‘The editors are to be congratulated on the strength of the essays and the way they complement each other despite the diversity of approaches taken by their authors. The reader also benefits from the clarity and uniformity of presentation, and the generally very high standard of copy editing. More illustrations would have been welcome for a subject that cries out for maps, but this is a small gripe about a book that offers so much to all of those interested in a topic that unites different disciplines.’
The Journal of transport history vol 37 (2), Stephen Mileson, Victoria County History, Oxfordshire

‘‘Roadworks’ represents a major contribution to our understanding of roads in the medieval period. Its thirteen chapters cover a wide range of sources and methodologies, and – considering that much of the major literature on the subject is very old – its revisionist position is very welcome.’
Owen Davies, University of Hertfordshire, Landscapes, June 2017

‘It falls beyond the scope of this review to rehearse the specific arguments made by each of these thirteen fine essays, but each and every one of them sheds important light on British roads (and rivers, bridges, forests and coastlines) and how they ‘inscribe the wayfarer as homo viator in ways often more fundamental than how human technology imposes meaning on roads’ (p.3). Collectively they thus make an important contribution to the emerging field of medieval infrastructures and demonstrate its relevance to numerous subfields and medieval studies more broadly.’
Guy Geltner, Universiteit van Amsterdam, JRG, Vol 131, No 2, 2018

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Roadworks: Medieval Britain, medieval roads is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary study of roads and wayfinding in medieval England, Wales and Scotland. It looks afresh at the relationship between the road as a material condition of daily life and the formation of local and national communities, arguing that the business of road maintenance, road travel and wayfinding constitutes social bonds. It challenges the long-held picture of a medieval Britain lacking in technological sophistication, passively inheriting Roman roads and never engineering any of its own. Previous studies of medieval infrastructure tend to be discipline-specific and technical. This accessible collection draws out the imaginative, symbolic, and cultural significance of the road. The key audience for this book is scholars of medieval Britain (early and late) in all disciplines. Its theoretical foundations will also ensure an audience among scholars of cultural studies, especially those in urban studies, transport studies, and economic history.
Les mer
A groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study of roads and wayfinding in medieval England, Wales, and Scotland. It looks afresh at the relationship between the road as a material condition of daily life and the formation of local and national communities.
Les mer
Introduction: Roads and writing – Valerie Allen and Ruth Evans1. Sources for the English medieval road system – Paul Hindle2. Once a highway, always a highway: roads and English law, c.1150–1300 – Alan Cooper3. When things break: mending roads, being social – Valerie Allen4. The word on the street: Chaucer and the regulation of nuisance in post-plague London – Sarah Rees Jones5. Getting there: wayfinding in the Middle Ages – Ruth Evans6. The function of material and spiritual roads in the English eremitic tradition – Michelle M. Sauer7. The Royal Itinerary and roads in England under Edward I – Michael Prestwich8. The pilgrimage road in late medieval literature Shayne – Aaron Legassie9. The romance of the road in Athelston and two late medieval Robin Hood ballads – Chris Chism10. London: the hub of an English river transport network, 1250–1550 – Claire Martin11. Conquest, roads and resistance in medieval Wales – Dylan Foster Evans12. Trackless, impenetrable and under-developed? Roads, colonisation and environmental transformation in the Anglo-Scottish border zone c.1100 to c.1300 – Richard OramIndex
Les mer
This collection of essays offers an interdisciplinary study of roads and wayfinding in medieval England, Wales and Scotland. It looks afresh at the relationship between the road as a material condition of daily life and the formation of local and national communities, arguing that the business of road maintenance, road travel and wayfinding constitutes social bonds. Setting Britain's thoroughfares against the backdrop of the extant Roman road system, it argues for a technique of road construction and care that is distinctively medieval and challenges the long-held picture of a medieval Britain lacking in technological sophistication. This accessible collection draws out the imaginative, symbolic and cultural significance of the road. It synthesizes information on medieval road terminology, roads as rights of passage and the road as an idea as much as a physical entity. Individual essays look afresh at sources for the study of the medieval English road system, legal definitions of the highway, road-breaking and road-mending, wayfinding and the architecture of the street and its role in popular urban government. The book also explores subjects including hermits and the road as spiritual metaphor, royal itineraries, pilgrimage roads, roads in medieval English romances, English river transport, roads in medieval Wales and roads in the Anglo-Scottish border zone. This book will appeal to scholars of early and late medieval Britain in all disciplines. Its theoretical foundations will also ensure an audience among scholars of cultural studies, especially those in urban studies, transport studies and economic history.
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780719085062
Publisert
2016-01-01
Utgiver
Vendor
Manchester University Press
Vekt
635 gr
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
138 mm
Dybde
25 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet

Om bidragsyterne

Valerie Allen is Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Ruth Evans is Professor of English at Saint Louis University