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      • Trusted Partner

        SCRIBE :The Story of the Only Female Pope

        by Hugo N. Gerstl

        The monastery at Siani was famous throughout the academic world for its library. The monks of medieval days routinely obtained ancient, crumbling manuscripts and recopied them. Among them, hidden in a wall in the cellar, the following parchment was found and faithfully recopied in the practiced hand of the Sianian monks several centuries after its original writing.  Hugo N. Gerstl, nationally famous American trial lawyer, world traveler and author of the bestselling historical novels: AGAINST ALL ODDS: The Magnificent Trio That Built Israel's Air Force; SCRIBE: The Only Female Pope; AMAZING GRACE: The Outstanding Tale of Grace O'Malley, The Notorious Pirate Woman; LEGACY: A Turkish Saga; and the gripping, breath-holding thrillers ASSASSIN & MISFIRE, which so far have been translated into Portuguese, Czech, and Turkish. as well as THE POLITICS OF HATE – A Piercing Insight into American Politics. Hugo Gerstl lives in Carmel, California with his wife Lorraine, a writer and teacher. Together they have raised five children, now grown. Published By  Pangæa Publishing Group 560 pages – 23 cm x 15 cm

      • Trusted Partner
        July 2018

        Practical Feline Behaviour

        Understanding Cat Behaviour and Improving Welfare

        by Trudi Atkinson

        Practical Feline Behaviour contains all the relevant information that a veterinary nurse or technician needs to understand and handle the behaviour and welfare of house cats, and to offer safe and practical advice to clients. There have been ground-breaking advances in our understanding of feline behaviour in recent years and, to protect the welfare of cats, it is increasingly important that anyone involved with their care, especially those in a professional capacity, keep up to date with these developments. This approachable and down-to-earth text describes the internal and external influences on feline behaviour; on communication, learning, social behaviour, the relationship between behaviour and disease, and the cat - human relationship. It also provides practical advice on how the welfare of cats in our care may be protected and how behaviour problems should be addressed and how to avoid them. In this book Trudi Atkinson draws on her extensive experience as a veterinary nurse and a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist to provide a rapid reference and an intensely practical feline behaviour resource for owners, breeders, veterinary professionals, shelter and cattery workers and anyone involved in the care of our feline companions. - Practical, down to earth guide detailing all aspects of feline behaviour - Rapid reference for instant access to information - Written by a well-known animal behaviourist who has extensive experience in treating feline behaviour problems and in advising clients to protect the welfare of their cats - Includes a foreword by John Bradshaw, School of Veterinary Science at University of Bristol, UK

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2019

        Hermits and anchorites in England, 1200–1550

        by E. A. Jones

        This source book offers a comprehensive treatment of solitary religious lives in England in the late Middle Ages. It covers both enclosed recluses (anchorites) and free-wandering hermits, and explores the relationship between them. Although there has been a recent surge of interest in the solitary vocations, especially anchorites, this has focused almost exclusively on a small number of examples. The field is in need of reinvigoration, and this book provides it. Featuring translated extracts from a wide range of Latin, Middle English and Old French sources, as well as a scholarly introduction and commentary from one of the foremost experts in the field, Hermits and anchorites in England is an invaluable resource for students and lecturers alike.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        August 2023

        Poison on the early modern English stage

        Plants, paints and potions

        by Lisa Hopkins, Bill Angus

        Many early modern plays use poison, most famously Hamlet, where the murder of Old Hamlet showcases the range of issues poison mobilises. Its orchard setting is one of a number of sinister uses of plants which comment on both the loss of horticultural knowledge resulting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and also the many new arrivals in English gardens through travel, trade, and attempts at colonisation. The fact that Old Hamlet was asleep reflects unease about soporifics troubling the distinction between sleep and death; pouring poison into the ear smuggles in the contemporary fear of informers; and it is difficult to prove. This book explores poisoning in early modern plays, the legal and epistemological issues it raises, and the cultural work it performs, which includes questions related to race, religion, nationality, gender, and humans' relationship to the environment.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        May 2008

