 Medieval History Shelves Browse through our favorite history books, check for your favorites, or just wander through the whole store! If you see a title you want to know more about, including a photo of the cover, reviews, and pricing and ordering information, just click the flowerpot icon in front of the title. |
Pick of the Month
Celtic Knotwork Design This is one of the best books I've seen on this subject. It's very user-friendly; easy to understand instructions for doing your own designs. Click here for more! 
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A History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth This is a classic, well-known amongst historians. The author was a medieval monk who laid down a comprehensive history of Britain, from the end of Roman rule through the early middle ages. The interesting thing is that there is plenty of controversy over how much is historical fact, and how much Geoffrey's imagination. While it is a fact that the mind of medieval man did not draw the same lines between fact and legend that the modern mind does, to dismiss Geoffrey outright as a source of history would be a mistake. |
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Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia
by Jo Ann Kay McNamara I include this on the medieval page because this is such an outstanding history of the beginning, evolution through centuries, and survival, of women's religious communities. And Ms. McNamara covers the Middle Ages thoroughly. This book is actually so interesting that it is fun reading. It is educational in spite of itself. |
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Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1100 - 1300 by Rosalind Brooke and Christopher Brooke Everything from false relics, to the Crusades and the custom of pilgrimage, to the rise and role of the Inquisition. A must read for the serious medieval history buff. |
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Who's Who in the Middle Ages
by John Fines
A fairly comprehensive guide to prominent and influential persons througout the period. Each biographical essay is more thorough that would be expected in a compilation-type book. I have one strong reservation about the book: the author is under the impression that there were almost no women of any consequence alive at the time. For an era in which many women enjoyed a level of power and influence that actually declined considerably in later centuries, I was astounded to find that he overlooked such people as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hildegard of Bingen, and Joan of Arc, to name just a few. For some reason, he did include Catherine of Sienna, a good choice but a strange one in light of those he omitted. It's a good resource for male history. |
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Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women in Medieval France by Penelope D. Johnson A study of French convents and the daily lives of their inhabitants. The author makes a real effort to separate the mythological ideal for life as a medieval monastic, from the realities of the life. Hard to put down, and enlightening. |
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