Nottingham Alabaster
Encyclopedia
Nottingham alabaster is a term used to refer to the English
sculpture industry, mostly of relatively small religious carvings, which flourished from the fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century. Alabaster
carvers were at work in London
, York
, Burton-on-Trent but the largest concentration was in Nottingham
and this has led to all the English medieval output being referred to as "Nottingham alabaster".
Carvings were made as single figures, assemblies for tomb monuments, including full length effigies, but the most common survivals are panels from sets for altarpieces, which could be transported relatively easily, and fitted into a locally-made architectural surround of stone or wood on arrival at their destination. These were attractive for less wealthy churches, and for the private chapels of the nobility. Some complete ensembles survive, showing varied numbers of panels; the dimensions of the Nativity illustrated are typical.
Throughout the period of their production Nottingham alabaster images were hugely popular in Europe and were exported in large quantities, some ending up as far afield as Iceland, Croatia and Poland. But by far the greatest export market for these images was in France, where even today some churches retain in situ their English alabaster altarpieces, unlike England, where survivals are extremely rare. The sculptures were normally brightly painted, sometimes all over, sometimes partially, but much of the paint has often been lost, and many pieces have had the rest completely removed by dealers, collectors or museums in the past. Most alabaster altarpieces and religious carvings other than church monument
s remaining in England were destroyed in the English Reformation
, after which the many workshops had to change their products to concentrate on church monuments.
The alabaster used in the industry was quarried largely in the area around South Derbyshire near Tutbury
and Chellaston
. The craftsmen were known by various names such as alabastermen, kervers, marblers, and image-makers. Alabaster
is much softer and easier to work than marble and a good material for mass production. Alabaster, commonly called gypsum
, is sulphate of lime which is soft, easily worked and hardens by exposure. It was therefore a much cheaper alternative to stone or bronze, for indoor positions only.
The tomb of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall
, who died in 1334, in Westminster Abbey
, is an early example, of very high quality. On 6 June 1371, payment was made to Peter Maceon of Nottingham, of the balance of 300 marks for a table (altar piece) of alabaster made by him and placed upon the High Altar within the free Chapel of Saint George of Windsor. The execution of this order cost £200 and required 10 carts, 80 horses, and 20 men to transport it to its destination. The journey occupied seventeen days in the autumn of 1367, and the expenses of transport amounted to £30.
Alabaster images in English churches may have survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries
in the 1530s, but most did not survive the reign of King Edward VI following the Putting away of Books and Images Act 1549 ordering the destruction of all images. Indeed eight months after this act, in January 1550 the English Ambassador to France reported the arrival of three English ships laden with alabaster images to be sold at Paris, Rouen and elsewhere. Whether these were new images, or ones removed from English churches, is not entirely clear. From the middle of the sixteenth century, workshops focused instead on sculpting alabaster tombs or church monuments. There is an elaborate relief panel of Apollo and the Muses, of about 1580, which is probably English, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The industry survived on a smaller scale supplying church monuments, increasingly produced by academically trained sculptors, until the falling price of marble and exhaustion of most English quarries made alabaster increasingly rare as a material for English sculptors by the late 18th century.
Spain had the next largest medieval alabaster industry, whose pieces are not always easily distinguished from English work, but pieces were also produced in France, the Low Countries
and elsewhere in Europe.
The sculpture industry evolved to produce two main forms, panels and statues. Thin panels carved in high relief, typically about 40 cm by 25 cm in size, usually come from series covering the Passion or Life of Christ
which were mounted in a wooden framework as altarpiece
s, or used by the wealthy as domestic devotional works, set in a wooden triptych
with closeable doors. Many statues were smaller than this, but there are a number of larger ones. An example of a much larger statue, three feet high and free-standing but flat-backed, is Our Lady of Westminster
, now in London but found by the art trade in France. The discovery in 1863 of a headless but stylistically almost identical alabaster
image, buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Broughton, Craven
suggests that, as was apparently usually the case, the statue was a standard model repeated several times by the workshop, and probably produced for stock rather than upon receipt of a particular commission. Exports, as of the better documented contemporary export trade in icon
s of the Cretan school
, were usually made in bulk for sale to dealers, who then found buyers locally.
Most surviving examples have lost much of their paintwork, but the colouring of the carvings was an integral part of the production. Colouring was usually very vivid, with robes being painted in scarlets and blues, hair and accoutrements such as crowns and sceptres were often gilded, and landscapes were decorated with distinctive daisy patterns often against a dark-green ground. Moulded and gilded gesso
was also used to give extra richness to the carvings which would need to be brightly coloured, as mostly they would only be seen at a distance by candlelight.
