The first title in the Variorum Collected Studies series was published in 1970. Since then over 1000 titles have appeared in the series, and it has established a well-earned international reputation for the publication of key research across a whole range of subjects within the fields of history. The history of the medieval world remains central to the series, with Byzantine studies a particular speciality. Other major strands include Islamic studies and the histories of philosophy, science and medicine.
Each title in the Variorum Collected Studies series brings together for the first time a selection of articles by a leading authority on a particular subject. These studies are reprinted from a vast range of learned journals, Festschrifts and conference proceedings. They are an essential resource making available research that is scattered or inaccessible in all but the most specialized libraries.
For further information about contributing to the series please contact Michael Greenwood at [email protected]
By Donald Holzman
March 26, 1998
This volume aims to account for the tremendous changes in the attitudes towards the world and towards themselves that can be seen in the works of Chinese writers in the early centuries of the Christian era. How do the massive conversion of such a large part of the population to Buddhism and the ...
By Edward S. Kennedy
March 05, 1998
This collection of studies by Edward Kennedy looks first at questions of spherical astronomy, celestial mapping and planetary models, and then deals with astrological calculations. Throughout the author emphasises the importance of advances in mathematics for understanding the development of ...
By Gerald Bonner
March 01, 1998
The articles in this volume complement and continue work brought together on the author's previous collection, God's Decree and Man's Destiny. The first part, focusing on Augustine, is largely devoted to the Pelagian controversy, but also includes an examination of Augustine's concept of ...
By Patrick Gautier Dalché
December 15, 1997
These studies aim to portray the geography and cartography of the early Middle Ages (with some reference forward to the 13th-14th centuries) from the viewpoint of cultural history; the medieval compilations are seen as witnesses to the reception of late antique learning. The author would single out...
By Jean-François Bergier
December 15, 1997
The Alps, as Professor Bergier shows in this selection of his work, should not be considered an impassable barrier, nor an isolated region, but rather as an integral part of the history of Europe. The lowlanders’ typical view of the mountains as fearful heights to be crossed, and the image of those...
By Ian Inkster
December 15, 1997
Ian Inkster’s intent in these studies is to move beyond the high culture and expertise of science towards the construction of the culture of urban communities. The work draws on a mass of detailed research and focuses on Britain's social and cultural advantages over other industrialising nations ...
By Gabriele Winkler
December 11, 1997
The history of the Eastern liturgical rituals reveals the variety and splendour of the world of the Christian Orient, and the profundity of its theological thought. The ritual bears witness to the deep impact these liturgies made on the Mediterranean cultures and societies of Late Antiquity. ...
By Fernand Brunner
November 20, 1997
Early in his career, Fernand Brunner became one of the few specialists on Ibn Gabirol, a Jewish philosopher and poet in 11th-century Spain, whose treatise, the Fons vitae, is known only in Latin translation. Brunner showed the coherence of this rarely studied version of Platonism and traced its ...
By M.J. Kister
October 30, 1997
This book deals with the history of pre-Islamic Arab society and the emergence of Islam, as reflected in hadith, adab, historical, genealogical and exegetical literature. Among the themes discussed are the ethnic composition of the population of Mecca, the evolving relationship between the nascent ...
By Daniel Martin Varisco
September 25, 1997
The strength of Professor Varisco’s work lies in his combination of ethnographic fieldwork among highland Yemeni farmers with an extensive study of medieval Arabic manuscripts on folk astronomy and agriculture. The opening articles discuss the astronomical concept of the ’lunar stations’ in ...
By Herbert Franke
September 18, 1997
The studies collected here derive in large part from the collaborative Chin history project, to which Professors Chan and Franke have made a massive contributuion. The Jurchens lived in northeastern Manchuria as hunters, fishers and farmers, until 1115 when they founded a dynastic state called Chin...
By Brian Tierney
July 03, 1997
The papers collected in this volume fall into three main groups. Those in the first group are concerned with the origin and early development of the idea of natural rights. The author argues here that the idea first grew into existence in the writings of the 12th-century canonists. The articles in ...