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"Here is an excellent collection of texts illustrative of the struggle between medieval sects and ecclesiatical authorities in medieval Europe. . . . Excellent bibliographical essays complement chapter introductions, making this volume unusually valuable ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Essential materials
There is nothing else available like this collection of original sources from the Middle Ages on the theory and reality of heresy and its persecution. Peters presents foundational texts, well-chosen and diverse in character: not just theoretical tracts and official pronouncements, but also court records, popular stories about saints, and other material. The commentary that Peters provides is very limited. For an area of knowledge where there's an awful lot of myth and rumor and gossip -- Templars, witches, underground cults, the like -- this collection is sober and solid. We need to understand the idea of heresy and what it meant (and means): this book is an important resource for doing that.

Good for what it is
This book is most certainly good for what it is meant to be. It provides primary texts with a minimal amount of analysis. I am reading this for a college course on Heresy and Dissent in Medieval Europe and it provides the basis for the entire class. ... Read more

Product Description
Now revised and expanded, this edition of the splendidly detailed and lively history of the Middle Ages contains more than 30 percent new material. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

Just what I wanted
This was a book that was recommended to me by a relative.Thank you for having it available to me.The information in it was just what I wanted to know.

Horrible - Do not read at all
Only one word describes this book. That word would be HORRIBLE.

This book is not a history of the Middle Ages. It is a propoganda piece about the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. According to this book no is civilized if they are not of the Church. No one is sophisticated unless associated with the Church.

The first hint about this book comes in the title. "Civilization of the Middle Ages", notice that Civilization is singular. So is this book. The entire book is about the Roman Catholic Church, the only Civilization according to Cantor. Every apology possible is made to put the Church in a better light. The blatant theft that was the Donation of Constatine? Page 174 is not the history of the event but the author's opinion piece defending it. Want a good description of the citizens of the Mervinigan Empire? Check page 146 where Cantor calls them "Near Savage"/

This book is the worst kind of history. It is propopganda trying to masquerade as history. Do not read this book. You will do yourself a huge disservice in regards to learning the history of the Middle Ages.

Astonishing ignorance destroys confidence in remainder of book
Cantor writes in an engaging manor, and knows how to spin a coherent narrative. These are important considerations. So too is accuracy.
As a non-expert in medieval history I need to have confidence that the writer is getting it right, at least about the more significant things. This is extremely important to me since as to most of the material covered by the book I have no way of knowing whether Cantor is right or wrong.
However, near the outset of the book (the second paragraph of chapter two) I encountered this sentence: "Christians believe that the Holy Spirit assumed human form, that spirit became flesh, that Jesus Christ was both a human being and the way to salvation-- the Savior." In the next paragraph Cantor repeats for us that "The divine spirit assumed human form and suffered, . . . ." And then Cantor tells us that this was part of "the central message of early medieval Christian theology."
These statements would have caused any medieval churchman to laugh in astonishment. Indeed, if Cantor's book had been published in any century prior to the Twentieth he would have been forever barred from any academic post in the West. To say that the Holy Spirit assumed human form, and identify that human form with Jesus Christ shows an astounding ignorance of the central doctrine of the Christian church-- the doctrine of the Trinity. That doctrine affirms that God is one in essence, and eternally exists as three distinct persons. In Christian doctrine, whether Roman, Eastern, or Protestant, it was the eternal Son that assumed human flesh -- not the Holy Spirit. From the fourth century through the late middle ages this understanding of God was foundational to all Christian understanding.
The modern mind may find these distinctions puzzling and insignificant. No doubt Cantor deems them to be so. But the distinctions were crucial throughout the medieval period. An incident from the high middle ages illustrates this. It was a correct understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity that cost the Franciscan missionary Raymond Lull (c: 1235-1316) his life. Lull was stoned to death in Bugia by the Muslims for arguing that the one person Muslim God had to be inferior to the three person Christian God because a one person God would have been under the necessity to create man, and therefore dependant on his own creation. A one person God would have been alone with all the characteristics of personhood, but no way to fulfill them.

