Robert Bartlett

From our twentieth-century perspective, we tend to think of the Europe of the past as a colonizer, a series of empires that conquered lands beyond their borders and forced European cultural values on other peoples. This provocative book shows that Europe in the Middle Ages was as much a product of a process of conquest and colonization as it was later a colonizer.

Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-1350

The Making of Europe

This lively and far-reaching account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest provides a vivid picture of everyday existence, and increases our understanding of all aspects of medieval society.This was a period in which the ruling dynasty and military aristocracy were deeply enmeshed with the politics and culture of France. Professor Bartlett describes their conflicts, and their preoccupations - the sense of honour, the role of violence, and the glitter of tournament, heraldry, andArthurian romance. He explores the mechanics of government; assesses the role of the Church at a time of radical developments in religious life and organization; and investigates the peasant economy, the foundation of this society, and the growing urban and commercial activity. There are colourfuldetails of the everyday life of ordinary men and women, with their views on the past, on sexuality, on animals, on death, the undead, and the occult. The result is a fascinating and comprehensive portrayal of a period which begins with conquest and ends in assimilation.

England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225

An engaging history of royal and imperial families and dynastic power, enriched by a body of surprising and memorable source material.

Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe

Blood Royal

A Story of Miracle, Memory, and Colonialism in the Middle Ages

The Hanged Man

From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints—the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints—including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past—as well as the present.

Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation

Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?

'The Medieval World Complete' re-creates one of the great ages of European civilization through a sequence of spectacular images accompanied by a lively, informed commentary. Ingeniously organized by topic and thoroughly cross-referenced, this all-embracing book enables the reader to explore and understand every facet of the Middle Ages, an era of breathtaking artistic achievement and of religious faith in a world where life was often coarse and cruel, cut short by war, famine and disease. Framed by chapters that outline the way the Middle Ages began and ended, the book consists of six sections encompassing religion and the Church, nations and law, daily life, art and architecture, scholarship and philosophy, and the world beyond Christendom. The book is completed by biographies of key personalities, from Charlemagne to Wycliffe, and timelines, maps, a glossary, gazetteer and bibliography.

The Medieval World Complete

One of the few practicing alchemists in the modern era, Robert Allen Bartlett explains what the ancients really meant when they used the term Philosopher's Stone and describes several very real and practical methods for its achievement. Is the fabled Philosopher's Stone an Elixir of Long Life or is it a method of transforming Lead into Gold? You can be the judge of that for yourself after reading the new book on Alchemy - Real Alchemy. (With a Foreword by Dennis William Hauck, editor of Alchemy Journal, alchemylab.com and crucible.org. The book also includes a full Index and Bibliography.) Bartlett has been a practicing alchemist for over thirty years and was a student of the twentieth century's most highly recognized alchemist, Frater Albertus, at Paracelsus College beginning in 1974. After receiving his degree in Chemistry in 1979, Bartlett was appointed Chief Chemist at Frater Albertus' Paralab. He is a member of the International Alchemy Guild at the Adept Level.

Real Alchemy

Exploration of how medieval people categorized the world, concentrating on the division between the natural and the supernatural.

The Natural and the Supernatural in the Middle Ages

A Sermon, Delivered on the Day of the General Election, at Montpelier, October 13, 1825, Before the Honorable Legislature of Vermont

Although seemingly bizarre and barbaric in modern times, trial by ordeal-the subjection of the accused to undergo harsh tests such as walking over hot irons or being bound and cast into water-played an integral, and often staggeringly effective, role in justice systems for centuries. In "Trial by Fire and Water," Robert Bartlett examines the workings of trial by ordeal from the time of its first appearance in the barbarian law codes, tracing its use by Christian societies down to its last days as a test for witchcraft in modern Europe and America. Bartlett presents a critique of recent theories about the operation and the decline of the practice, and he attempts to make sense of the ordeal as a working institution and to explain its disappearance. Finally, he considers some of the general historical problems of understanding a society in which religious beliefs were so fundamental. Robert Bartlett is Wardlaw Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews.

Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal (Oxford University Press Academic Monograph Reprints)

A wave of internal conquest, settlement and economic growth took place in Europe during the High Middle Ages, which transformed it from a world of small separate communities into a network of powerful kingdoms with distinctive cultures. In this vivid and provocative book Robert Bartlett vividly shows how Europe was itself a product of colonization, as much as it was later a colonizer, and what this did to shape the continent and the world today.

Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950 - 1350

Real Alchemy is an easy to understand manual in Practical Alchemy. It explores the History of Alchemy to the present day, as well as practical techniques for beginning the Alchemical Work in the Laboratory. It is written by Modern Day Alchemist and Chemist, Robert Allen Bartlett. Robert was a student of Frater Albertus founder of the Paracelsus Research Society in Salt Lake City, Utah. Robert became the Chief Chemist at Paralab, the commercial offshoot of the PRS College. Robert Bartlett is currently an Adept member of the International Alchemy Guild, and teaches classes locally in the Seattle area as well as online at the crucible.org. He also produces a line of spagyric products.

Real Alchemy, A Primer of Practical Alchemy

How did people of the medieval period explain physical phenomena, such as eclipses or the distribution of land and water on the globe? What creatures did they think they might encounter: angels, devils, witches, dogheaded people? This fascinating book explores the ways in which medieval people categorized the world, concentrating on the division between the natural and the supernatural and showing how the idea of the supernatural came to be invented in the Middle Ages. Robert Bartlett examines how theologians and others sought to draw lines between the natural, the miraculous, the marvelous and the monstrous, and the many conceptual problems they encountered as they did so. The final chapter explores the extraordinary thought-world of Roger Bacon as a case study exemplifying these issues. By recovering the mentalities of medieval writers and thinkers the book raises the critical question of how we deal with beliefs we no longer share.

An examination of the workings of trial by ordeal from its first appearance in the barbarian law codes, tracing its use by Christian societies to its last use as a test for witchcraft in modern Europe and America.

The Medieval Judicial Ordeal

Trial by Fire and Water

Robert J. Bartlett

This was the first book in English on trial by ordeal to determine innocence of guilt. Bartlett critiques modern theories about the practice and decline of such trials and attempts to add clarity to the subject.

"This book also includes biographies of key personalities, from Charlemagne to Wycliffe, timelines, maps, glossary, gazetteer, and bibliography."--BOOK JACKET.

Medieval Panorama

From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints -- the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints -- including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past--as well as the present.

Seven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel named William Cragh to a wintry hill to be hanged. They placed a noose around his neck, dropped him from the gallows, and later pronounced him dead. But was he dead? While no less than nine eyewitnesses attested to his demise, Cragh later proved to be very much alive, his resurrection attributed to the saintly entreaties of the defunct Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe. The Hanged Man tells the story of this putative miracle--why it happened, what it meant, and how we know about it. The nine eyewitness accounts live on in the transcripts of de Cantilupe's canonization hearings, and these previously unexamined documents contribute not only to an enthralling mystery, but to an unprecedented glimpse into the day-to-day workings of medieval society. While unraveling the haunting tale of the hanged man, Robert Bartlett leads us deeply into the world of lords, rebels, churchmen, papal inquisitors, and other individuals living at the time of conflict and conquest in Wales. In the process, he reconstructs voices that others have failed to find. We hear from the lady of the castle where the hanged man was imprisoned, the laborer who watched the execution, the French bishop charged with investigating the case, and scores of other members of the medieval citizenry. Brimming with the intrigue of a detective novel, The Hanged Man will appeal to both scholars of medieval history and general readers alike.

Robert Bartlett

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