The essays here provide a series of unusual, varying and complex perspectives on late-medieval society, with a particular focus on the European context. They show how in the north of England the Cliffords and tenants of the honour of Pontefract were forced to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of their conflicting loyalties to local lords and distant kings; how in East Anglia the growing cult of St Margaret was reinforced by dissemination of her life-story (published here from a manuscript in the British Library); how at Westminster the court of Henry IV was enhanced by his purchase of luxury items, and how the inept rule of his grandson Henry VI led to the "de-skilling" of hitherto competent bureaucracies in the exchequer and chancery; how in Normandy a fine line was drawn between brigandage and movements for independence; how in Burgundy the classic ideals of chivalry, as presented in the duchy's literature, contrasted with the grim reality of military and political confrontations; and how in Florence infants were nurtured.