• Introduction ; 1. Political Patterns: The Struggle for the Succession, 1075-1225; The Cross-Channel Realm; Court Politics; Predatory and Punitive Rule; Rebellion ; 2. England and Beyond: England and the British Isles; England and the Wider World ; 3. Lordship and Government: Kingship and Lordship; Regality; The Household and Household Administration; Itineration; Assemblies; Territorial Administration; Royal Finances; Courts and Judgements; Records and Record-Keeping ; 4. The Aristocracy: The Structure of the Aristocracy; The Aristocratic Estate; The Life of the Aristocracy ; 5. Warfare: Waging War; Recruitment; Castles ; 6. The Rural Foundations: The Physical Framework; Population; Settlement Patterns; Land Use and Agricultural Techniques; The Manorial Economy; Rural Social Structure ; 7. Towns and Trade: Urbanization; Town Law; Urban Self-Government; London; Urban Unrest; The Jews; Trade, the Framework; Commodities; Coinage and Monetization ; 8. The Institutional Church: The Hierarchy; Kingly Power and Priestly Power; The Religious ; 9. Religious Life: Concepts of the Holy; Devotion; Saints and their Cults; Overseas Pilgrimage; Dissent ; 10. Cultural Patterns: Languages and Literature; Education and Higher Learning; The Visual Arts; Performance; The Value of the Arts ; 11. The Course of Life: Childhood; Naming Patterns; Love, Sex, and Marriage; Manners; Medicine and Healing; Death and the Dead ; 12. Cosmologies: Time; The World; The Chain of Being; Beings Neither Angelic, Human, nor Animal ; Chronology of Political Events ; Bibliography ; Index ; Introduction ; 1. Political Patterns: The Struggle for the Succession, 1075-1225; The Cross-Channel Realm; Court Politics; Predatory and Punitive Rule; Rebellion ; 2. England and Beyond: England and the British Isles; England and the Wider World ; 3. Lordship and Government: Kingship and Lordship; Regality; The Household and Household Administration; Itineration; Assemblies; Territorial Administration; Royal Finances; Courts and Judgements; Records and Record-Keeping ; 4. The Aristocracy: The Structure of the Aristocracy; The Aristocratic Estate; The Life of the Aristocracy ; 5. Warfare: Waging War; Recruitment; Castles ; 6. The Rural Foundations: The Physical Framework; Population; Settlement Patterns; Land Use and Agricultural Techniques; The Manorial Economy; Rural Social Structure ; 7. Towns and Trade: Urbanization; Town Law; Urban Self-Government; London; Urban Unrest; The Jews; Trade, the Framework; Commodities; Coinage and Monetization ; 8. The Institutional Church: The Hierarchy; Kingly Power and Priestly Power; The Religious ; 9. Religious Life: Concepts of the Holy; Devotion; Saints and their Cults; Overseas Pilgrimage; Dissent ; 10. Cultural Patterns: Languages and Literature; Education and Higher Learning; The Visual Arts; Performance; The Value of the Arts ; 11. The Course of Life: Childhood; Naming Patterns; Love, Sex, and Marriage; Manners; Medicine and Healing; Death and the Dead ; 12. Cosmologies: Time; The World; The Chain of Being; Beings Neither Angelic, Human, nor Animal ; Chronology of Political Events ; Bibliography ; Index

Splendid...this is a fine book which transports the reader into a different, strange world...It deserves a wide readership and should stimulate renewed interest in this important period of English history