The mechanics, politics and culture of petitioning in the middle ages are examined in this innovative collection. In addition to important and wide-ranging examinations of the ancient world and the medieval papacy, it focuses particularly on petitions to the English crown in the later middle ages, drawing on a major collection of documents made newly accessible to research in the National Archives. A series of studies explores the political contexts of petitioning, the broad geographical and social range of petitioners, and the fascinating 'worm's-eye' view of medieval life that are uniquely offered by petitions themselves, and particular attention is given to the performative qualities of petitioning and its place in the culture of royal intercession. With their vivid new insights into judicial conventions and the legal creativity spawned by political crisis, these papers provide a closely integrated assessment of current scholarship and new research on these most fascinating and revealing of medieval social texts.
CONTRIBUTORS: W. MARK ORMROD, GWILYM DODD, SERENA CONNOLLY, BARBARA BOMBI, PATRICK ZUTSHI, PAUL BRAND, GUILHEM PEPIN, ANTHONY MUSSON, SIMON J. HARRIS, SHELAGH A. SNEDDON, DAVID CROOK
Reviews
A fine collection of essays. JOURNAL OF ENGLISH & GERMANIC PHILOLOGY
A valuable book which is indispensable for anyone intending to use Ancient Petitions in their research. NORTHERN HISTORY
Details
First Published: 19 Feb 2009
13 Digit ISBN: 9781903153253
Pages: 266
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: York Medieval Press
BIC Class: HBLC1
Details updated on 05 Oct 2015
Contents
- 1 Introduction: Medieval Petitions in Context
- 2 Parliamentary Petitions? The Origins and Provenance of the 'Ancient Petitions' [SC8] in the National Archives
- 3 Petitioning in the Ancient World
- 4 Petitioning between England and Avignon in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century
- 5 Petitions to the Pope in the Fourteenth Century
- 6 Understanding Early Petitions: An Analysis of the Content of Petitions to Parliament in the Reign of Edward I
- 7 Petitions from Gascony: Testimonies of a Special Relationship
- 8 Murmur, Clamour and Noise: Voicing Complaint and Remedy in Petitions to the English Crown, c.1300-c.1460
- 9 Queenship, Lordship and Petitioning in Late Medieval England
- 10 Taking Your Chances: Petitioning in the Last Years of Edward II and the First Years of Edward III
- 11 Words and Realities: The Language and Dating of Petitions, 1326-7
- 12 A Petition from the Prisoners in Nottingham Gaol, c.1330
- 13 Thomas Paunfield, the 'heye Court of rightwisnesse' and the Language of Petitioning in the Fifteenth Century
