Medieval Folklore [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs [2 volumes] - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1576071219 ISBN 13: 9781576071212

Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 2000

Synopsis

This award winning, definitive work is an A–Z guide to the mundane and supernatural lore of the Middle Ages.

· Includes over 300 A–Z entries

· Exhaustive bibliographic guides with each entry

· Over 150 illustrations

· Extensive indexes of motifs and tale types

About this title

About the Author:

Carl Lindahl is professor of English at the University of Houston, Houston, TX.

John McNamara is professor of English at the University of Houston, Houston, TX.

John Lindow is professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.

From Booklist:

ABC-CLIO has recently published two other encyclopedias of folklore, Mary Ellen Brown and Bruce A. Rosenberg's Encyclopedia of Folklore and Literature (1998) and Thomas A. Green's Folklore: An Ency clopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art (1997). What distinguishes Medieval Folklore from these others is the editors' strong belief that folklore can be known only through the culture of the time in which it existed. In this set, which covers 500 to 1500 C.E., the stress is on information that is actually available on medieval folklore; earlier and later versions of legends, tales, and so on are related only where necessary to provide background. Readers may want to consult the two encyclopedias mentioned above for earlier or more recent accounts. Another refreshing precept is that folklore is not a product of "poor folks" but may represent other cultural groups, such as royalty and clergy. The 306 entries are written mostly by scholars from leading universities in the U.S and Great Britain. Length ranges from just under a page to more than 10 pages for in-depth articles with subentries, such as Ballad and Folktale . The encyclopedia's geographic range is Europe, with main focus on England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales as well as the largest cultural areas defined by language, history, and traits. There are entries on Arabic Islamic, Finno-Ugric, French, German, Hungarian, Welsh, and other traditions; however, medieval Africa, East Asia, and South Asia are excluded. Theories and methods are not stressed. Entries show how tales change over time and in different centuries. For example, British stories of outlaw heroes "spanned a period of centuries" and included Anglo-Saxon Hereward (eleventh century), Scottish William Wallace (thirteenth century), and English Robin Hood (fourteenth century). They combined "long lived patterns with the needs and nuances of immediate context." Each of these heroes is pitted against an authority representative of the time in which he lived and should be studied in that context.References to other entries follow each essay, along with sometimes extensive suggestions for further reading that include descriptions and evaluations of the sources, helpful for experts and most useful for beginners. A-Z entries are followed by a general index as well as an "Index of Tale Types," based on Antti Arne and Stith Thompson's Tale Types , (3d ed., 1961), and an "Index of Motifs," based on Thompson's Index of Motifs (1955-58). These are helpful but not comprehensive, because the Arne and Thompson systems are not used consistently by the contributors. Medieval Folklore distinguishes itself from the earlier folklore encyclopedias by its emphasis on strict medieval interpretations. Brown and Rosenberg, for example, cover literary figures from many eras, including medieval. The set under review does not treat biographies, with the exception of a few writers and saints and four historical rulers. However, it is strong on terminology. For example, flyting , a form of verbal combat, is mentioned only briefly in one of the other works and not at all in the other one but has a two-page entry here. Green's work is strong in its own right in methods of inquiry and topics such as ethnomusicology and ethnopoetics. Medieval Folklore is strongest in determining how words, tales, and customs were used at the time and over time. For example, we have all come to know the narrative of Red Riding Hood as fiction, but it may have been told as a true story in Latin in the eleventh century!The editors claim there has never before been an encyclopedia of medieval folklore. At the very least, the work under consideration appears to be the only one readily available and accessible to the average reader. It is recommended for libraries serving beginning and moderately advanced students of the folklore of the Middle Ages in Europe. REVWR
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About this edition

• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1576071219
• ISBN 13: 9781576071212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 1135
• Editor: Lindahl Carl R., McNamara John, Lindow John