You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Vicious battles, powerful monarchs, and royal intrigue abound in this “gripping, complex, and sensational” (Hilary Mantel) true story of the War of the Roses—a struggle among three brothers, two of whom became kings, and the inspiration for Shakespeare’s renowned play, Richard III. In 15th-century England, two royal families, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, fought a bitter, decades-long civil war for the English throne. As their symbols were a red rose for Lancaster and a white rose for York, the conflict became known as the Wars of the Roses. During this time, the house of York came to dominate England. At its heart were three charismatic brothers—King Edward IV, and...
Medicine and astronomy are the oldest of all the sciences. They appear at first glance to be the original odd couple. Their union gave birth to a progeny that populated the Western world for more than two millennia. From an historical perspective, their marriage and mutual influence is undeniable. Cosmology and cosmogony, as natural philosophical aspects of astronomy, have gone hand in hand with the science of medicine from time immemorial. Indeed, medicine and the pseudoscience of astrology were for centuries inseparable.The ancients began the embryonic search for answers to questions that had puzzled humans for eons. No systematic approach to the nature of the universe was undertaken until...
English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century is a new and original study of how politics worked in late medieval England, throwing new light on a much-discussed period in English history. Michael Hicks explores the standards, values and principles that motivated contemporary politicians, and the aspirations and interests of both dukes and peasants alike. Hicks argues that the Wars of the Roses did not result from fundamental weaknesses in the political system but from the collision of exceptional circumstances that quickly passed away. Overall, he shows that the era was one of stability and harmony, and that there were effective mechanisms for keeping the peace. Structure and continuities, Hicks argues, were more prominent than change.
Besides her natural beauty, the scenery and the climate, and her abundant wildlife and natural resources, Africa is probably best known as the homeland of hundreds of millions of people who live in abject poverty. Millions are wracked by disease and blinded by ignorance. And just as many go hungry every day. But there is something else which also distinguishes Africa: lack of unity among her people. That is one of the main reasons why they were conquered by foreigners, and why Africa is still weak and poor today. There is no other continent which is endowed with so much in terms of natural resources. But there is also no other continent where it has been so easy for foreigners to take what does not belong to them. This book began as a self-examination of the African personality in an attempt to understand Africa's place in the world, especially in relation to the West.
This major work is the most radical reinterpretation of the subject for fifty years. Hicks argues that Bastard Feudalism was far more complex - and positive in its effects - than previous accounts have suggested. A major contribution to historical debate which revolutionises our view of late medieval society.
This book is first in its field to analyze how disability and gender both thematically and formally operate within late medieval popular literature. Reading romance, conduct manuals, and spiritual autobiography, it proposes a 'gendered model' for exploring the processes by which differences like gender and disability get coded as deviant.
A consideration of the allegory of Christ the Divine Physician in medical and religious writings. Discourses of physical and spiritual health were intricately entwined in the Middle Ages, shaping intellectual concepts as well as actual treatment. The allegory of Christ as Divine Physician is an example of this intersection: it appears frequently in both medical and religious writings as a powerful figure of healing and salvation, and was invoked by dissidents and reformists in religious controversies. Drawing on previously unexplored manuscript material, this book examines the use of the Christus Medicus tradition during a period of religious turbulence. Via an interdisciplinary analysis of ...
Popular belief holds that throwing the contents of a chamber pot into the street was a common occurrence during the early modern period. This book challenges this deeply entrenched stereotypical image as the majority of urban inhabitants and their local governors alike valued clean outdoor public spaces, vesting interest in keeping the areas in which they lived and worked clean. Taking an extensive tour of over thirty towns and cities across early modern Britain, focusing on Edinburgh and York as in-depth case studies, this book sheds light on the complex relationship between how governors organised street cleaning, managed waste disposal and regulated the cleanliness of the outdoor environm...