Joan of Arc and Richard III loom large in the histories of their countries, but the myths surrounding them have always obscured just who they were and what they hoped to accomplish. In this book, medieval historian Charles Wood brings these fascinating figures to life through an original combination of traditional biography and wide-ranging discussion of the political and social world in which they lived. Wood draws on a range of unusual sources--from art and legal codes to chronicles and lives of saints--to present a new picture of medieval people and their concerns. Focusing on topics often neglected by other historians, he includes lively discussions of royal adultery scandals, child-kings and the problems they posed, and earlier people and crises that helped to shape the culture of sex and sainthood that was profoundly that of the Middle Ages. In so doing, he clarifies the historical contributions of Richard and Joan, and sheds new light on the political, social, and religious forces that shaped medieval government and made France and England such widely different countries.
Author(s): Charles T. Wood
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 1991
Language: English
Pages: 282
019506951X......Page 1
Contents......Page 12
I: THE DYNASTIC CONTRAST......Page 14
1. Queens, Queans, and Kingship......Page 25
2. The Child Who Would Be King......Page 42
II: KINGS AND THEIR KINGSHIP......Page 58
3. St. Louis and the Mise of Amiens......Page 64
4. Edward I and the Confirmation of the Charters......Page 76
5. Richard II and the Wilton Diptych......Page 88
III: THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENT......Page 104
6. Celestine V, Boniface VIII and the Authority of Parliament......Page 113
IV: JOAN OF ARC AND RICHARD III......Page 130
7. Joan of Arc......Page 138
8. The Deposition of Edward V......Page 165
9. Richard III......Page 188
Notes......Page 222
Bibliography......Page 264
B......Page 276
E......Page 277
I......Page 278
M......Page 279
R......Page 280
T......Page 281
Y......Page 282