Shedding light on the Dark Ages
I am on my second reading of this book and I can say that I am still learning a great deal.This book I would say is somwhere between an overview and a high level introduction.There are many themes introduced such as the philosophical ubnderpinning of the ideas of the Church and latter Roman Empire that might be hard to grasp if you are not fimilliar with the topoc.

I am sure those with a more indepth or specialized knowlege of some of the ideas and themes in this book can critque but I have noticed that several theories are often presented to expalin certian movements or evens of the middle ages.

Depeninding on your reading comfort it can read like a novle or it can be tedious.I have noticed a great deal of high level vocabulary and it may be a roblem if you are not accustomed to it.For those who read scholarly works it should be an enjoyable read.

Because I have read the book twice after many years I can see that after comming back to the book after having had more expreince and lerning I find that the book has a great deal to offer.If you have an interest in history or of the time period this book can explaing an shead light on an ages we consider to be dark.

Notably inferior to its predecessor
Readers who have a copy of Professor Cantor's 'Medieval History' are better served by it than this supposed revision and update. One comes away from this book with the impression that, stored on computer, its predecessor was simply pulled apart at places so that new and, alas, half-digested materials could be dropped in. The lack of rewriting, and proof-reading, shows. Boethius, for example, is introduced twice; Mohammed's knowledge of Judaism and Christianity is evaluated twice; and Cantor's two evaluations of the character of 12th-century convents (the word 'nunnery' is long out of date) are self-contradictory. One also has the impression that preparation of the new materials was farmed out to graduate students in medieval history who, straying into the fields of ancient history and New Testament studies, found themselves hopelessly out of their depth. The theory of Paul's invention of Christianity, for example, with an apocalyptic Jewish preacher named Jesus as its figurehead has long been abandoned, as has his authorship of the Pastorals. In a similar vein is the apparent urge to identify the western or Latin church as the 'Catholic' church centuries before there was any such thing, viz., in contrast to those churches which eventually came to identify themselves as 'Protestant.' The uncritical presentation of Ambrose of Milan as late antiquity's premiere bad boy is also, one would like to think, hardly representative of Professor Cantor's usually shrewd eye. Finally, there is the equally uncritical embrace of two theses of current historiography, viz., that the only motive for all actions is the pursuit of power, and that women have, in all times and all places studied by western history, been victims. I had really expected more insight into the value of recent work, critical evaluation of it, and integration of both into a book of this sort from a teacher of Cantor's standing. ... Read more

Product Description

Medicine and astronomy are the oldest of all the sciences. They appear at first glance to be the original "odd couple." Their union gave birth to a progeny that populated the Western world for more than two millennia. From an historical perspective, their marriage and mutual influence is undeniable. Cosmology and cosmogony, as natural philosophical aspects of astronomy, have gone hand in hand with the science of medicine from time immemorial. Indeed, medicine and the pseudoscience of astrology were for centuries inseparable.

The ancients began the embryonic search for answers to questions that had puzzled humans for eons. No systematic approach to the nature of the universe was undertaken until the Sumerians, the Babylonians, and the Greeks began the quest for wisdom. The Greeks, beginning with Thales in the 6th century B.C.E., sought a unifying principle to explain the world as a whole. Because cosmology and medicine were among the few known sciences in ancient times, it was natural that these two apparently disparate disciplines should be combined to provide the theoretical basis of medicine--foundations that were to survive for nearly 2,400 years. This scientific structure rested firmly on the ancient principles of cosmology, astronomy, and the concept of universal harmony. This book tells the tale of these theoretical underpinnings and how they influenced humankind's efforts to maintain health and fight disease. Ultimately, the system was fundamentally flawed. Nonetheless, it lingered on for centuries beyond what common sense tells us it should have.

