Background
Bartlett, Robert John was born on November 27, 1950 in London, England. Son of Leonard Frederick and Mabel Emily (Adams) Bartlett.
( Gerald of Wales, Giraldis Cambrensis, Gerald the Welshm...)
Gerald of Wales, Giraldis Cambrensis, Gerald the Welshman, Gerald the Marcher - his many names reflect the long and multi-faceted career of one of the most fascinating figures of the Middle Ages. Descended from Norman Marcher barons and Welsh princes, Gerald was by turns scholar, churchman and reformer, courtier, diplomat and would-be crusader; Marcher propagandist, agent of English kings, champion of the Welsh church, hunted outlaw and cathedral theologian. He was also a naturalist, gossip and indefatigable traveller, but above all, a most prolific writer and a tireless self-publicist. We know more about Gerald than about any other inhabitant of early medieval Wales. In this fascinating study of Gerald's attitudes and intellectual outlook, Robert Bartlett discusses the delicate political path Gerald had to tread between Norman conquerors, native Celtic society and the English Crown. He analyses Gerald's clear voice in the time in which he lives, and portrays him as a vivid example of the medieval world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0752440314/?tag=2022091-20
( Seven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel...)
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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691126046/?tag=2022091-20
(This vivid and comprehensive account of the politics, rel...)
This vivid and comprehensive account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest lays bare the patterns of everyday life, and increases our understanding of medieval society at a time when England was more closely tied to Europe than ever before. This was a period in which the ruling dynasty and military aristocracy were deeply enmeshed with the politics and culture of France. The book describes their conflicts and their preoccupations: the sense of honour, the role of violence, and the glitter of tournament, heraldry, and Arthurian romance. The author explores the mechanics of their government, and analyzes the part played by the Church at a time of radical developments in religious life and organization. He investigates the role of ordinary men and women: the fundamental importance of the peasant economy in the growing urban and commercial arenas; and also their outlook on the world, including their views on the past; on gender and behavior; on animals; the undead, and the occult. The result is a fascinating and complex account of a period which begins with conquest and ends in assimilation.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198227418/?tag=2022091-20
( Although seemingly bizarre and barbaric in modern times...)
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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1626549141/?tag=2022091-20
( From our twentieth-century perspective, we tend to thin...)
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.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691037809/?tag=2022091-20
historian medievalist university professor
Bartlett, Robert John was born on November 27, 1950 in London, England. Son of Leonard Frederick and Mabel Emily (Adams) Bartlett.
Bachelor (honors), University Cambridge, England, 1972. Master of Arts, University Cambridge, England, 1976. Doctor of Philosophy, University Oxford, England, 1978.
He is an English historian and medievalist. He currently holds the position of Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Street Andrews. He obtained research fellowships at several institutions, including the University of Michigan and Georg-August University of Göttingen, before working at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Chicago and the University of Street Andrews, where he currently resides.
He specializes in medieval colonialism, the cult of saints, and England between the 11th century and the 14th century.
He gave the 2007 Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford. He wrote and presented Inside The Medieval Mind, a four-part documentary broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2008 as part of a medieval season.
In 2010, he wrote and presented The Normans on the British Broadcasting Corporation, a documentary series about their wide-ranging impact on Britain, countries of the Mediterranean and as far afield as the Holy Land. In 2014, he presented the British Broadcasting Corporation documentary series The Plantagenets, about the eponymous royal dynasty.
(This vivid and comprehensive account of the politics, rel...)
( Although seemingly bizarre and barbaric in modern times...)
( From our twentieth-century perspective, we tend to thin...)
( Gerald of Wales, Giraldis Cambrensis, Gerald the Welshm...)
( Seven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel...)
Fellow Royal History Society, British Academy. Member Medieval Academy American, History Association, German History Society, Ecclesiastical History Society.
Married Honora Elaine Hickey, April 3, 1979. Children: Penelope, Brian.