Looking at the world of the medieval gentry through the eyes of three families in East Sussex--the Etchinhams of Etchinham, the Sackvilles of Buckhurst, and the Waleyses of Glynde--Scenes from Provincial Life presents an insightful picture of what day-to-day life was like for a member of a knightly family in the Middle Ages. It draws on charters, estate documents, and even information gleaned from buildings and churches of the day to provide an illuminating account of the central preoccupations of landowners--estate management, military service, provision for relatives, and arrangements for schooling.

Scenes from Provincial Life: Knightly Families in Sussex, 1280-1400

Literature & Fiction

Saul, Nigel

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

This book illuminates the world of medieval gentry families through examination of the magnificent brasses and monuments of the Cobham family. Nigel Saul's compelling study provides a window onto the social and religious culture of the middle ages and offers a new paradigm for the study of medieval church monuments.

Death, Art, and Memory in Medieval England: The Cobham Family and Their Monuments, 1300-1500

Arts & Photography

English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages offers a comprehensive survey of English church monuments from the pre-Conquest period to the early sixteenth century. Ground-breaking in its treatment of the subject in an historical context, it explores medieval monuments both in terms of their social meaning and the role that they played in the religious strategies of the commemorated. Attention is given to the production of monuments, the pattern of their geographical distribution, the evolution of monument types, and the role of design in communicating the monument's message. A major theme is the self-representation of the commemorated as reflected in the main classes of effigy-those of the clergy, the knights and esquires, and the lesser landowner or burgess class, while the effigial monuments of women are examined from the perspective of the construction of gender. While seeking to use monuments as windows onto the experiences and lives of the commemorated, it also exploits documentary sources to show what they can tell us about the influences that helped shape the monuments. An innovative chapter looks at the construction of identity in inscriptions, showing how the liturgical role of the monument limited the opportunities for expressions of self. Nigel Saul seeks to place monuments at the very centre of medieval studies, highlighting their importance not only for the history of sculpture and design, but also for social and religious history more generally.

English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages: History and Representation

History

Europe

English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages offers a comprehensive survey of English church monuments from the pre-Conquest period to the early sixteenth century. Ground-breaking in its treatment of the subject in an historical context, it explores medieval monuments both in terms of their social meaning and the role that they played in the religious strategies of the commemorated. Attention is given to the production of monuments, the pattern of their geographical distribution, the evolution of monument types, and the role of design in communicating the monument's message. A major theme is the self-representation of the commemorated as reflected in the main classes of effigy-those of the clergy, the knights and esquires, and the lesser landowner or burgess class, while the effigial monuments of women are examined from the perspective of the construction of gender. While seeking to use monuments as windows onto the experiences and lives of the commemorated, it also exploits documentary sources to show what they can tell us about the influences that helped shape the monuments. An innovative chapter looks at the construction of identity in inscriptions, showing how the liturgical role of the monument limited the opportunities for expressions of self. Nigel Saul seeks to place monuments at the very centre of medieval studies, highlighting their importance not only for the history of sculpture and design, but also for social and religious history more generally.

Richard II is one of the most enigmatic of English kings. Shakespeare depicted him as a tragic figure, an irresponsible, cruel monarch who nevertheless rose in stature as the substance of power slipped from him. By later writers he has been variously portrayed as a half-crazed autocrat or a conventional ruler whose principal errors were the mismanagement of his nobility and disregard for the political conventions of his age. This book―the first full-length biography of Richard in more than fifty years―offers a radical reinterpretation of the king. Nigel Saul paints a picture of Richard as a highly assertive and determined ruler, one whose key aim was to exalt and dignify the crown. In Richard's view, the crown was threatened by the factiousness of the nobility and the assertiveness of the common people. The king met these challenges by exacting obedience, encouraging lofty new forms of address, and constructing an elaborate system of rule by bonds and oaths. Saul traces the sources of Richard's political ideas and finds that he was influenced by a deeply felt orthodox piety and by the ideas of the civil lawyers. He shows that, although Richard's kingship resembled that of other rulers of the period, unlike theirs, his reign ended in failure because of tactical errors and contradictions in his policies. For all that he promoted the image of a distant, all-powerful monarch, Richard II's rule was in practice characterized by faction and feud. The king was obsessed by the search for personal security: in his subjects, however, he bred only insecurity and fear. A revealing portrait of a complex and fascinating figure, the book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the politics and culture of the English middle ages.