Few comprehensive analyses of the relationship between cosmology and medicine have been undertaken in the astronomical or medical literature. For better or for worse, cosmological principles have had profound effects on the theory and practice of medicine over the centuries. It is time for historians, astronomers, physicians, and philosophers to acquaint themselves with the impact early cosmology has had on medicine. Awareness of this linkage can help us better understand not only past but present-day medicine. This book is a fascinating review of the historical roots of the medical tradition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A fascinating look at how mankind's understanding of medicine and healing evolved over millennia
Astronomer James J. Garber presents Harmony in Healing: The Theoretical Basis of Ancient and Medieval Medicine, a unique examination of the link between medicine, astronomy, and cosmology, from the era of the Greeks to the modern day. Harmony in Healing pays particular attention to the theoretical baseline of the ancient principle of universal harmony, and its role in helping humanity's efforts to resist disease. Cosmological principles have played a key role in the theory and practice of medicine throughout history, sometimes obscuring human understanding of more accurate models such as modern disease theory, but often leading the way in the spirit of scientific and medical inquisition. "Galen's theory of anatomy and physiology was easily assimilated into a Christian context because he held that God had created each part of the human body for a specific purpose. His was a teleological system utilizing Aristotle's fourth (final) cause. Galen was a pagan who, at one point, criticized Christians for not thinking rationally. This apparently did not put off Christian writers - Galen's works survived without criticism for 1,500 years." A fascinating look at how mankind's understanding of medicine and healing evolved over millennia. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1965Original Publisher: Harcourt, BraceSubjects: Economic historySocial historyEuropeMiddle AgesBusiness ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Big surprise.
Book was fine.Of course I was horrified to find that I had paid nearly $90 for a book I had already purchased some years back for about $10.Is the book now out of print, and hence the price?

Impressive work!
Pirenne's book first appeared in print in 1933, so I have to admit I was a little leery about reading it even though I have an interest in feudal economics.I was concerned that it would be a stuffy tome that was written in a dense and archaic academic style.To my surprise, this book is an extraordinarily good read, most interesting, and very informative.And unlike many books on this subject, a casual reader can be assured that a master's level background on the subject is not necessary to read this book.

Picking up at the end of the Roman Empire and running through approximately the middle 1500s, Pirenne tackles the full spectrum of economic and sociological issues as they evolved throughout the Middle Ages in Europe.Specifically, he relates how commerce was revived after the break-up of the economic and cultural stability that existed in the ancient world.Concepts such as the re-issuance of a currency, the rebirth of a money economy, rediscovery of credit, and how urban industry developed are covered and explained in detail.This is a very complete picture of economic and sociological circumstances that existed during the middle ages, as you are likely to see.

Pirenne takes the reader on a journey that attempts to plug the Medieval Period knowledge gap with a detailed explanation of economic development.Geographically (and culturally) he is able to discuss developments throughout all of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the North Sea.If you are interested in learning more about conditions in Europe during the Middle Ages and want a fuller understand of how the western economic system developed, pick up this book

Masterful explanation of Economics during the Middle Ages
Pirenne's book first appeared in print in 1933, so I have to admit I was a little leery about reading it even though I have an interest in feudal economics.I was concerned that it would be a stuffy tome that was written in a dense and archaic academic style.To my surprise, this book is an extraordinarily good read, most interesting, and very informative.And unlike many books on this subject, a casual reader can be assured that a master's level background on the subject is not necessary to read this book.

Picking up at the end of the Roman Empire and running through approximately the middle 1500s, Pirenne tackles the full spectrum of economic and sociological issues as they evolved throughout the Middle Ages in Europe.Specifically, he relates how commerce was revived after the break-up of the economic and cultural stability that existed in the ancient world.Concepts such as the re-issuance of a currency, the rebirth of a money economy, rediscovery of credit, and how urban industry developed are covered and explained in detail.This is a very complete picture of economic and sociological circumstances that existed during the middle ages as you are likely to see.

