Leonie Hicks

Journeying along medieval routes in Europe and the Middle East

A multi-disciplinary collection of important and innovative new research that enhances our understanding of the experience, conditions, conceptualisation, and impact of human movement in Western Europe and the Middle East between Late Antiquity and the thirteenth century. Focusing on routes and journeys throughout medieval Europe and the Middle East in the period between Late Antiquity and the thirteenth century, this multi-disciplinary book draws on travel narratives, chronicles, maps, charters, geographies, and material remains in order to shed new light on the experience of travelling in the Middle Ages. The contributions gathered here explore the experiences of travellers moving between Latin Europe and the Holy Land, between southern Italy and Sicily, and across Germany and England, from a range of disciplinary perspectives. In doing so, they offer unique insights into the experience, conditions, conceptualization, and impact of human movement in medieval Europe. Many essays place a strong emphasis on the methodological problems associated with the study of travel and its traces, and the collection is enhanced by the juxtaposition of scholarly work taking different approaches to this challenge. The papers included here engage in cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogue and are supported by a discursive, contextualizing introduction by the editors.

Society and culture in medieval Rouen, 911-1300

This book presents exciting new research on the society and culture of medieval Rouen by British and Continental historians. Divided into three sections, addressing space and representation, religious culture, and social networks, the volume is both wide-ranging and tightly focused. The key themes include Rouen’s relationship with its environs, image and identity, social and political relationships, and Rouen’s status as the ‘capital’ of Normandy. The essays discuss topics ranging from urban development and charity, the citys aristocratic and ecclesiastical elites, to the Jewish community, and the relationship of the Angevin kings with Rouen. Comparisons and contextualization, as well as detailed maps, make the book valuable to not only readers interested in Rouen and Normandy, but also those who wish to learn more about medieval cities, culture, and society.