I'm interested in medieval history.anyone point me in the right direction ?

Question

perticularly in reading about it not just fact, but in myth and even in the fiction section too please.
any ideas

M&B have a brilliant Lords and Ladies medeval collection out btw .
thats what reawakened my interest .

Answer 1

The right direction would be....

to take the clock and start turning it backward.




g-day!

Answer 2

Alison Weir is a wonderful historical writer. I would recommend anything by her. Also Lady Antonia Fraser has written some very scholarly biographies.

Carolly Erickson and Philippa Gregory are both historical fiction writers whose work is thoroughly enjoyable.

For an earlier period, try Bernard Cornwell. his Lords of the North and the Pale Horseman are exciting adventures of the Viking period. Again, it's fiction but set against the background of the time.

Edward Rutherford writes sagas that take you from prehistory almost to the modern era in such works as Sarum, London, Russiya and The Princes of Ireland.

All of these writers' works are wonderfully detailed so you really get a feel for the period.

Those are just a few recommendations. My own history library comprises around 3,000 books and I add to it at the rate of 4 or 5 books a month.

Answer 3

I did my degree in Ancient and Medieval history!

Depends which aspect you are interested in - theres so much, its hard to generalise.

For instance - are you interested in military history - the Crusades for example? The "political" side of it - ie the Kings and Queens of Europe? Church History? The archaeological record, ie the castles which have survived? The everyday lives of the people of the times? The Chivalric Code (which forms the basis of the Romances of Chretien de Troyes and the Arthurian Legends)?

I would advise you to pick an area to research rather than try to just study "medieval history" in its entirety.

Religion and Warfare were the major factors which governed life in the Medieval period, the church was phenomenally powerful and controlled every aspect of life. It was a very martial society - the Code of Chivalry had great effect on how society organised itself, and the way religion and warfare came together can be seen in the creation of the order of the Knights Templar and the Crusades.

I also did a lot of study on how the UK was formed - the coming of the Anglo Saxons to England, the dominance of the kings of Wessex, the coming of the Vikings and the creation of the Danelaw (well this is all "Dark Age" history really, pre-Medieval but gives a good foundation), and the Norman conquest. Also the Medieval Princes of Wales and the conquest of Wales by Edward I.

Its a fascinating subject but you need to specialise really. Pick an area that really interests you!

Answer 4

Joseph And Frances Gies Have Three Excellent Books on Medieval life. "Life in a Medieval Castle" ,"...... City", & "... Village" As far as fiction King Arthur offers many different authors from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Howard Pyle. Bernard Cornwell of the Sharpe's Series Has two good trilogies. BTW a good contemperary account is The Chronicles of Jean Froissart And the ancient tales of The Mabinogion.

Answer 5

Good writers of medieval fiction are the late Ellis Peters (who wrote the Brother Cadfael series) and Michael Jecks, author of the Knights Templar series, both of which are mysteries set in the Middle Ages.

Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet Saga is another good historical series set in this time period, and, if you can find any, such books by the late Norah Lofts as The Town House and The House at Old Vine and A Wayside Inn.

To turn to non-fiction, I'd recommend Alison Weir's biographies "Eleanor of Aquitaine' and "Queen Isabella," "Who's Who in the Middle Ages" by John Fines, "The World of Chaucer," by D. S. Brewer, and the compilation "Medieval Panorama," edited by Robert Bartlett.

Happy exploring!

Answer 6

Medieval history is fascinating, but to get into it properly there are a couple of broad themes that you should explore

- The role of the church both politically and socially,
- Social history (particularly life for the masses)

If you read along those lines at the same time as the political history, it will be a far more satisfactory experience. I suggest you get yourself down to a few charity bookshops and see what you find. There's a lot of good stuff out there and we are talking a pretty broad timescale (400 years), so you are bound to find plenty.

Answer 7

try reading pre Renascence literature.

as Wikipedia says
"Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works. Just as in modern literature, it is a complex and rich field of study, from the utterly sacred to the exuberantly profane, touching all points in-between. Because of the wide range of time and place it is difficult to speak in general terms without oversimplification, and thus the literature is best characterized by its place of origin and/or language, as well as its genre."