Pirenne takes the reader on a journey that attempts to plug the Medieval Period knowledge gap with a detailed explanation of economic development.Geographically (and culturally) he is able to discuss developments throughout all of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the North Sea.If you are interested in learning more about conditions in Europe during the Middle Ages and want a fuller understand of how the western economic system developed, pick up this book

Outstanding history of the Middle Ages Revising Assumptions
This wonderfully readable book provides, in a little more than 200 pages no less, a concise summary of economic development and social history during the much derided, abused and forgotten Middle Ages and also summarizes Pirenne's radical views about the real cause of the Dark Ages (he proposes that the Arab Conquest of the Mediterranean basin and Spain and not the Germanic invasions caused the collapse of European Civilization).He also explores, in outline, the general economic rise of Europe after the year 1000, culminating in medieval high point of the mid-Fourteenth Century and the sort of stability that lasted from that period (1350) until the Age of Exploration began and radically altered everything again.It was in the Low Countries and Italy that "capitalism" and the first industrial revolution really began and Pirenne shows how and why this occurred.

In this day and age where most people's image of the Middle Ages, if they have one, is based on movies like Kevin Costner's godawful "Robin Hood" and the fun, but totally make-believe, "A Knight's Tale" this book sets forth, concisely, the fascinating complexity of the age that established Christianity as the faith of Europe and the political-social system that ruled 3/4s of the Earth's surface until 1918 and whose vestiges we can still see in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, et al.

Educated people have taken Gibbon's dismissive derision of the Middle Ages as a period of nothing but violence, superstition and stagnation.Pirenne demolishes Gibbon's amazingly shallow view with a wealth of detail and vivid, easily readable narrative.Although not the masterpiece of literature that Gibbon produced, this volume avoids the joyful boredom that so many writers of economic history seem to delight in inflicting upon their readers.

The translation from the French by I.E. Clegg is smooth and idiomatic. Pirenne, who apparently spoke English fluently, helped to prepare the translation.

The only irritating part of the book is the presence of several large blocks of untranslated Latin and Old French.Given the general ignorance of Latin (and I am one of the ignorant, I am ashamed to say), Clegg or Pirenne should have translated it for the benefit of the Latinless.Although I read French with some ability, the Old French (pre-1300) uses spellings and some words that I simply can't understand.Modern French dictionaries are useless. Harcourt-Brace should find some present-day academic to "edit" a new edition and translate these passages!A smoother typeface than the ancient "Times-Roman" would also be nice.

All in all, if you have any interest in medieval history (especially if you are of European descent) or wish to understand how the market system of economics took form, I highly, highly recommend this book!

Interesting Reading!
Normally I'm don't read much history...but this book really was very interesting. The way it is written is timeless, very intelligent, informative, and enjoyable! If you like medieval history, you will enjoythis. ... Read more

Product Description
This book--the first study of its kind in English in more than fifty years--surveys the history of the medieval Crown of Aragon from its early origins in counties of the eastern Pyrenees.Reviewing the most recent research into the well-preserved archives of the region, Bisson recreates a sense of the energy, drama, and color of these creative and expansionist people between the 12th and 15th centuries. Throughout, the book duly stresses individual achievement and personality while at the same time providing a balanced overview of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural affairs, and the socio-economic weaknesses that eventually led to a crisis in the federated realms in the late Middle Ages. ... Read more

Product Description

An introduction to the life of towns and cities in the medieval period, this book shows how medieval towns grew to become important centers of trade and liberty. Beginning with a look at the Roman Empire's urban legacy, the author delves into urban planning or lack thereof; the urban way of life; the church in the city; city government; urban crafts and urban trade, health, wealth, and welfare; and the city in history. Annotated primary documents like Domesday Book, sketches of street life, and descriptions of fairs and markets bring the period to life, and extended biographical sketches of towns, regions, and city-dwellers provide readers with valuable detail. In addition, 26 maps and illustrations, an annotated bibliography, glossary, and index round out the work.