        Eleventh-century Germany

        The Swabian chronicles

        by Rosemary Horrox, Simon Maclean, I. Robinson

        Three of the most important chronicles of eleventh-century Germany were composed in the south-western duchy of Swabia. The chronicles reveal how between 1049 and 1100 the centripetal attraction of the reform papacy became the dominant fact of intellectual life in German reformed monastic circles. In the abbey of Reichenau Herman 'the Lame' composed a chronicle of the reign of Emperor Henry III (1039-56). His pupil, Berthold of Reichenau, continued his master's work, composing a detailed account of 1076-1079 in Germany. Bernold, a clergyman of Constance, continued the work of Herman and Berthold in a text containing the fullest extant account of 1080-1100. Herman's waning enthusiasm for the monarchy and growing interest in the newly reformed papacy were intensified in Berthold's chronicle, and writing in the new context of the reformed monasteries of south-western Germany, Bernold preached total obedience to the Gregorian papacy. The Swabian chronicles are an indispensable resource to the student of the changing loyalties and conflicts of eleventh-century Germany. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        January 2013

        Eleventh-century Germany

        The Swabian chronicles

        by I. Robinson

        Three of the most important chronicles of eleventh-century Germany were composed in the south-western duchy of Swabia. The chronicles reveal how between 1049 and 1100 the centripetal attraction of the reform papacy became the dominant fact of intellectual life in German reformed monastic circles. In the abbey of Reichenau Herman 'the Lame' composed a chronicle of the reign of Emperor Henry III (1039-56). His pupil, Berthold of Reichenau, continued his master's work, composing a detailed account of 1076-1079 in Germany. Bernold, a clergyman of Constance, continued the work of Herman and Berthold in a text containing the fullest extant account of 1080-1100. Herman's waning enthusiasm for the monarchy and growing interest in the newly reformed papacy were intensified in Berthold's chronicle, and writing in the new context of the reformed monasteries of south-western Germany, Bernold preached total obedience to the Gregorian papacy. The Swabian chronicles are an indispensable resource to the student of the changing loyalties and conflicts of eleventh-century Germany.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts

        The Archive of Thangka Culture in China: Gannan Volume

        by Feng Jicai

        The Archive of Thangka Culture in China: Gannan Volume is the full records of the history and current situation of Thangka culture in the Lapaleng Temple-centered Gannan region. It systematically introduces the origin and characteristics of Gannan Thangka and gives a comprehensive and authoritative interpretation on its iconographical symbolic significance and cultural function. With detailed records of distinctive characteristics of Gannan Tangka, including its materials, tools, painting technologies, multiple contemporary forms, schools of inheritance, painters' profile, exchange and circulation, as well as relevant theories of painting, the book is considered of great significance for recording and inheriting profound traditional Chinese cultures.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        December 2018

        World Heritage Sites

        Tourism, Local Communities and Conservation Activities

        by Takamitsu Jimura

        Heritage is a growing area of both tourism and study, with World Heritage Site designations increasing year-on-year. This book reviews the important interrelations between the industry, local communities and conservation work, bringing together the various opportunities and challenges for different destinations. World Heritage status is a strong marketing brand, and proper heritage management and effective conservation are vital, but this tourism must also be developed and managed appropriately if it is to benefit a site. As many sites are located in residential areas, their interaction with the local community must also be carefully considered. This book: - Reviews new areas of development such as Historic Urban Landscapes, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Memory of the World and Global Geoparks. - Includes global case studies to relate theory to practice. - Covers a worldwide industry of over 1,000 cultural and natural heritage sites. An important read for academics, researchers and students of heritage studies, cultural studies and tourism, this book is also a useful resource for professionals working in conservation, cultural and natural heritage management.

      • Historical fiction
        April 2019

        Jacob the silent warrior

        by Harald Wieczorek

        JAKOB, a foundling, was raised in a monastery, taken away at a young age by robbers after they had raided the monastery. From then on he had to live with the robbers until they were captured and hanged. The landlord let him live with the obligation to work for him. Jacob fell in love with a maid, forbidden by law, was punished severely and killed the lord of the manor in self-defense. To escape the persecutors, Jakob joined Tilly's army as a mercenary. In the last battle, end of the war, he lost his voice by a sword blow to the head. After the war, Jacob found work on a farm and became friends with Max, the farmer's twelve-year-old son. When Max was kidnapped by jugglers, Jacob, after he had brought in the harvest, went in pursuit of the jugglers ...Many scenes in this book are hard and brutal. They reflect the time during and after the 30-year war. This makes the human attributes such as love, friendship, loyalty, faith and hope stand out.

