Heart's flower

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Nick Aitchison

"Macbeth: Man and Myth is the first book to study Macbeth in all his manifestations: historical, mythological and dramatic. Bringing together much widely scattered material, it begins by placing Macbeth in the context of the turbulent politics of eleventh-century Scotland, before examining the evidence for the historical Macbeth and his reign. The book then traces the origins and development of the myths surrounding the king through a range of medieval source material to the culmination of this process in Shakespeare's Macbeth, as well as later adaptations and interpretations of the play. The author skilfully disentangles the real from the mythical Macbeth and puts into focus a blurring of fact and fiction that is as old as Macbeth himself. The concluding chapter goes in search of Macbeth, travelling from the 'blasted heath', where Shakespeare's Macbeth met the witches, to Dunsinane where he met his death at the hands of Macduff. The archaeology, architecture, topography and folklore of Macbeth's Scotland are here brought together for the first time. Book jacket."--Jacket.

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K.L. Maund

The reign of the North Welsh king Gruffudd ap Cynan (1075-1135) marked the culmination of a century of rapid social and political change. A product of three cultures (Welsh, Irish and Scandinavian), Gruffudd faced a Wales divided by Norman incursion and dynastic rivalry, and demonstrated a unique adaptability. His re-creation of his North Welsh kingdom saw him acting on the wider (and often deadly) stage of Anglo-Norman politics, and surviving where more 'traditional' Welsh rulers failed. His reign encouraged a new growth in Welsh literature and creativity, and is often looked upon as a literary 'golden age'. This collaborative biography analyses key aspects of the career and context of this remarkable king.

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Margaret Hodges

A biography of the 15th century knight who collected stories about King Arthur and his knights and rewrote them into a work that was to influence poets and writers throughout the ages.

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Steven A. Epstein

"Jacopo da Varagine (c. 1228–1298) is remembered today primarily for his immensely popular work, The Golden Legend, a massive collection of stories about the saints. Compiled over the years 1260–67, The Golden Legend quickly eclipsed earlier collections of saints' lives. One indication of its popularity is the fact that so many manuscript copies of the work have survived―more than one thousand according to some estimates. Despite the enduring influence of The Golden Legend, Jacopo remains an elusive figure because he left behind so little information about himself. In The Talents of Jacopo da Varagine, Steven A. Epstein sets out to remedy this situation through a careful study of all Jacopo's works, including many hundreds of sermons and his innovative chronicle of Genoese history. In Epstein's sure hands, Jacopo emerges as one of the most active and talented minds of his day. Indeed, Epstein argues that one needs to read all of Jacopo’s books, in a Genoese context, in order to understand the original scope of his thinking, which greatly influenced the ways generations of people across Europe experienced their Christianity. The rich sources for Jacopo’s sermons, saints’ lives, and history illuminate the traditions that inspired him and shaped his imaginative and artistic powers. Jacopo was also one of the inventors of social history, and his writings reveal complex and new perspectives on family life as well as the histories of gay people, slaves, Jews, and the medieval economy. Filled with impressive insights into the intellectual life of the thirteenth century, The Talents of Jacopo da Varaginewill be of interest to a wide range of medieval scholars and students of religious history, church history, and hagiography as well as intellectual history and Italian history." --Amazon.com.