The notion of service was ingrained in medieval culture, and not just as a part of the wider concept of patronage: it is prominent throughout the language and life of the time. These studies examine the nature and importance of service in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in a variety of contexts both within and beyond the dominions of the English crown, including contracts between domestic servants and employers, labour legislation, career opportunities for graduates, the public service ethos embodied by the king's household retinue and a scheme for its reform, public service in France, ducal service in Brittany, and bastard feudalism in Scotland.

ANNE CURRY is Professor of History, University of Southampton; ELIZABETH MATTHEW is honorary research fellow at the Department of History, University of Reading.

Contributors: JEREMY GOLDBERG, CHRISTOPHER GIVEN-WILSON, MICHAEL JONES, ALEXANDER GRANT, VIRGINIA DAVIS, JEREMY I. CATTO, D.A.L. MORGAN, KATHELEEN DALY, RALPH A. GRIFFITHS.