A very wise writer once wrote that books end, but stories never do. This book begins with the marriage of Ann and Allen, who now live happily in the house he found for her in The Skein.

The study of medieval clothing and textiles reveals much about the history of our material culture, as well as social, economic and cultural history as a whole.

Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530) created altarpieces of startling beauty. Steven J. Cody analyzes those remarkable paintings as a means of illuminating the artist’s career-long engagement with Christian theology.

Archery, one of mankind’s most ancient skills, was Europe’s most important weapon for centuries. English archers in the Hundred Years War outnumbered men-at-arms by as many as ten to one. With a Bended Bow covers all aspects of the manufacture of ‘artillery’, the shooting styles and the uses of mediaeval and Renaissance archery based upon contemporary manuscripts, preserved artefacts and accurate reproductions. The book is in two parts. The Guilds considers bows and arrows and their manufacture, for citizens and for the crown. The Archers is about the use of bows in practice, in hunting, and in warfare. The book is illustrated throughout with mediaeval illustrations and line drawings by the author. Over the past ten to fifteen years, there has been an explosion of interest in mediaeval history and ‘primitive’ or instinctive archery. Re-enactment groups have mushroomed in the United States and Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain and continental Europe. This book answers many questions asked by members of such groups and by those with an interest in the Mediaeval period. How were bowstrings attached? How long were clothyard arrows? Were laminated bows used? Were bow sights used? What kind of targets were made? Did combat archers actually shoot accurately, or just rely on mass volleys? With a Bended Bow is a significant contribution to our understanding of the Middle Ages.

In all six of its volumes The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light. Fully grounded in sound literary and historical scholarship, the anthology takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors, and includes a wide selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of the worldwide connections of British literature, and it pays attention throughout to issues of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. It includes comprehensive introductions to each period, providing in each case an overview of the historical and cultural as well as the literary background. It features accessible and engaging headnotes for all authors, extensive explanatory annotations, and an unparalleled number of illustrations and contextual materials. Innovative, authoritative and comprehensive, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature has established itself as a leader in the field. The full anthology comprises six bound volumes, together with an extensive website component; the latter has been edited, annotated, and designed according to the same high standards as the bound book component of the anthology, and is accessible by using the passcode obtained with the purchase of one or more of the bound volumes. For the third edition of this volume a considerable number of changes have been made. Newly prepared, for example, is a substantial selection from Baldassare Castiglione’s The Courtier, presented in Thomas Hoby’s influential early modern English translation. Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy is another major addition. Also new to the anthology are excerpts from Thomas Dekker’s plague pamphlets. We have considerably expanded our representation of Elizabeth I’s writings and speeches, as well as providing several more cantos from Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene and adding selections from Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia. We have broadened our coverage, too, to include substantial selections of Irish, Gaelic Scottish, and Welsh literature. (Perhaps most notable of the numerous authors in this section are two extraordinary Welsh poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym and Gwerful Mechain.) Mary Sidney Herbert’s writings now appear in the bound book instead of on the companion website. Margaret Cavendish, previously included in volume 3 of the full anthology, will now also be included in this volume; we have added a number of her poems, with an emphasis on those with scientific themes. The edition features two new Contexts sections: a sampling of “Tudor and Stuart Humor,” and a section on “Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, and Covenanters.” New materials on emblem books and on manuscript culture have also been added to the “Culture: A Portfolio” contexts section. There are many additions the website component as well—including Thomas Deloney’s Jack of Newbury also published as a stand-alone BABL edition). We are also expanding our online selection of transatlantic material, with the inclusion of writings by John Smith, William Bradford, and Anne Bradstreet.