I am interested in Arabic - so the Thousand and one nights is my main source. but try

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ("The Ecclesiastical History of the English People"), the Venerable Bede

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, anonymous English author

La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy), Dante Alighieri

Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory

Poem of the Cid, anonymous Spanish author

Il milione (The Travels of Marco Polo), Marco Polo

Beowulf, anonymous Anglo-Saxon author

The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

Answer 8

Well then fiction wouldn't be medieval 'history' would it? Regarding the historical medieval period, there are thousands of books, a good starting point would be to go to the Internet Medieval Sourcebook online, which is the largest medieval website on the net.

Answer 9

To get a good grasp of the medieval worldview, you should definitely read Dante's Divine Comedy. It is in three parts, Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise.

Answer 10

I thnk that I can point you in the right direction. If you would do a Yahoo search the same as I did on medieval history. I will give you just a few.

The Medieval Combat Society.


Timeline of Edward 111.

1301 February 7 Edward 1 grants his son the title prince of wales.

1301 May 20 England and France sign peace treaty.
1302 Edward 1 and scots sign peace treaty.
1303 Winter Baltic sea freezes over.
1303 Treaty of Paris Philippe 1V of France gives back french land including Gascony to Edward 1 and Philippe 1V daughter to marry Edward 1 son,the future of Edward 11.
1303 February 24 Battle of Roslin,Scots defeat English,English invasion of Scotland halted.
1303 May Battle of Stirling,Edward 1 defeats Scots.
1303 October 12 Pope Boniface V111 dies.
1303 October 22 Benedict X1 elected Pope 1303-1304.
1304 February Battle of Happrew,Edward 1 defeats William Wallace.
1304 Spring Edward 1 lays siege to Stirling castle.
1304 July 20 Pope Benedict X1 dies.
1304 July 20 Stirling castle falls to the English.
1304 august French defeat Flemmings at Mons-en-Pe'v'le,near Lille.
1305 June 5 Clement V electedPope,1305-14.
1305 William Wallace executed.
1306 England expels around 100,000 jews.
1306 Winter Baltic sea freezes over.
1306 Knights of St John purchse Rhodes.
1306 A Londoner is executed for burning coal.
1306 March 25 Robert Bruce,Robert 1 crowned king of Scotland at Scone.
1306 May Robrt 1 'the Bruce king of Scots excommunicated by Pope Clement V.
1306 June 19 Battle of Methven English defeat Scots.
1306 July 21 King Phillipe of France confisticates Italian bankers assets and expels jews after siezing them of their assets.
1306 August 11 Battle of Dalry John MacDougall of Argyll,lord of Lorne defeats Robert the Bruce.
1307 Dante Alighieri begins 'The Commedia'which becomes'The Divine Comedy'.
1307 Roger di Flor with 6,000 Catalan Mercenaries is turned back by Constantinople.
1307 Battle of Turnberry Scots defeats English.
1307 February 9 Dougal Macdowell defeats Thomas and Alexander Bruce.
1307 May 8 Battle of Sanquhar Scots defeats English.
1307 May 13 Battle of Ayr Robert Bruce defeats Ralph de Monthermet.
1307 JULY 7 Edward 1 dies[1272-1307]
1307 August 6Edward 11 makes piers Gaveston the earl of Cornwall.
1307 August 21 The Pope exempts the Templars from a tax by Edward 11.


There are six more pages of medieval history but there wont be much room for others,but i'll tell you just a couple more.

1322 March 16 Battle of Boroughbridge Edward 11's army under Andrew Hareley,earl of Carlisle,defeats earl of Lancaster. This is where Robin Hood took part in.

1307 November 7 William Tell shoots Hermann Gessler the Austrian governor of Tyrol.
1307 November 18 William Tell shoots an apple from his son's head.

If you want tofollow up more of these dates the link is, http;//WWW.themes.org/timeline.htm

Answer 11

Head towards Stonehenge