Fred Orton is Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Leeds. Ian Wood is Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leeds. Clare Lees is Professor of English at King's College, University of London
'This is an exemplary piece of interdisciplinary research. It is the fruit of a long process of collaboration and conversation between friends engaged by a profound intellectual problem. Yet what is also so powerful about the text is that it reminds us that these monuments are themselves documents of social power and conflict. It reminds us what a complex history of conquest and struggle and of ethnic difference and religious conflict is covered by the terms English and British . In this respect, its story connects profoundly with our own times. It also demonstrates that far from theoretical sophistication and empirical rigour being antagonistic towards each other, they are necessary complements. In this regard it is a salutary lesson in how to do art history.'Andrew Hemingway, Professor of Art History at University College London