Book excerpt: This series is home to scholarship of the highest order covering a wide range of themes: from politics and warfare to administration, justice and society. The topics of the papers in this book range from the sublime to the macabre: romance, rape, money, politics and religion. Wide-ranging papers cover many themes: the role of knights in the civil war at the end of John's reign, the politics of Ireland at the time of Richard Marshal's rebellion, the crusading context of the de Montfort family, the Petition of the Barons of 1258, and the government of England during Edward I's absence on crusade form one group of papers which illuminate the politics of the period. The history of the Jews in their final days in England is examined, as are the techniques used to supply Edward I's armies. Legal matters are considered, with papers on manorial courts, capital punishment, and the offence of rape. Romance is treated in a historical context with Edward I's marriage plans of 1294. Also included is discussion of the dissemination of the Sarum rite, the building of Westminster Abbey, ecclesiastical mints, and Matthew Paris's maps. Contributors: MARTIN ALLEN, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVIDCROOK, KATHERINE FAULKNER, PETER EDBURY, PAUL HARVEY, RICHARD HUSCROFT, NIGEL MORGAN, MARK ORMROD, ZEFIRA ROKEAH, CORINNE SAUNDERS, BRENDAN SMITH, KATHERINE STOCKS, HENRY SUMMERSON, MARK VAUGHN.