The Crisis of the Twelfth Century : : Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government / / Thomas N. Bisson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Bisson, Thomas N.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (720 p.) :; 1 color illus. 10 halftones. 1 line illus. 5 maps.

Medieval civilization came of age in thunderous events like the Norman Conquest and the First Crusade. Power fell into the hands of men who imposed coercive new lordships in quest of nobility. Rethinking a familiar history, Thomas Bisson explores the circumstances that impelled knights, emperors, nobles, and churchmen to infuse lordship with social purpose.Bisson traces the origins of European government to a crisis of lordship and its resolution. King John of England was only the latest and most conspicuous in a gallery of bad lords who dominated the populace instead of ruling it. Yet, it was not so much the oppressed people as their tormentors who were in crisis. The Crisis of the Twelfth Century suggests what these violent people-and the outcries they provoked-contributed to the making of governments in kingdoms, principalities, and towns.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Usage and Conventions -- Abbreviations -- I. Introduction -- II. The Age of Lordship (875-1150) -- III. Lord-Rulership (1050-1150): The Experience of Power -- IV. Crises of Power (1060-1150) -- V. Resolution: Intrusions of Government (1150-1215) -- VI. Celebration and Persuasion (1160-1225) -- VII. Epilogue -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index