In studies ranging from Norman Sicily to Scandinavia, six focus on aspects of Scottish history. Papers discuss authenticity and forgery, royal and aristocratic values, the history of William the Conqueror and the Marshal earls. Contemporary historians' perceptions of the Jews and Byzantium complete the roll call.

Textus Roffensis, a Rochester Cathedral book of the early twelfth century, holds some of the most significant texts issued in early medieval England, ranging from the oldest English-language law code of King Aethelberht of Kent (c. 600) to a copy of Henry I's Coronation Charter (5 August 1100). Textus Roffensis also holds abundant charters (including some forgeries), narratives concerning disputed property, and one of the earliest library catalogues compiled in medieval England. While it is a familiar and important manuscript to scholars, however, up to now it has never been the object of a monograph or collection of wide-ranging studies. The seventeen contributors to this book have subjected Textus Roffensis to close scrutiny and offer new conclusions on the process of its creation, its purposes and uses, and the interpretation of its laws and property records, as well as exploring significant events in which Rochester played a role and some of the more important people associated with the See. The work of the contributors takes readers into the mind of the scribes and compiler (or patron) behind the Textus Roffensis, as well as into the origins and meaning of the texts that the monks of early twelfth-century Rochester chose to preserve. The essays contained here not only set the study of the manuscript on a firm foundation, but also point to new directions for future work.

The study also takes into account the extensive body of literature that has developed since Hope's study, on the Anglo-Saxon, Romanesque, and Gothic periods in Britain."--BOOK JACKET.

When William I and his army arrived in Canterbury they found a powerful and long-established ecclesiastical centre, whose traditions and culture differed in many respects from those of Normandy. The Conquest brought dramatic change: Archbishop Stigand was deprived in 1070 to be replaced by the Norman abbot Lanfranc; Canterbury Cathedral itself was burnt down in 1067 and rebuilt in a Norman style. But in the following years Canterbury's position in the English church was preserved and enhanced and Norman churchmen came to appreciate more fully the importance of their English inheritance. These original essays provide a reassessment of this subject reflecting modern interests and research. They discuss the political setting of Canterbury and its churches, both locally and nationally, the aims and achievements of its leaders, the cults of its saints and many aspects of its artistic achievement. Together they bring into focus what is a crucial test case for the impact of the Norman Conquest on English politics, society and culture.