The ordines coronationis are essentially the scripts for the coronation of Frankish and French sovereigns. Combining detailed religious, ceremonial, and political material, they are an extraordinarily important source for the study of individual rulers or dynasties, as well as for the study of kingship, queenship, and the evolution of political institutions. Complete in two volumes, Richard A. Jackson's is the first full edition of these texts, including all the ordines from the early thirteenth century through the end of the fifteenth century, a period during which the texts shift from Latin to the vernacular, and the institutions of kingship become distinctively French.

Fascination with royal pomp and circumstance is as old as kingship itself. The authors of Coronations examine royal ceremonies from the ninth to the sixteenth century, and find the very essence of the monarchical state in its public presentation of itself. This book is an enlightened response to the revived interest in political history, written from a perspective that cultural historians will also enjoy. The symbolic and ritual acts that served to represent and legitimate monarchical power in medieval and early modern Europe include not only royal and papal coronations but also festive entries, inaugural feasts, and rulers' funerals. Fifteen leading scholars from North America, Britain, France, Germany, Poland, and Denmark explore the forms and the underlying meanings of such events, as well as problems of relevant scholarship on these subjects. All the contributions demonstrate the importance of in-depth study of rulership for the understanding of premodern power structures. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary approaches, drawing on the findings of ethnography and anthropology, combined with rigorous critical evaluation of the written and iconic evidence. The editor's historiographical introduction surveys the past and present of this field of study and proposes some new lines of inquiry. "For 'reality' is not a one-dimensional matter: even if we can establish what actually transpired, we still need to ask how it was perceived by those present." This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

Range presents an in-depth study of the music within the ceremonial at British coronations from 1603 to the present.

Reviewing the first volume in this series, Christopher Allmand, writing in English Historical Review, said: `Once again, a volume of papers published by the Boydell Press has made a useful interdisciplinary contribution to an important and difficult subject. Historians may read this book with profit.' But not only historians, for the contributions to these volumes are wide-ranging, and cover all aspects of culture in the middle ages, with a strong emphasis on continental literature. The papers in this new volume are: Malcolm BarberCatharism and the Occitan NobilityJim BradburyGeoffrey V of Anjou, Count and KnightJeremy CattoSir William Beauchamp: Between Chivalry and LollardyRichard EalesNorman Castles in EnglandDafydd EvansThe Nobility of Knight and FalconW.H. JacksonKnighthood and the Hohenstaufen Imperial Court under Frederick BarbarossaEmma MasonThe Hero's Invincible Weapon: An Aspect of Angevin PropagandaIan PeirceThe Development of the Medieval SwordZ.P. ZaddyThe Courtly Ethic in Chrétien de TroyesCHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL and RUTH HARVEY studied under the late R. Allen Brown, and Christopher Harper-Bill was the principal editor of Studies in Medieval History: Essays Presented to R. Allen Brown published by Boydell & Brewer in 1989. He currently lectures in history at St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill.

This volume discusses the long reign of Henry III (1216-1272). It examines subjects such as the whole nature of Henry III"s personal rule, the immediate causes of the revolution of 1258, the rise of Simon de Montfort, and the explosive development of Engli