New insights into key texts and interpretive problems in the history of England and Europe between the eighth and thirteenth centuries.This volume of the Haskins Society Journal demonstrates the Society's continued interest in a broad range of geographical contexts and methodological approaches to medieval history. Chapters include a much-needed reassessment of Ælfthryth and her place in the society and governance of tenth-century England, as well as a comprehensive survey of the conceptualization of excommunication in post-Carolingian Europe to c.1200. Further essays explore aspects of the Norman world of southern Italy, including the dynamics of political coalitions and kinship networks, ethnic identity, and material culture. The Journal continues to highlight close analyses of key primary sources,with a study of Angevin kingship in the writings of Hugh of Lincoln and Adam of Eynsham, and an examination of Ralph of Niger's Old Testament exegesis and criticism of crusading in the late twelfth century. A ground-breaking newstudy assesses the utility of colonialism as a valid model for understanding the extraction of sacred resources and relics from the crusader lands. The volume closes with a crucial reconsideration of the agency and power of medieval French peasants as attested in medieval cartularies, opening new approaches for further research into this critical and complex social group. Contributors: Mary Elizabeth Blanchard, Constance B. Bouchard, John Cotts,Sarah Hamilton, Ryan Kemp, Markus Krumm, Francesca Petrizzo, William J. Purkis, Robin S. Reich

Beyond Corfe: Ælfthryth's Roles as Queen, Villain, and Former Sister-in-law - Mary Elizabeth BlanchardMedieval Curses and Their Users - Sarah Hamilton'Although He Was His Nephew': A Study of Younger Hautevilles Either Side of the Sea - Francesca PetrizzoNearly Gold and Nearly Perfect? Copper, Meaning, and Materiality in Norman Sicily - Robin ReichBound by Loyalty: Conflict, Communication and Group Solidarity in Early Twelfth-Century Southern Italy - Markus KrummHugh of Lincoln and Adam of Eynsham: Angevin Kingship reconsidered - Ryan KempEarthly Kings, Heavenly Jerusalem: Ralph Niger's Political Exegesis and the Third Crusade - John Cotts'Holy Christendom's New Colony': The Extraction of Sacred Matter and the Colonial Status of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem - William PurkisMedieval French Peasants: The New Frontier? - Constance Bouchard