      • Historical fiction

        Das Mündel der Meda von Trier

        by Christine Rhömer

        Lorraine in the High Middle Ages: the empire is shaken by bitter struggles for authority and power. It is the time of the Crusades, Henry IV's world-famous walk to Canossa and the foundation of the monastery of Maria Laach.   In 1084, the healer Meda of Trier flees with the young Gero towards Greifenfels after the death of his parents. There she hopes to protect him from an attempt on his life. But the omnipresent danger and the forbidden love for Sigrun von Greifenfels accompany Gero until he has to face his responsibility and his greatest enemy in the all-important battle!   A gripping historical novel about retribution and love at a turning point in time.

      • August 2020

        Blue Sky Kingdom

        An Epic Family Journey to the Heart of the Himalaya

        by Bruce Kirkby

        One morning at breakfast, while gawking at his phone and feeling increasingly disconnected from family and everything else of importance in his world, it strikes writer Bruce Kirkby: This isn’t how he wants to live. Within days, plans begin to take shape. Bruce, his wife Christine, and their two children – seven-year-old Bodi and three-year-old Taj – will cross the Pacific by container ship, then travel onward through South Korea, China, India, and Nepal aboard bus, riverboat, and train, eventually traversing the Himalaya by foot. Their destination: a thousand-year-old Buddhist monastery in the remote Zanskar valley, one of the last places where Tibetan Buddhism is still practiced freely in its original setting.   In this refuge, where ancient traditions intersect with the modern world, Kirkby discovers ways to slow down, to observe and listen, and ultimately, to better understand his son on the autism spectrum – to surrender all expectations and connect with Bodi exactly as he is.   Recounted with wit and humility, Blue Sky Kingdom is an engaging travel memoir as well as a thoughtful exploration of modern distraction, the loss of ancient wisdom, and the challenges and rewards of intercultural friendships.

      • December 2020

        A Monastery on the Move

        Art and Politics in Later Buddhist Mongolia

        by Uranchimeg Tsultemin

        In 1639, while the Géluk School of the Fifth Dalai Lama and Qing emperors vied for supreme authority in Inner Asia, Zanabazar (1635–1723), a young descendent of Chinggis Khaan, was proclaimed the new Jebtsundampa ruler of the Khalkha Mongols. Over the next three centuries, the ger (yurt) erected to commemorate this event would become the mobile monastery Ikh Khüree, the political seat of the Jebtsundampas and a major center of Mongolian Buddhism. When the monastery and its surrounding structures were destroyed in the 1930s, they were rebuilt and renamed Ulaanbaatar, the modern-day capital of Mongolia. Based on little-known works of Mongolian Buddhist art and architecture, A Monastery on the Move presents the intricate and colorful history of Ikh Khüree and of Zanabazar, himself an eminent artist. Author Uranchimeg Tsultemin makes the case for a multifaceted understanding of Mongol agency during the Géluk’s political ascendancy and the Qing appropriation of the Mongol concept of dual rulership (shashin tör) as the nominal “Buddhist Government.”  In rich conversation with heretofore unpublished textual, archeological, and archival sources (including ritualized oral histories), Uranchimeg argues that the Qing emperors’ “Buddhist Government” was distinctly different from the Mongol vision of sovereignty, which held Zanabazar and his succeeding Jebtsundampa reincarnates to be Mongolia’s rightful rulers. This vision culminated in their independence from the Qing and the establishment of the Jebtsundampa’s theocractic government in 1911. A groundbreaking work, A Monastery on the Move provides a fascinating, in-depth analysis and interpretation of Mongolian Buddhist art and its role in shaping borders and shifting powers in Inner Asia.

      • Fiction
        September 2020

        El bosque de los cuatro vientos

        by Maria Oruña

        THE FOREST OF THE FOUR WINDS Jon Bécquer is an anthropologist whose job is to locate and uncover lost historical objects. In an old monastery in Ourense he begins to investigate the curious disappearance of centuries-old relics which are part of The Legend of Nine Rings. So, when the corpse of a man in a Benedictine habit worn two centuries before unexpectedly appears, Bécquer and sergeant Xocas will venture deep into the legendary forests of Galicia in search of an explanation. As they move back in time, they will come across a singular story of doctor Vallejo and his daughter Marina, who, at the beginning of the 19th century travelled from Valladolid to the former Principality of Galicia to dedicate themselves to monastic life. There they will witness the fall of the Church after centuries in power and the final demise of the Anciene Régime, brought about by political upheaval and the Enlightenment. Interested in medicine and botany but not allowed to study, Marina will break the rules of knowledge, love and liberty that will change forever the course of life of the future generations.

