The Medieval World (Routledge Worlds) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415181518 ISBN 13: 9780415181518

Publisher: Routledge, 2001

Synopsis

This groundbreaking collection brings the Middle Ages to life and conveys the distinctiveness of this diverse, constantly changing period. Thirty-eight scholars bring together one medieval world from many disparate worlds, from Connacht to Constantinople and from Tynemouth to Timbuktu.

This extraordinary set of reconstructions presents the reader with a vivid re-drawing of the medieval past, offering fresh appraisals of the evidence and modern historical writing.

Chapters are thematically linked in four sections:

• identities
• beliefs, social values and symbolic order
• power and power-structures
• elites, organizations and groups.

Packed full of original scholarship, The Medieval World is essential reading for anyone studying medieval history.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Linehan is Fellow and Dean of St. John's College, Cambridge. Janet L. Nelson is Professor of Medieval history at King's College, London. She is also the president of the Royal Historical Society.

Reviews

To help reconstruct the medieval period for the contemporary reader, Linehan (History and the Historians of Medieval Spain) and Nelson (The Frankish World, 750-900) have enlisted contributions from 38 scholars, who come from Europe and Japan as well as the United States. Underrepresented, according to the editors themselves, are economic and German history, the latter owing to the lack of German historians among the contributors. The contributions are grouped thematically into four sections. The first section examines the coexistence of various identities as it tracks the differences and interactions between Orthodox East and Catholic West and among Christians, Muslims, Jews, and pagans. The second section's theme is the symbolic universe that existed for these peoples the beliefs and societal values, the role of ritual, and the relations between the sexes. The third part looks at power relationships and the organizational structure that generated power, while the fourth considers the roles played by distinct groups, both elite and nonelite. These range from an examination of an English parish and its clergy to the role of Roman lawyers in easing the transition from a pre-Christian to a Christian world. This compilation of essays will be of interest to both scholars and students of the Middle Ages and is recommended for academic libraries. Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415181518
• ISBN 13: 9780415181518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 768
• Editor: Linehan Peter, Nelson Janet L.