The subjects of the sculptors were the usual content of altarpieces, most often scenes from the Life of Christ
or Life of the Virgin
. There is a subject apparently unique to English alabasters, the Bosom of Abraham Trinity
, a variant of the Throne of Mercy which is more often found, and with the Madonna and Child, is often a larger free-standing statue - such as the Westminster example. Other subjects include saint's lives, including Thomas Becket
and, exceptionally, the V&A has a fine detached head of John the Baptist
, the subject of a popular devotional cult from the second half of the 15th century right up to the Reformation, which involved fasting on Wednesdays in order to obtain specific graces.
apparently unique to English alabaster is the "Bosom of Abraham Trinity
", where in a composition of the "Throne of Mercy" type, a group of tiny figures are seen in a napkin held or supported between the hands of God the Father
. There are five examples of free-standing statues known, in the Burrell Collection
Museum in Glasgow, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
and elsewhere, and nine panels. The theme combines elements of the Western Virgin of Mercy
and the Russian Pokrov icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences, and was probably associated with the dedication of All Saints
.
The alabaster sculptors were so successful that it developed into an important export trade. Work is still to be found in churches and museums across Europe
, and appears in such far flung locations as Croatia, Iceland and Poland.
The Victoria and Albert Museum
and Nottingham Castle Museum
hold the two principal collections of Nottingham Alabaster in the United Kingdom
.
The collection in Nottingham includes three alabaster figures, representing The Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and a bishop. They were discovered on the site of St. Peter's Church, Flawford
in 1779.
An exceptionally large Virgin & Child (36 in high) known as Our Lady of Westminster
, sculpted circa 1450 in Nottingham and exported from there to France, can be found in the Lady Chapel
of Westminster Cathedral
, London whence it was installed after being bought at the Paris Exhibition of 1954. This image still carries numerous traces of its original polychromy, such as the characteristic "daisy pattern" against a dark green ground on the base, red and blue in the garment folds and gilding on the crown and mantle fastenings. This image is very similar stylistically to one found buried in the churchyard of Broughton-in-Craven and may have been from the same workshop. Over a dozen English alabaster statues of the Madonna and Child have been traced, mostly recovered from France; the smallest is 16 inches high up to size of the Westminster statue.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
sculpture industry, mostly of relatively small religious carvings, which flourished from the fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century. Alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
carvers were at work in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, Burton-on-Trent but the largest concentration was in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
and this has led to all the English medieval output being referred to as "Nottingham alabaster".
Carvings were made as single figures, assemblies for tomb monuments, including full length effigies, but the most common survivals are panels from sets for altarpieces, which could be transported relatively easily, and fitted into a locally-made architectural surround of stone or wood on arrival at their destination. These were attractive for less wealthy churches, and for the private chapels of the nobility. Some complete ensembles survive, showing varied numbers of panels; the dimensions of the Nativity illustrated are typical.
Throughout the period of their production Nottingham alabaster images were hugely popular in Europe and were exported in large quantities, some ending up as far afield as Iceland, Croatia and Poland. But by far the greatest export market for these images was in France, where even today some churches retain in situ their English alabaster altarpieces, unlike England, where survivals are extremely rare. The sculptures were normally brightly painted, sometimes all over, sometimes partially, but much of the paint has often been lost, and many pieces have had the rest completely removed by dealers, collectors or museums in the past. Most alabaster altarpieces and religious carvings other than church monument
Church monument
A church monument is an architectural or sculptural memorial to a dead person or persons, located within a Christian church. It can take various forms, from a simple wall tablet to a large and elaborate structure which may include an effigy of the deceased person and other figures of familial or...
s remaining in England were destroyed in the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, after which the many workshops had to change their products to concentrate on church monuments.
History
Tutbury
Tutbury is a large village and civil parish of about 3,000 residents in the English county of Staffordshire.It is surrounded by the agricultural countryside of both Staffordshire and Derbyshire. The site has been inhabited for over 3000 years, with Iron Age defensive ditches encircling the main...
and Chellaston
Chellaston
Chellaston is a suburb of the City of Derby, which is in the East Midlands in England in the United Kingdom. It is on a natural hill, and has recently expanded due to several new housing estates....
. The craftsmen were known by various names such as alabastermen, kervers, marblers, and image-makers. Alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
is much softer and easier to work than marble and a good material for mass production. Alabaster, commonly called gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
, is sulphate of lime which is soft, easily worked and hardens by exposure. It was therefore a much cheaper alternative to stone or bronze, for indoor positions only.
The tomb of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall
John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall
John of Eltham, 1st Earl of Cornwall was the second son of Edward II of England and Isabella of France. He was heir to the English throne from the date of the abdication of his father to the birth of his nephew Edward of Woodstock .-Life:John was born in 1316 at Eltham Palace, Kent...
