Living in the Shadows: John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall (1316–36)

Abstract

The wide-ranging studies collected here reflect the latest concerns of and trends in fourteenth-century research, including work on politics, the law, religion, and chronicle writing. The lively (andcontroversial) debate around the death of Edward II, and the brief but eventful career of John of Eltham, earl of Cornwall, receive detailed treatment, as does the theory and implementation of both the law of treason in England and high status execution in Ireland. There is an investigation of the often overlooked, yet ever present, lesser parish clergy of pre-Black Death England, along with the notable connections between Roman remains and craft guild piety in fourteenth-century York. There are also chapters shedding new light on fourteenth-century chronicles: one examines the St Albans chronicle through the prism of chivalric culture, another analyses the importance of the Chester Annals of 1385-8 in the writing culture of the Midlands. Introduced with this volume is a new section on "Notes and Documents"; re-examined here is an often-cited letter from the reign of Richard II and the problematic, yet crucial, issue of its authorship and dating.

James Bothwell is Lecturer in Later Medieval History at the University of Leicester; Gwilym Dodd is Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Nottingham

Contributors: Paul Dryburgh, ine Foley, Christopher Guyol, Andy King, Jessica Knowles, E. Amanda McVitty, D.A.L. Morgan, Philip Morgan, David Robinson.