      • January 2011

        The Demon Catcher

        Out of Print

        by Lesley Hastings, Paul Richmond, Paul Richmond

        Brother Euan has always been skeptical about the existence of demons. He may have spent his life in a monastery dedicated to the God Ajen, but that doesn't mean he has to indulge in superstition. Even the unnatural storm that batters the monastery one night isn't enough to make Euan believe.But superstition becomes the least of Euan's worries when Leon of Tremea arrives at the monastery to investigate the reports of demonic activity. Leon is nothing like the frightened, shame-filled monks, and when Euan is assigned to assist Leon in his work, he finds himself struggling with desires he'd thought firmly under control. After a second demon attack on the monastery—one that not even Euan can explain away—Euan's beliefs and assumptions about the world are shattered, and with nothing to hold him back, he opens himself to his feelings for Leon. But then Euan discovers that Leon is not all he seems to be.... ;

      • 2020

        The Cross of Moses

        by Haitham Dabbour

        On a freezing cold December night in 2011, amid political and security turmoil in Egypt, Ahmed Bahy, a photographer in his thirties, is forced into a helicopter and taken to Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, where he has enjoyed a long history with the Greek monks. A document implicates him in the mysterious death of a monk in the monastery a few hours earlier, forcing him to flee and seek to establish his innocence. With the help of the Bedouin Abi Omran and environmental scientist Ruth, Bahy later discovers rare documents of the monastery that hold grave secrets, and he risks all to uncover the truth. The novel is based on real events related to documents and maps of the monastery’s archives, as well as the demographics of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, and the author brings everything together in his tale: the historical, the geographic, the religious, the ethnic, and the artistic.

      • January 2018

        The Chronicle of Andres

        by Abbot William of Andres, Leah Spokhow

        Translated with Notes and Commentary by Leah ShopkowIn 1220 Abbot William of Andres, a monastery halfway between Calais and Saint-Omer on the busy road from London to Paris, sat down to write an ambitious cartulary-chronicle for his monastery. Although his work was unfinished at his death, William’s account is an unpolished gem of medieval historical writing. The Chronicle of Andres details the history of his monastery from its foundation in the late eleventh century through the early part of 1234. Early in the thirteenth century, the monks decided to sue for their freedom and appointed William as their protector. His travels took him on a 4000 km, four-year journey, during which he was befriended by Innocent III, among others, and where he learned to negotiate the labyrinthine system of the ecclesiastical courts. Upon winning his case, he was elected abbot on his return to Andres and enjoyed a flourishing career thereafter. A decade after his victory, William decided to put the history of the monastery on a firm footing.This text not only offers insight into the practice of medieval canon law (from the perspective of a well-informed man with legal training), but also ecclesiastical policies, the dynamics of life within a monastery, ethnicity and linguistic diversity, and rural life. It is comparable in its frankness to Jocelin of Brakelord’s Chronicle of Bury. Because William drew on the historiographic tradition of the Southern Low Countries, his text also offers some insights into this subject, thus composing a broad picture of the medieval European monastic world.

      • Fiction
        June 2014

        Father Pauls War

        by Mark Cheng

        In 1935 Paul Leung, a promising engineering student, finds himself attracted to the austere life of a Cistercian monk. He leaves his family and girlfriend Margaret, to join the Monastery of Our lady of Consolation in the Beijing mountains. During unsettled times, large areas of the country are under Japanese occupation leading up to World War Two. Paul and the other monks survive, only for the monastery to be destroyed by the Communists in the vicious civil war which follows. A small group of monks escape to Hong Kong where they re-found their monastery. Father Paul decides to make the perilous journey across China to join them, and on the way endures hard labour, privation and brutality. En route to Hong Kong Father Paul and Margaret meet again, and after everything he has been through, he faces one last agonising choice. Is his love stronger for God, or for a woman?

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