The Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood I: Papers from the First and Second Strawberry Hill Conferences(Ideals and Practice of Knighthood)

Latest research on the chivalric ethos of western Europe,10c-15c, from the practical (houses, armour) to the intellectual [conceptof holy war, loyalty, etc.]. The Strawberry Hill conferences on medieval knighthood, from which these volumes spring, aim to bring together historians and literary scholars whose interests focus on medieval chivalry, to bridge the gulf between the two areas of specialisation and explore matters of common interest. Eight papers cover a wide area, both territorially and chronologically,but common themes emerge. One group of essays deals with the embellishments of lordship, both architectural and heraldic, studying residences and also developments in armour. A second group concerns ideals which motivated the aristocracy of western Europe, from the late 10th to the 15th centuries: romances, the Peace movement ofAquitaine, holy war, and loyalty; concentration on rationalism and free will in thewritings of the cultural circle which revolved around Sir John Fastolfis identified as an important element in the development of the EnglishRenaissance. Professor CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL teaches in the Department of History, University of East Anglia; Dr RUTH HARVEY is lecturer in French at Royal Holloway, University of London. Contributors: ADRIAN AILES, JEFFREY ASHCROFT, CHARLES COULSON,JONATHAN HUGHES, JANE MARTINDALE, PETER NOBLE, MATTHEW STRICKLAND,ANN WILLIAMS.

Table of Contents:
Preface: The Strawberry Hill Conferences Introduction The Status of the Squire: the Northern Evidence - Matthew Bennett The Game of Chess: An Aspect of Medieval Knightly Culture - Richard G Eales Anglo-Norman Knightly Burials - Brian Golding The Tournament and Chivalry in German Tournament Books of the Sixteenth Century and in the Literary Works of Emperor Maximilian IMaximilian I - William Henry Jackson Gadifer de La Salle: A Late Medieval Knight Errant - Maurice H Keen Knights and Knighthood in Germany in the Central Middle Ages - Richard Mortimer Knights and Burgesses in the Feudal Epic - Peter S Noble The Ideal Knight as presented in some French Narrative Poems, c. 1090-c. 1240: An Outline Sketch - Sally North The Occitan Squire in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries - The Knight, his Arms and Armour in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries - Ian Peirce *** The Prince Answers Back: 'Les Enseignemens de Théodore Paliologue' - D J A Ross

About the Author :
Christopher Harper-Bill is Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia. Ruth Harvey is Senior Lecturer in French at Royal Holloway University of London

Review :
Since their inception in 1985, the Strawberry Hill conferences have performed an invaluable service in bringing together scholars working on the history and culture of medieval knighthood.