After a long decline in urban life following the fall of the Roman Empire, towns became centers of trade and of liberty during the medieval period. Here, the author describes how, as Europe stabilized after centuries of strife, commerce and the commercial class grew, and urban areas became an important source of revenue into royal coffers. Towns enjoyed various levels of autonomy, and always provided goods and services unavailable in rural areas. Hazards abounded in towns, though. Disease, fire, crime and other hazards raised mortality rates in urban environs.

Designed as an introduction to life of towns and cities in the medieval period, eminent historian Norman Pounds brings to life the many pleasures, rewards, and dangers city-dwellers sought and avoided. Beginning with a look at the Roman Empire's urban legacy, Pounds delves into Urban Planning or lack thereof; The Urban Way of Life; The Church in the City; City Government; Urban Crafts and Urban Trade, Health, Wealth, and Welfare; and The City in History. Annotated primary documents like Domesday Book, sketches of street life, and descriptions of fairs and markets bring the period to life, and extended biographical sketches of towns, regions, and city-dwellers provide readers with valuable detail. In addition, 26 maps and illustrations, an annotated bibliography, glossary, and index round out the work.

Product Description
This book is a collection of 39 essays by distinguished historians on a wide variety of medieval topics.The material is presented in roughly chronological order, and within each period the essays are grouped around a particular theme (eg, "Feudal Society," "Women and Family").Classic and contemporary essays and authors are included to present many different approaches to medieval history. ... Read more

Product Description
This study centers on issues of marginality and monstrosity in medieval England. In the middle ages, geography was viewed as divinely ordered, so Britain's location at the periphery of the inhabitable world caused anxiety among its inhabitants. Far from the world's holy center, the geographic margins were considered monstrous. Medieval geography, for centuries scorned as crude, is now the subject of several careful studies. Monsters have likewise been the subject of recent attention in the growing field of "monster studies," though few works situate these creatures firmly in their specific historical contexts. This study sits at the crossroads of these two discourses (geography and monstrosity), treated separately in the established scholarship but inseparable in the minds of medieval authors and artists. ... Read more

Product Description

Art History Portable Edition by Marilyn Stokstad offers exactly the same content as Art History, Third Edition but in smaller individual booklets for maximum student portability.  The combined six segment set consists of four booklets that correspond to major periods in Western art and two that cover global art.  Each book is available individually, making them ideal for courses focused on individual periods.

Book 2:  Art History: Medieval Art can be used for such courses as:

• Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art
• Islamic Art
• Romanesque Art
• Gothic Art of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
• Fourteenth-Century Art on Europe  

Book 1:  Art History: Ancient Art

Book 2:  Art History: Medieval Art 

Book 3:  Art History: A View of the World, Part One: Asian, African, and Islamic Art and Art of the Americas

Book 4:  Art History: Fourteenth to Seventeenth Century Art

Book 5:  Art History: A View of the World, Part Two: Asian, African, and Oceanic Art and Art of the Americas

Book 6:  Art History: Eighteenth to Twenty-First Century

Product Description
This is a fascinating study of religious culture in England from 1050 to 1250. Drawing on the wealth of material about religious belief and practice that survives in the chronicles, Carl Watkins explores the accounts of signs, prophecies, astrology, magic, beliefs about death, and the miraculous and demonic. He challenges some of the prevailing assumptions about religious belief, questioning in particular the attachment of many historians to terms such as 'clerical' and 'lay', 'popular' and 'elite', 'Christian' and 'pagan' as explanatory categories. The evidence of the chronicles is also set in its broader context through explorations of miracle collections, penitential manuals, exempla and sermons. The book traces shifts in the way the supernatural was conceptualized by learned writers and the ways in which broader patterns of belief evolved during this period. This original account sheds important light on belief during a period in which the religious landscape was transformed. ... Read more

Product Description

In this new edition of his bestselling medieval history reader, Patrick J. Geary responds to reader feedback by increasing the amount of information provided in the introductions to each reading and by compiling a glossary of unfamiliar terms, making this the most user-friendly edition to date. Five new texts add significant material on women, law, and religion: a ninth-century mother's advice to her son; The Saxon Mirror, a medieval vernacular law collection; Thomas Aquinas's On the Proofs of God's Existence; a passage on the great Polish prince Boleslaw Chobry; and Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicle on Boleslaw.

