Essays on the connections between politics and society in the middle ages, showing their interdependence. Christine Carpenter's influential work on late-medieval English society aspires to encompass a wide spectrum of human experience. Her vision of "total" history embeds the study of politics in a multi-dimensional social frameworkwhich ranges from mentalities and ideology to economy and geography. This collection of essays celebrates Professor Carpenter's achievement by drawing attention to the social underpinning of political culture; the articles reflectthe range of her interests, chronologically from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth, and thematically from ideology and culture, through government and its officials, the nobility, gentry and yeomanry, the law and the church, to local society. The connection between centre and locality pervades the volume, as does the interplay of the ideological and cultural with the practical and material. The essays highlight both how ideas were moulded in political debate and action, and how their roots sprang from social pressures and interests. It also emphasises the wider cultural aspects of topics too-easily conceived as local and material. BENJAMIN THOMPSON is Fellow and Tutor in History at Somerville College, Oxford; JOHN WATTS is Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Contributors: Jackson Armstrong, Caroline Burt, Tony Moore, Richard Partington, Ted Powell, Andrea Ruddick, Andrew Spencer, Benjamin Thompson, John Watts, Theron Westervelt, Jenny Wormald.

About the Author
Andrew M. Spencer is an Affiliated Lecturer in Medieval History at Cambridge University and Fellow and Senior Tutor of Gonville and Caius College. He is a historian of politics and the constitution of England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and has written extensively on the constitutional, political, military and social role of the nobility in particular.

Reviews
One can only be impressed by the level of research underpinning all of these essays, which makes this a fitting tribute to Professor Carpenter. * PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY *
A nicely balanced and focused examination of the influence of Carpenter's work on her students and colleagues over the last thirty years ... A very fine testament to the energies and intellectual rigor of the esteemed Christine Carpenter. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
A stimulating volume that pays tribute to Carpenter's career as author and teacher. * THE RICARDIAN *
Although readers will naturally find some papers here that speak to their interests more strongly than others, there are intriguing resonances to be heard across the collection. * CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW *



Book Information
ISBN 9781783270309
Author Benjamin Thompson
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g