Crusading fervour gripped Europe for over 200 years, creating one of the most extraordinary, vivid episodes in world history. Whether the Crusades are regarded as the most romantic of Christian expeditions, or the last of the barbarian invasions, they have fascinated generations ever since, and their legacy of ideas and imagery has resonated through the centuries, inspiring Hollywood movies and great works of literature. Even today, to invoke the Crusades is to stir deep cultural myths, as...

The crusades influenced western European society in the middle ages far beyond the military campaigns themselves. Reactions and involvement did not always follow the assumptions of ideology or supporters, medieval or modern. In this wide ranging collection of articles spanning thirty years, Christopher Tyerman explores the relationships between action and perception, ambition and practice, propaganda and support. One section concentrates on the role the crusade played in the politics and e...

Modern Hertford is one of Oxford's least famous colleges. Its chief claims to attention are its pioneering egalitarian reforms of its admissions system in the 1960s and 70s, its early embrace of co-residence in 1974, and its deliberate transformation from a poor, obscure, dilapidated, ill-favoured, and introspective conservative backwater to an open, outward-looking, financially secure, and academically sound partner in the collegiate university - such rapid transformations being somewhat ...

The story of the First Crusade, as witnessed by contemporary writers'O day so ardently desired! O time of times the most memorable! O deed before all other deeds!'The fall of Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 to an exhausted and starving army of western European soldiers was one of the most extraordinary events of the Middle Ages. It was both the climax of a great wave of visionary Christian fervour and the beginning of what proved to be a fu...

A lively reimagining of how the distant medieval world of war functioned, drawing on the objects used and made by crusadersThroughout the Middle Ages crusading was justified by religious ideology, but the resulting military campaigns were fueled by concrete objectives: land, resources, power, reputation. Crusaders amassed possessions of all sorts, from castles to reliquaries. Campaigns required material funds and equipment, while conquests produced bureaucracies, t...

David Hume, the eighteenth century philosopher, famously declared that ‘the crusades engrossed the attention of Europe and have ever since engaged the curiosity of man kind’. This is the first book length study of how succeeding generations from the First Crusade in 1099 to the present day have understood, refashioned, moulded and manipulated accounts of these medieval wars of religion to suit changing contemporary circumstances and interests. The crusades have attracted some of the leadin...

Crusading fervor gripped Europe for over 200 years, creating one of the most extraordinary, vivid episodes in world history. Whether the Crusades are regarded as the most romantic of Christian expeditions, or the last of the barbarian invasions, they have fascinated generations ever since, and their legacy of ideas and imagery has resonated through the centuries, inspiring Hollywood movies and great works of literature. Even today, to invoke the Crusades is tostir deep cultural myth...

The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all else, an empire of force—employing a mixture of violence, suppression, order, and tactical use of power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture.Here, historian Christopher Kelly covers the history of...

Postmodernism has become the buzzword of contemporary society over the last decade. But how can it be defined? In this highly engaging introduction, the mysteries of this most elusive of concepts are unraveled, casting a critical light upon the way we live now, from the politicizing of museum culture to the cult of the politically correct. The key postmodernist ideas are explored and challenged, as they figure in the theory, philosophy, politics, ethics, and artwork of the period, and it i...

'I was completely hooked and considerably moved by the life and thoughts of this exceptional woman'- JEREMY IRONS'It is as if we have finally found the lost autobiography of one of the medieval world's most important women.'- JANINA RAMIREZ'A beautiful, intensely moving achievement'- A.N. WILSONIn 1347, the first pestilence rages across the land...

'A heart-breaking, inspiring read' ALAN CUMMING'ONE OF THE MOST MOVING ACCOUNTS OF NON-FICTION EVER WRITTEN' GUARDIAN'If you like Shuggie Bain, then Slum Boy is for you' LEMN SISSAYJohn MacDonald is a four-year-old boy growing up in the slums of Glasgow. His mother is an addict who leaves him starving in their flat for days at a time.When a neighbour files a report, John is wrenched away from her and dropped ...

**'The classic book on Black people in Georgian London' DAVID OLUSOGA'Deeply researched, lucidly written and utterly fascinating . . . If you ever thought Black British history started with Windrush, read this book' GREG JENNERGeorgian England had a large and distinctive Black community. There were special churches, Black-only balls, many became famous and respected. But all, whether prosperous citizens or newly freed slaves, lived under t...