Essays exploring and problematizing the idea of an "exceptional" England within Western Europe during the long thirteenth century.

Essays exploring and problematizing the idea of an "exceptional" England within Western Europe during the long thirteenth century.

The theme of this volume, "Exceptional England", follows on from that of the previous one, "England in Europe". Both respond to two long-term historiographical trends among British medievalists: to place England and Britain in a wider European context, and, conversely, to emphasise the differences between developments in England and those elsewhere, either explicitly or implicitly. The essays here, in tackling aspects of political, religious, cultural and urban history, are often concerned with shifts that transcend the "national" because they are driven by forces operating on a European, or at least a western European, scale. A number bring developments in England into conversation with those in other regions, turning not only to France, a traditional comparator, but also ranging further, using Poland, Italy, Spain and Hungary as points of comparison. Others problematise England's boundaries by considering the fates of people caught between worlds as English continental possessions shrank. If England emerges in these essays as rather less "exceptional", some of the contributions highlight its unusually rich sources, suggesting ways in which these riches might illuminate the history of Europe in the long thirteenth century more generally. Particular subjects addressed include the fortunes of the knightly class, the dynamics of episcopal election, and models of child kingship, along with new studies of Gerald of Wales and Simon de Montfort.

King John and Gerald of WalesRobert Bartlett
Why did the Number of Knights in France and England Fall in the Thirteenth Century?Xavier Hélary
Provinces, Policies, and Popes: Comparing Polish and English Episcopal Elections Over the Long Thirteenth Century Agata Zielinska
Magnate Counsel and Parliament in the Late-Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: English Exceptionalism or a Common Theme? Matthew Raven
Ugolino of the Gherardesca and the 'Enigma' of Simon de MontfortPeter Coss
Breaking the Ties: The Cross-Channel Baronage and the Separation of England and Normandy in 1204Nick Hopkinson
A Typical Periphery: England in Late Twelfth- and Thirteenth-century Cistercian Texts from the ContinentAntoni Grabowski
'A Star Lit by God': Boy Kings, Childish Innocence, and English Exceptionalism during Henry III's Minorityc.1216c.1227Emily Joan Ward
Twilight of the Overkings: Edward I's Superior Lordship of Scotland as ParadoxScott Dempsey
Exceptional Flanders? The First Strikes and Collective Actions of Craftsmen in North-Western Europe around the Middle of the Thirteenth Century Leen Bervoets
Social Hierarchies and Networks in the Thirteenth-Century London JewryDean A. Irwin
Albion Adrift: The English Presence in Paris and its Environs after 1204Nicholas Vincent