Simon Barton

"Today, however, as Spain has become firmly integrated into the political and economic structures of the European Union, the long-held notion that the country is a nation apart no longer seems valid. Simon Barton probes the extent to which Spain should be regarded as an exceptional case and provides a highly readable, lucid and balanced account of its vibrant and colourful history, from its origins to the present day."--BOOK JACKET.

A History of Spain

Rosemary Horrox

Richard Fletcher

Simon MacLean

This book makes available, for the first time in English translation, four of the principal narrative sources for the history of the Spanish kingdom of León-Castile during the 11th and12th centuries. The four chronicles were all composed in an unprecedented surge of Spanish historical writing between c.1110 and c.1150. Three of them focus primarily upon the activities of the kings of León-Castile as leaders of the Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a biography of the hero Rodrigo Díaz, better remembered as El Cid, and is the main source of information about his extraordinary career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christians and Muslims alike.

Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest

The World of El Cid

David Goldmeier

"Conclusions are usually considered guesses" Henry S. Haskins, American writer in Meditations in Wall Street Students' minds, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, soon become stale when faced with lectures or even not so large textbooks. Supplementing lecture notes and textbooks with multiple-choice questions, therefore, attunes the mind to this style of examination which the student will certainly meet and yet also relieves the tedium and monotony of the conventional learning route. This multiple-choice textbook, therefore, should be used side by side with lecture notes, textbooks and clinical teaching material. The book covers a wide field of genitourinary medicine. This necessarily overlaps with general medicine, urology, bacteriology, virology, psychiatry, sexual medicine, im munology and proctology. With regard to immunology, a basic set of teaching questions are included so that HIV disease may be more easily understood without recourse to immunology textbooks. The answers to the questions are not given in a uniform style. This is partly to relieve monotony, and partly because some questions need no explanation, others need a prose answer and yet others are best answered by a point-by-point explanation. We also provide references for those interested. There is some overlap between questions but only enough, we hope, to facilitate learning but not produce somnolence.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Simon Barton provides a highly readable and up-to-date analysis of the historical development of Spain from its origins to modern times. Today, as Spain has become firmly integrated into the political and economic structures of the European Union, the long-held notion that the country's 'historical destiny' has been somehow out of step with those of its neighbours no longer seems valid. Barton probes the extent to which Spain should be regarded as an exceptional case and provides a clear and balanced account of its strikingly rich and diverse history.

Makes available, for the first time in English translation, four of the principal narrative sources for the history of the Spanish kingdom of León-Castile during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Three chronicles focus primarily upon the activities of the kings of León-Castile as leaders of the Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a biography of the hero Rodrigo Díaz, better remembered as El Cid, and is the main source of information about his extraordinary career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christian and Muslim alike. Covers the fascinating interaction of the Muslim and Christian worlds, each at the height of their power. Each text is prefaced by its own introduction and accompanied by explanatory notes.

The world of El Cid

Peter Linehan

This volume commemorates the career of Richard Fletcher and his remarkable contribution to our understanding of the medieval world. The seventeen papers included here reflect the three main areas of Fletcher's scholarly endeavours: Church and society in medieval Spain; Christian-Muslim relations, and the history of the post-Roman world.

Studies on Medieval Spain and Christendom in Memory of Richard Fletcher

Cross, Crescent and Conversion

This book acknowledges that the reader of a novel looks at and sees the page before they begin to read any text placed upon it. Thus, any disruptions to how a traditional page 'should look' can have a large impact on the reading process. The book critically engages with the visual appearance of graphically innovative contemporary prose fiction.

Gaps, Gestures, Images

Visual Devices in Contemporary Prose Fiction

An examination of the nature and role of the aristocracy in twelfth-century Spain.

The Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century León and Castile

Conquerors, Brides, and Concubines investigates the political and cultural significance of marriages and other sexual encounters between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula, from the Islamic conquest in the early eighth century to the end of Muslim rule in 1492. Interfaith liaisons carried powerful resonances, as such unions could function as a tool of diplomacy, the catalyst for conversion, or potent psychological propaganda. Examining a wide range of source material including legal documents, historical narratives, polemical and hagiographic works, poetry, music, and visual art, Simon Barton presents a nuanced reading of the ways interfaith couplings were perceived, tolerated, or feared, depending upon the precise political and social contexts in which they occurred. Religious boundaries in the Peninsula were complex and actively policed, often shaped by an overriding fear of excessive social interaction or assimilation of the three faiths that coexisted within the region. Barton traces the protective cultural, legal, and mental boundaries that the rival faiths of Iberia erected, and the processes by which women, as legitimate wives or slave concubines, physically traversed those borders. Through a close examination of the realities and the imagination of interfaith relations, Conquerors, Brides, and Concubines highlights the extent to which sex, power, and identity were closely bound up with one another.

Simon Barton

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