Cultures of power: lordship, status, and process in twelfth-century Europe

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.

Front matter --; Contents --; Preface --; Abbreviations --; Introduction --; I. Nobles and Knights in Twelfth-Century France --; 2. Instruments of Power: The Profile and Profession of Ministeriales Within German Aristocratic Society, 1050-1225 --; 3. Castles, Barons, and Vavassors in the Vendomois and Neighboring Regions in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries --; 4. Women and Power --; 5. Proposing the Ordeal and Avoiding It: Strategy and Power in Western French Litigation, 1050-1110 --; 6. England, France, and the Problem of Sacrality in Twelfth -Century Ritual --; 7. Law and Power in Twelfth-Century Flanders --; 8. Papal Judges Delegate and the Making of the "New Law" in the Twelfth Century --; 9. Sacred Sanctions for Lordship --; 10. León: The Iconography of the Capital --; 11. Jongleur as Propagandist: The Ecclesiastical Politics of Marcabru's Poetry --; 12. Courtliness and Social Change --; 13. Principes gentium dominantur eorum: Princely Power Between Legitimacy and Illegitimacy in Twelfth-Century Exegesis --; Conclusion --; Contributors --; Index --; Backmatter