Concepts of power and authority and the relationship between
them were fundamental to many aspects of medieval society. The
essays in this collection present a series of case studies that
range widely, both chronologically and geographically, from Lombard
Italy to early-modern Iberia and from Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and
later-medieval England to twelfth-century France and the lands
beyond the Elbe in the conversion period. While some papers deal
with traditional royal, princely and ecclesiastical authority, they
do so in new ways. Others examine groups and aspects less obviously
connected to power and authority, such as the networks of influence
centring on royal women or powerful ecclesiastics, the power
relationships revealed in Anglo-Saxon and Old-Norse literature or
the influence that might be exercised by needy crusaders, by Jews
with the ability to advance loans or by parish priests on the basis
of their local connections. An important section discusses the
power of the written word, whether papal bulls, collections of
miracle stories, or the documents produced in lawsuits. The papers
in this volume demonstrate the variety and multiplicity of both
power and authority and the many ways by which individuals
exercised influence and exerted a claim to be heard and
respected.
Introduction
Creating an Image for a New Kingship: Charles I of Anjou, King of the Regno - Jean Dunbabin
Image-making for the Conquerors of England: Cnut and William I - Chris Dennis
Dress and Authority in the Bayeux Tapestry - Gale R. Owen-Crocker
Ostentation, Power, and Family Competition in Late-Medieval Rome: The Earliest Chapels at S. Maria in Aracoeli - Claudia Bolgia
‘Treasures of the Temple’ and Claims to Authority in Twelfth-Century Rome - Marie Thérèse Champagne
Authority and Maternity in Late-Medieval Castile: Four Queens Regnant - Bethany Aram
The Queen Consort in Late-Medieval Portugal - Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues
‘A Woman of Subtlety and a Man’s Resolution’: Matilda of Boulogne in the Power Struggles of the Anarchy - Patricia Dark
The Power of Personal Networks: Clerics as Political Actors in the Conflict between Capetian France and the County of Flanders during the Last Decade of the Twelfth Century - Walter Ysebaert
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’: Knowledge as Power among Parochial Clergy in Later Medieval England - Jeremy Goldberg
The Power of the Purse: Usury, Jews, and Crusaders, 1198–1245 - Rebecca Rist
Concepts of Power in Anglo-Scandinavian Verse - Jayne Carroll
Power, Poetry, and Violence: The Battle of Maldon - Alice Jorgensen
The Power of Documents: The Curious Case of Laudabiliter - Anne J. Duggan
The Authority of Documents in Early-Medieval Italian Pleas - Swen Holger Brunsch
Authorizing the Supernatural: An Examination of Some English Miracles around 1318 - R. C. Finucane
The Authority of Miracles: Caesarius of Heisterbach and the Livonian Crusade - Barbara Bombi
Saintly Power as a Model of Royal Authority: The ‘Royal Touch’ and Other Miracles in the Early Vitae of Edward the Confessor - Joanna Huntington
"This volume is a welcome contribution to a well-established historiographical trend which is questioning this portrayal."
(Pauline Stafford, in Journal of English and Germanic Philology 110/2, April 2011, p. 231)