical and engaging guide to the art of teaching historyWell-grounded in scholarly literature and practical experience, Teaching History offers an instructors’ guide for developing and teaching classroom history. Written in the author’s engaging (and often humorous) style, the book discusses the challenges teachers encounter, explores effective teaching strategies, and offers insight for managing burgeoning technologies. William Caferro presents an as...

This revisionist account of the economic, literary and social history of Florence in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death connects warfare with the plague narrative. Organised around Petrarch's 'war' against the Ubaldini clan of 1349–1350, which formed the prelude to his meeting and friendship with Boccaccio, William Caferro's work examines the institutional and economic effects of the war, alongside literary and historical patterns. Caferro pays close attention to the meaning of wag...

In this book, William Caferro asks if the Renaissance was really a period of progress, reason, the emergence of the individual, and the beginning of modernity.An influential investigation into the nature of the European RenaissanceSummarizes scholarly debates about the nature of the RenaissanceEngages with specific controversies concerning gender identity, economics, the emergence of the modern state, and reason and faithTakes a ...

Winner, 2008 Otto Gründler Book Prize, The Medieval InstituteWinner, 2008 Otto Gründler Book Prize, The Medieval InstituteNotorious for his cleverness and daring, John Hawkwood was the most feared mercenary in early Renaissance Italy. Born in England, Hawkwood began his career in France during the Hundred Years' War and crossed into Italy with the famed White Company in 1361. From that time until his death in 1394, Hawkwood fought throughout the peninsula as a captain of ar...

The eminent Renaissance historian's classic study of warfare between Italian city-states between the 13th and 16th centuries.Michael Mallett's lucid account of the age of the condottieri—or mercenary captains of fortune—and of the soldiers who fought under them is set in the wider context of the Italian society of the time and of the warring city-states who employed them. Mallett presents a colorful portrait of the mercenaries themselves, as well as their c...

As a pervasive occurrence in the contemporary world, wars and their economic sources are defining social and political processes in a variety of national and transnational contexts. Rebel Economies: Warlords, Insurgents, Humanitarians explores historical, anthropological and political dimensions of war economies by non-state actors across different periods and regions, while presenting their multiple manifestations as a unified, congruent phenomenon. Through a variety of conceptual and dis...

Cultures of Exchange examines the mercantile culture of the Italian peninsula, whose wealth and geographic location made it a focal point of cultural exchange in the Mediterranean. The volume explores the integration of the peninsula into international and global networks, the effect on societal structures and attitudes, and the role in the transfer and reception of knowledge, goods, and peoples.Susanna Barsella, William Caferro, and Germano Maifreda bring together the wor...

Drawing together the latest research in the field, The Routledge History of the Renaissance treats the Renaissance not as a static concept, but as one of ongoing change within an international framework. It takes as its unifying theme the idea of exchange and interchange through the movement of goods, ideas, disease and people, across social, religious, political and physical boundaries.Covering a broad range of temporal periods and geographic regions, the chapters discuss...