The Crisis of the Twelfth Century

The Crisis of the Twelfth Century
Author: Thomas N. Bisson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 710
Release: 2015-09-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691169764

Medieval civilization came of age in thunderous events like the Norman Conquest and the First Crusade. Power fell into the hands of men who imposed coercive new lordships in quest of nobility. Rethinking a familiar history, Thomas Bisson explores the circumstances that impelled knights, emperors, nobles, and churchmen to infuse lordship with social purpose. Bisson traces the origins of European government to a crisis of lordship and its resolution. King John of England was only the latest and most conspicuous in a gallery of bad lords who dominated the populace instead of ruling it. Yet, it was not so much the oppressed people as their tormentors who were in crisis. The Crisis of the Twelfth Century suggests what these violent people—and the outcries they provoked—contributed to the making of governments in kingdoms, principalities, and towns.

The Crisis of the Twelfth Century

The Crisis of the Twelfth Century
Author: Thomas N. Bisson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 726
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780691137087

"Medieval civilization came of age in thunderous events like the Norman Conquest and the First Crusade. Power fell into the hands of men around castles who imposed coercive new lordships in quest of nobility, heedless of the old public order. In The Crisis of the Twelfth Century, acclaimed historian Thomas Bisson asks what it was like to live in a Europe without government, and he asks how people experienced power, and suffered. Rethinking a familiar history as a problem of origins, he explores the circumstances that impelled knights, emperors, nobles, and churchmen to infuse lordship with social purpose." --Book Jacket.

European Transformations

European Transformations
Author: Thomas F. X. Noble
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780268036102

Medievalists explore geographical regions and themes to expose the best current thinking about what was and what was not distinctive about the twelfth century.

Cultures of Power

Cultures of Power
Author: Thomas N. Bisson
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2013-04-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812200764

The authors of Cultures of Power proffer diverse perspectives on the prehistory of government in Northern France, Spain, Germany, the Low Countries, and England. Political, social, ecclesiastical, and cultural history are brought to bear on topics such as aristocracies, women, rituals, commemoration, and manifestations of power through literary, legal, and scriptural means.

Tormented Voices

Tormented Voices
Author: Thomas N. Bisson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674895287

Peasants of remote history rarely speak to us in their own voices, but Thomas Bisson's engagement with the records of several hundred twelfth-century rural Catalonians enables us to hear these voices. Bisson describes these peasants socially and culturally, showing how their experience figured in a wider crisis of power during the twelfth century.

The Twelfth-Century Renaissance

The Twelfth-Century Renaissance
Author: R.N. Swanson
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 1999-09-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780719042560

This volume surveys the wide range of cultural and intellectual changes in western Europe in the period 1050-1250. The Twelfth-Century Renaissance first establishes the broader context for the changes and introduces the debate on the validity of the term "Renaissance" as a label for the period. Summarizing current scholarship, without imposing a particular interpretation of the issues, the book provides an accessible introduction to a vibrant and vital period in Europe’s cultural and intellectual history.

Europe's Long Twelfth Century

Europe's Long Twelfth Century
Author: John Cotts
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2012-11-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137296089

Between 1095 and 1229, Western Europe confronted a series of alternative cultural possibilities that would fundamentally transform its social structures, its intellectual life, and its very identity. It was a period of difficult decisions and anxiety rather than a triumphant 'renaissance'. In this fresh reassessment of the twelfth century, John D. Cotts: - Shows how new social, economic and religious options challenged Europeans to re-imagine their place in the world - Provides an overview of political life and detailed examples of the original thought and religious enthusiasm of the time - Presents the Crusades as the century's defining movement. Ideal for students and scholars alike, this is an essential overview of a pivotal era in medieval history that arguably paved the way for a united Europe.