In the final decades of the fifteenth-century, the European musical world was shaken to its foundations by the onset of a veritable culture war on the art of polyphony. Now in paperback, The Crisis of Music in Early Modern**Europe tells the story of this cultural upheaval, drawing on a wide range of little-known texts and documents, and weaving them together in a narrative that takes the reader on an eventful musical journey through early-modern Europe.

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeA history of civilization in France, England, and Germany from 1756, and in the remainder Europe from 1715 to 1789.

The acclaimed philosopher and author of Homo Sacer contemplates the possibility of true human freedom through a deep analysis of monastic stricture.What is a rule, if it appears to become confused with life? And what is a human life, if, in every one of its gestures, of its words, and of its silences, it cannot be distinguished from the rule? It is to these questions that Giorgio Agamben's new book turns by means of an impassioned reading of the phenomenon ...

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL (10 January 1834 19 June 1902), is better known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton. Lord Acton was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer born into a family full of nobility. Acton spent much time in the chief intellectual centers of Europe and in the United States, making friends with Tocqueville, Fustel de Coulanges, Bluntschli, von Sybel and Ranke. As a result, Lord Acton wrot...

Originally published in 1957, this classic work has guided generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. Throughout history, the notion of two bodies has permitted the postmortem continuity of monarch and monarchy, as epitomized by the statement, “The king is dead. Long live the king.” In The King’s Two Bodies, Ernst Kantorowicz traces the historical dilemma posed by the “King’s two bodies”—the body natural and the body politic—back to the Mi...

According to a commonplace narrative, the rise of modern political thought in the West resulted from secularization—the exclusion of religious arguments from political discourse. But in this pathbreaking work, Eric Nelson argues that this familiar story is wrong. Instead, he contends, political thought in early-modern Europe became less, not more, secular with time, and it was the Christian encounter with Hebrew sources that provoked this radical transformation.During the sixteenth...

This volume must be regarded not as the support of an existing reputation, or as a bid for the establishment of posthumous renown, but as the record and memorial of a rare and attractive personality. The accurate, insatiable, and broad-minded student is revealed ; the generous champion of a noble cause which has suffered temporary defeat is seen on the field of his eager endeavour in controversy with Popes and Cardinals for the sake of freedom and truth ; and the principles which he brough...

The Art of Conversation is a major contribution to the social history of language - a relatively new field which has become the focus of lively interdisciplinary debate in recent years.Drawing on the work of sociolinguists and others, Burke uses their concept while reserving the right to qualify their theories where the historical record makes this seem appropriate. Like the sociolinguists, Burke in concerned with the way language varies according to who is communicating t...

As the first Christian emperor of Rome, Constantine the Great has long interested those studying the establishment of Christianity. But Constantine is also notable for his ability to control a sprawling empire and effect major changes. The Justice of Constantineexamines Constantine's judicial and administrative legislation and his efforts to maintain control over the imperial bureaucracy, to guarantee the working of Roman justice, and to keep the will of his subjects throughout th...

Firmly convinced of the literal and enduring reality of the werewolf, the late Reverend Montague Summers has a wonderful time recounting the fantastic European history of "that most terrible and depraved of all the bond slaves of Satan." Illustrated. Contents: Introduction; Werewolf: lycanthropy; Werewolf: his science and practice; Werewolf in Greece and Italy, Spain and Portugal; Werewolf in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland; Werewolf in France; Werewolf in the North, in Russia and ...

Throughout the Renaissance, composers often expressed themselves in a language of riddles and puzzles, which they embedded within the music and lyrics of their compositions. This is the first book on the theory, practice and cultural context of musical riddles during the period. Katelijne Schiltz focuses on the compositional, notational, practical, social and theoretical aspects of musical riddle culture c.1450–1620, from the works of Antoine Busnoys, Jacob Obrecht and Josquin des Prez to ...

The Critical Nexus confronts an important and vexing enigma of early writings on music: why chant, which was understood to be divinely inspired, needed to be altered in order to work within the then-operative modal system. To unravel this mystery, Charles Atkinson creates a broad framework that moves from Greek harmonic theory to the various stages in the transmission of Roman chant, citing numerous music treatises from the sixth to the twelfth century. Out of this examination eme...