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ISSN 1749-8155

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Review Date: 
1 Dec 2011

The challenge in writing a comparative review of Kate Lowe’s fine study of early modern Italian convents Nuns’ Chronicles and Convent Culture with Sarah Dunant’s gripping novel Sacred Hearts is to find ways of making sense of the experience of reading both beyond stating the obvious.

Review Date: 
1 Nov 2011

This is a book which could very easily slip under the radar of most historians. Even had they noticed the title, and had their curiosity piqued by the sub-title, after checking the academic discipline of the author (Julian Rivers is Professor of Jurisprudence at Bristol University) many might well have decided that this book was probably of no professional interest to them.

Review Date: 
1 Oct 2011

The English Parish Church through the Centuries is an interesting example of how digital media can be used to improve and enhance our understanding of the past.

Review Date: 
1 Oct 2011

Marie-Hélène Rousseau has written this book on the perpetual chantries of the old St. Paul’s Cathedral based on the rich archive in the Guildhall Library, London, in conjunction with other sources. The author has provided a concise and clear introduction to the subject of chantries alongside a very detailed and comprehensive account of this feature of the life of the cathedral.

Review Date: 
1 Aug 2011

‘I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: And showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments’ (Ex. 20:5–6). Medieval crusaders, argues Susanna A.

Review Date: 
1 May 2011

Ever since R. I. Moore published his The Formation of a Persecuting Society in 1987, we have increasingly come to understand medieval society in terms of its treatment of its ‘others’: Jews, lepers, heretics and so forth.(1) New bureaucratic structures starting in the 11th century established themselves by persecuting these minorities.

Review Date: 
1 May 2011

There was a time, not so long ago, when the history of the Jewish communities of 12th- and 13th-century England was a neglected subject in English historical studies. No longer.

Review Date: 
1 Apr 2011

Hamilton’s book is an important contribution to our understanding of church reform in the 11th century.

Review Date: 
1 Apr 2011

The late Middle Ages are a challenging period to survey and synthesise. Any attempt to summarise their complexity, chaos, and dynamism within a restricted publisher’s word limit and at the same time provide an effective textbook for undergraduates is fraught with issues of coverage, comprehensiveness, and accessibility.

Review Date: 
1 Nov 2010

Interest in the late-medieval community of Bridgettine sisters at Syon Abbey, Middlesex, has developed fast over the last 25 years, arguably as a result of Roger Ellis’ Viderunt eam filie syon.(1) In the volume under review, Vincent Gillespie rightly describes Ellis’ writings on Syon as ‘masterly discussions’ (p. 106, fn.

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