People, Places and Perspectives: Essays on Later Medieval and Early Tudor England - Softcover

People, Places and Perspectives

Over the last forty years Ralph Griffiths has built up an awesome reputation as a prolific and distinguished historian of fifteenth-century England and Wales, as a master of English prose and a first-rate teacher. For several decades he gave loyal and conspicuous service to the University of Wales, Swansea, of which he is now Emeritus Professor of Medieval History. "People, Places and Perspectives" both celebrates his contribution to the study of the fifteenth century and reflects the diversity of historical approaches now taken to this turning point between medieval and modern. The subject matter ranges widely, from the treasures of Richard II to early-Tudor bar-room gossip, and from the activities of kings and parliaments to Sir John Fastolf, a veteran of the Hundred Years War, making provision for his death. The essays gathered here, as well as reflecting the respect and admiration their authors have for him, also dovetail nicely with Ralph Griffiths' own historical enthusiasms and published work. His interest in fifteenth-century English politics and administration, and relations between central government and the provinces, is clearly mirrored in the contributions of Peter Fleming, Malcolm Mercer and A.J. Pollard. His role in drawing attention to important and, not infrequently, unpublished archival material is emulated by Michael Hicks, Colin Richmond, Jenny Stratford and Deborah Youngs. And both Michael Bennett and Keith Dockray hope to connect with his penchant for historiography and portrayals of the fifteenth century since Tudor times.