Between 11 (although it was subsequently revised and interpolated), Richard fitz Nigel, Henry II's treasurer, composed his De necessariis observantiis scaccarii dialogus, known in English as the Dialogue of the Exchequer. Wickham offers both a new conception of Europe’s medieval period and a provocative revision of exactly how and why the Middle Ages matter.īut write not, thou, of theoretical, but of practical things. He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, and political circumstances affected individual lives and international events. Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses on important changes century by century, including such pivotal crises and moments as the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne’s reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states, and the appalling devastation of the Black Death. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation. ![]() Placing the policies of Stapeldon's treasurership in their political and parliamentary context, he argues that the Exchequer was Edward's most powerful weapon against the aristocratic opposition and in the process reassesses the accepted interpretation of these years of turmoil.Ī spirited and thought-provoking history of the vast changes that transformed Europe during the 1,000-year span of the Middle Ages The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period-one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. On the basis of his extensive research in the Exchequer archives, Dr Buck reveals for the first time the extent and severity of the government's action on the levying of debts to the Crown, which, although initiated earlier, was exacerbated in the early 1320s when parliament and the clergy were refusing the king supply. This study shows how the Plantagenet revolution in government, the most massive overhaul of the Exchequer ever undertaken in medieval England, was shaped with a clear financial purpose. As Edward's regime crumbled in 1326, he paid the price of his master's rapacious policies, of which he was the chief instrument. Walter Stapeldon, fifteenth bishop of Exeter, was the founder of Exeter College, Oxford, and the greatest of Edward II's treasurers of the Exchequer. Wilkinson is Professor of Medieval History, Canterbury Christ Church University David Crook is Honorary Research Fellow at the National Archives and the University of Notthingham.Ĭontributors: Nick Barratt, Paul Brand, David Carpenter, David Crook, Paul Dryburgh, Beth Hartland, Philippa Hoskin, Charles Insley, Adrian Jobson, Tony Moore, Alice Taylor, Nicholas Vincent, Scott Waugh, Louise Wilkinson ![]() Related or parallel developments in Scotland, Wales and Ireland are also dealt with, giving a broader British dimension. ![]() The volume covers topics including the evidential value of the fine rolls themselves and their wider significance for the English polity, developments in legal and financial administration, the roles of women and the church, and the fascinating details of the development of the office of escheator. The essays here draw on material available for the first time via the completion of the project to calendar all the Fine Rolls of Henry III these rolls comprise the last series of records of the English Chancery from that period to become readily available in a convenient form, thereby transforming access to several important fields of research, including financial, legal, political and social issues. The thirteenth century saw major developments in England's administration, as the procedures and processes of government expanded rapidly, the principles enshrined in Magna Carta became embedded, knights and burgesses were summoned to Parliament for the first time, and nothing short of a political revolution took place.
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