, who died in 1334, in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, is an early example, of very high quality. On 6 June 1371, payment was made to Peter Maceon of Nottingham, of the balance of 300 marks for a table (altar piece) of alabaster made by him and placed upon the High Altar within the free Chapel of Saint George of Windsor. The execution of this order cost £200 and required 10 carts, 80 horses, and 20 men to transport it to its destination. The journey occupied seventeen days in the autumn of 1367, and the expenses of transport amounted to £30.
Alabaster images in English churches may have survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in the 1530s, but most did not survive the reign of King Edward VI following the Putting away of Books and Images Act 1549 ordering the destruction of all images. Indeed eight months after this act, in January 1550 the English Ambassador to France reported the arrival of three English ships laden with alabaster images to be sold at Paris, Rouen and elsewhere. Whether these were new images, or ones removed from English churches, is not entirely clear. From the middle of the sixteenth century, workshops focused instead on sculpting alabaster tombs or church monuments. There is an elaborate relief panel of Apollo and the Muses, of about 1580, which is probably English, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The industry survived on a smaller scale supplying church monuments, increasingly produced by academically trained sculptors, until the falling price of marble and exhaustion of most English quarries made alabaster increasingly rare as a material for English sculptors by the late 18th century.
Spain had the next largest medieval alabaster industry, whose pieces are not always easily distinguished from English work, but pieces were also produced in France, the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
and elsewhere in Europe.
Forms
Life of Christ
The Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of...
which were mounted in a wooden framework as altarpiece
Altarpiece
An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
s, or used by the wealthy as domestic devotional works, set in a wooden triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
with closeable doors. Many statues were smaller than this, but there are a number of larger ones. An example of a much larger statue, three feet high and free-standing but flat-backed, is Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster is a late Medieval statue of the Madonna and child, now to be found at the entrance of the Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral, London, under the thirteenth Station of the Cross by Eric Gill. The image is made of English alabaster, is flat backed, 36 inches high and...
, now in London but found by the art trade in France. The discovery in 1863 of a headless but stylistically almost identical alabaster
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
image, buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Broughton, Craven
Broughton, Craven
Broughton is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 81. The village is situated on the A59 road, about three miles west of Skipton.-Broughton Hall:...
suggests that, as was apparently usually the case, the statue was a standard model repeated several times by the workshop, and probably produced for stock rather than upon receipt of a particular commission. Exports, as of the better documented contemporary export trade in icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
s of the Cretan school
Cretan School
The term Cretan School describes an important school of icon painting, also known as Post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the Fall of Constantinople, becoming the central force in Greek painting during the...
, were usually made in bulk for sale to dealers, who then found buyers locally.
Most surviving examples have lost much of their paintwork, but the colouring of the carvings was an integral part of the production. Colouring was usually very vivid, with robes being painted in scarlets and blues, hair and accoutrements such as crowns and sceptres were often gilded, and landscapes were decorated with distinctive daisy patterns often against a dark-green ground. Moulded and gilded gesso
Gesso
Gesso is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these...
was also used to give extra richness to the carvings which would need to be brightly coloured, as mostly they would only be seen at a distance by candlelight.
The subjects of the sculptors were the usual content of altarpieces, most often scenes from the Life of Christ
Life of Christ
The Life of Christ as a narrative cycle in Christian art comprises a number of different subjects, which were often grouped in series or cycles of works in a variety of media, narrating the life of Jesus on earth, as distinguished from the many other subjects in art showing the eternal life of...
or Life of the Virgin
Life of the Virgin
The Life of the Virgin, showing narrative scenes from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a common subject for pictorial cycles in Christian art, often complementing, or forming part of, a cycle on the Life of Christ. In both cases the number of scenes shown varies greatly with the space...
. There is a subject apparently unique to English alabasters, the Bosom of Abraham Trinity
Bosom of Abraham Trinity
The Bosom of Abraham Trinity, also known as the Trinity with souls, is a rare iconography apparently unique to English medieval alabaster sculpture, of which only twelve examples are known to have survived, although there were undoubtedly many more made...
, a variant of the Throne of Mercy which is more often found, and with the Madonna and Child, is often a larger free-standing statue - such as the Westminster example. Other subjects include saint's lives, including Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
and, exceptionally, the V&A has a fine detached head of John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, the subject of a popular devotional cult from the second half of the 15th century right up to the Reformation, which involved fasting on Wednesdays in order to obtain specific graces.
