The Haskins Society Journal

Book excerpt: Embracing disciplinary approaches ranging from the archaeological to the historical, the sociological to the literary, this collection offers new insights into key texts and interpretive problems in the history of England and the continent between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. Topics range from Bede's use and revision of the anonymous Life of St Cuthbert and the redeployment of patristic texts in later continental and Anglo-Saxon ascetic and hagiographical texts, to Robert Curthose's interaction with the Norman episcopate and the revival of Roman legal studies, to the dynamics of aristocratic friendship in the Anglo-Norman realm, and much more. The volume also includes two methodologically rich studies of vital aspects of the historical landscape of medieval England: rivers and forests. --From publisher's description.