Richard II (The English Monarchs Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Yale University Press

Popular views of medieval chivalry—knights in shining armor, fair ladies, banners fluttering from battlements—were inherited from the nineteenth-century Romantics. This is the first book to explore chivalry’s place within a wider history of medieval England, from the Norman Conquest to the aftermath of Henry VII’s triumph at Bosworth in the Wars of the Roses.
 Saul invites us to view the world of castles and cathedrals, tournaments and round tables, with fresh eyes. Chivalry in Medieval England charts the introduction of chivalry by the Normans, the rise of the knightly class as a social elite, the fusion of chivalry with kingship in the fourteenth century, and the influence of chivalry on literature, religion, and architecture. Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades, the Black Death and the Battle of Crecy, the Magna Carta and the cult of King Arthur—all emerge from the mists of time and legend in this vivid, authoritative account.

Chivalry in Medieval England

Harvard University Press

This illustrated history of the development of British society looks particularly at the properties of the National Trust and the National Trust for Scotland. These include Avebury in Wiltshire, Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire and Kellie Castle in Fife. The text includes cameo pieces on life at Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire, monasticism at Mount Grace Priory and the medieval diet, while maps help convey historical and archaeological information with clarity.

The National Trust Historical Atlas of Britain: Prehistoric and Medieval

Sutton Pub Ltd

From Advowson and Agincourt to mason Henry Yevele and York, this A to Z provides the general reader with a wealth of information about the English Middle Ages in an accessible and expert manner. Originally published over twenty years ago, this edition represents a complete re-working, with most entries re-written and expanded and new ones added. Illustrations have also now been included. The cross-referenced and scholarly entries cover almost every conceivable aspect of medieval England, from conspirators and churchmen, battles and wars, to laws and authors, myths and kings, and buildings, towns and works of art. Appendices list kings and archbishops.

A Companion to Medieval England 1066-1485

Tempus Publishing Ltd.

Nigel Saul€™s A-Z of life in the Middle Ages is essential reading for anyone interested in the turbulent years between the arrival of William the Conqueror and the accession of Henry Tudor in 1485. Here in one volume is a mine of information on all the major aspects of medieval society and culture, giving a comprehensive picture of a world at once alien and familiar, whose way of life has long vanished, but whose visible remains survive all around us. Nigel Saul provides a wealth of examples to show how the great institutions of the age—the Church, the Crown, and the law—affected the lives of the English at all levels. Further entries catalogue the cultural legacy of the period, from castles and cathedrals to manuscripts, brasses, and stained glass.

A Companion To Medieval England 1066-1485

Tempus

Wide-ranging, vivid and authoritative, this is the first book to treat chivalry as part of the wider history of medieval England. The world of medieval chivalry is at once glamorous and violent, alluring yet alien. Our popular views of the period are largely inherited from the nineteenth-century romantics, for whom chivalry evoked images of knights in shining armour, competing for the attention of fair ladies -- with pennons and streamers fluttering from castle battlements. But what is the reality? Were the rituals and romance of chivalry designed to provide an escape from the brutal facts of almost continuous warfare? Or did they instead help regulate the conduct of war and moderate its violent excesses? Nigel Saul charts the introduction of chivalry by the Normans, the rise of the knightly class as a social elite, the fusion of chivalry with kingship in the fourteenth century and the influence of chivalry on literature, religion and architecture. He shows us a world of kings and barons, castles and cathedrals -- a world shaped by Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades, by Magna Carta and the rule of law, by battles like Bannockburn and Crecy, by the Black Death and by tournaments, round tables and the cult of Arthurianism.

For Honour and Fame: Chivalry in England, 1066-1500

Pimlico

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Saul, Nigel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Saul, Nigel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Saul, Nigel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Scenes from Provincial Life: Knightly Families in Sussex, 1280-1400

Death, Art, and Memory in Medieval England: The Cobham Family and Their Monuments, 1300-1500

English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages: History and Representation

English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages: History and Representation

Richard II (The English Monarchs Series)

Chivalry in Medieval England

The National Trust Historical Atlas of Britain: Prehistoric and Medieval

A Companion to Medieval England 1066-1485

A Companion To Medieval England 1066-1485

For Honour and Fame: Chivalry in England, 1066-1500