All too often the social history of the Middle Ages has been explored as an adjunct to high politics. This new study focuses on the medieval era’s often overlooked ordinary men and women, for whom the politics of the manor, the vill, or the borough were often far more real and pressing. Medieval England explores the various structures of society—household, family, parish or manor—and considers the ways in which ages, gender, and maritial status shaped everday life.

Western European civilization in the medieval centuries was a time of significant development as the ascendency of the Roman Catholic Church spread Christianity throughout Europe. Religion in the Medieval West examines the religious life of this formative period, the history of the institutional Church, and focuses on the interaction between the Church and secular members of society. This new edition has been updated, and includes new visual evidence and a glossary of technical terms.