Bosom of Abraham Trinities
A rare iconographyIconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
apparently unique to English alabaster is the "Bosom of Abraham Trinity
Bosom of Abraham Trinity
The Bosom of Abraham Trinity, also known as the Trinity with souls, is a rare iconography apparently unique to English medieval alabaster sculpture, of which only twelve examples are known to have survived, although there were undoubtedly many more made...
", where in a composition of the "Throne of Mercy" type, a group of tiny figures are seen in a napkin held or supported between the hands of God the Father
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
. There are five examples of free-standing statues known, in the Burrell Collection
Burrell Collection
The Burrell Collection is an art collection in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated in Pollok Country Park on the south side of the city.-History:...
Museum in Glasgow, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
and elsewhere, and nine panels. The theme combines elements of the Western Virgin of Mercy
Virgin of Mercy
The Virgin of Mercy is a subject in Catholic art, showing a group of people sheltering for protection under the outspread cloak of the Virgin Mary. It was especially popular in Italy from the 13th to 16th centuries, often as a specialised form of votive portrait, and is also found in other...
and the Russian Pokrov icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences, and was probably associated with the dedication of All Saints
All Saints
All Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
.
Scenes from the life of Thomas Beckett
There are panels showing scenes from the life of Thomas Beckett:- The consecration of Thomas Becket as Archbishop
- St. Thomas meeting the Pope at SensSensSens is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.Sens is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.-History:...
in 1164 - St. Thomas landing at Sandwich
- The Martyrdom of St. Thomas
Surviving examples
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and appears in such far flung locations as Croatia, Iceland and Poland.
The Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
and Nottingham Castle Museum
Nottingham Castle
Nottingham Castle is a castle in Nottingham, England. It is located in a commanding position on a natural promontory known as "'Castle Rock'", with cliffs high to the south and west. In the Middle Ages it was a major royal fortress and occasional royal residence...
hold the two principal collections of Nottingham Alabaster in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The collection in Nottingham includes three alabaster figures, representing The Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and a bishop. They were discovered on the site of St. Peter's Church, Flawford
St. Peter's Church, Flawford
St. Peter's Church, Flawford was a Church of England church in Flawford, Nottinghamshire.-History:The church is famous for the discovery of three Nottingham alabaster figures, representing Our Lady, St. Peter, and a bishop which were discovered during the demolition of the church in 1779. They now...
in 1779.
An exceptionally large Virgin & Child (36 in high) known as Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster
Our Lady of Westminster is a late Medieval statue of the Madonna and child, now to be found at the entrance of the Lady Chapel in Westminster Cathedral, London, under the thirteenth Station of the Cross by Eric Gill. The image is made of English alabaster, is flat backed, 36 inches high and...
, sculpted circa 1450 in Nottingham and exported from there to France, can be found in the Lady Chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...
of Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
, London whence it was installed after being bought at the Paris Exhibition of 1954. This image still carries numerous traces of its original polychromy, such as the characteristic "daisy pattern" against a dark green ground on the base, red and blue in the garment folds and gilding on the crown and mantle fastenings. This image is very similar stylistically to one found buried in the churchyard of Broughton-in-Craven and may have been from the same workshop. Over a dozen English alabaster statues of the Madonna and Child have been traced, mostly recovered from France; the smallest is 16 inches high up to size of the Westminster statue.
Sources
- The Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Nottingham, Thomas Forman & Sons, 1914
- Medieval English Alabaster Carvings in the Castle Museum Nottingham, Francis CheethamFrancis CheethamFrancis William Cheetham was a leading authority on Nottingham Alabaster and the author of several books and articles on the subject.-Career:...
, City of Nottingham art Galleries and Museums Committee, 1973 - English Mediaeval Alabasters: With a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Francis CheethamFrancis CheethamFrancis William Cheetham was a leading authority on Nottingham Alabaster and the author of several books and articles on the subject.-Career:...
, Phaidon Christie's, 1984, ISBN 0714880140 (978-0714880143) - The Alabaster Men: Sacred Images From Medieval England, Francis CheethamFrancis CheethamFrancis William Cheetham was a leading authority on Nottingham Alabaster and the author of several books and articles on the subject.-Career:...
, Daniel Katz Ltd 2001 - The Alabaster Images of Medieval England (Museum of London Medieval Finds (1150 - 1450), Francis CheethamFrancis CheethamFrancis William Cheetham was a leading authority on Nottingham Alabaster and the author of several books and articles on the subject.-Career:...
, The Boydell Press, 2003, ISBN 1843830280 (978-1843830283) - English Medieval Alabasters: With a Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Francis CheethamFrancis CheethamFrancis William Cheetham was a leading authority on Nottingham Alabaster and the author of several books and articles on the subject.-Career:...
, Second Edition, The Boydell Press 2005, ISBN 1843830094 (978-1843830092)