As before, four principles guide the selection of materials. First, entire documents are included wherever possible. Second, texts are grouped so that individual documents relate to one another. Third, most of the documents chosen have been the subject of significant scholarship. And fourth, raw material for many types of historical inquiry is provided: the documents are equally useful to those interested in political, social, or cultural history.

Product Description
Rather than overwhelm the reader with a surfeit of names, dates and events in the complex period that began with the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the full flowering of the Roman Catholic Church, Frank concentrates on drawing clear lines of development. This is a clear and authoritative guide to the complex history of the mediaeval Christian church. ... Read more

Product Description
The fourth volume in A People's History of Christianity series accents the astounding range of cultural and religious experience within medieval Christianity and the ways in which religious life structured all aspects of the daily lives of ordinary Christians.

With ranking scholars from the U.S. and the Continent, this volume explores rituals of birth and death, daily parish life, lay-clerical relations, and relations with Jews and Muslims through a thousand years and many lands. Includes 50 illustrations, maps, and an 8-page color gallery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Adding to the clerical and legal voices, we hear ordinary people
Recovering the testimony of medieval laity, often illiterate, from scattered records of the clergy, the law, and the landlord challenges any historian. These essays, directed at a general readership, add to the clerical and elite dominant discourse the peasants, the women, the artisans, the children, and, in their wills, even "the dead and those they left behind." I found this volume attractively designed, very readable, and efficiently researched. It's the fourth part of a new series, "A People's History of Christianity," gen. ed. Denis R. Janz, from Fortress Press in Minneapolis.

The contributors avoid jargon; sidebars offer glimpses into primary texts. For instance, pastoral guidance on hearing confessions from around the 1220s-30s: "A priest should make a brief interrogation of those whose flesh is weak in the following manner: 'Either you knew that the women whom you approached for sex was unmarried or you didn't. If you knew she was single, you are due a lesser penance; if you didn't know then you are obliged to do a greater penance because whe might have been a married woman, a nun, or related to you through affinity, or she may have had relations with your father."' (209) This excerpt from Roberto Rusconi's essay on "Hearing Women's Sins" shows many qualities of the whole presentation: direct speech, no-nonsense tone, intriguing detail, abundant illustrations, and a depiction of how the few sources that experts have excavated can reveal the mindset and anxieties and predicaments that ordinary people found themselves in, perhaps not as different than we assume from our own times.

Yet, as with finding out how churches might be used for storing firefighting equipment, how burials tended to be most lavish for men of martial prowess and women of childbearing age, and how the main obsession of Jews, Muslims, and Christians prevented from marrying each other in Spain seemed to be how they could sleep with each other and avoid the law, we get glimpses of the differences.

Daniel Bornstein edits this work and provides a chapter on "Relics, Ascetics, Living Saints." Of its holy women, we ponder how they "threw themselves into ovens, fell into fireplaces, starved themselves, bound themselves with chains, macerated their flesh with hair shirts, and lacerated it with whips. In return, they were rewarded with equally bodily manifestations. Their bodies levitated and lactated, gave off heavenly perfumes, and oozed miracle-working oils. With an appalling literalness, their bodies demonstrated the simple truth of religious metaphors, images that to others had become mere clichés." (98-99) By such clarity, scholars explain to us how the Middle Ages prove distant in not only time but thinking.

Churches then were not, however, pious and scrubbed sanctuaries as they may look to us as curated heritage environments today. Meteors, a stuffed crocodile, and "a huge bone said to have belonged to a giant cow that supplied milk for all of Bristol" were among the curiosities displayed for visitors to what then served as not only the house of prayer but the equivalent of our farmer's market or big-box warehouse-- and sanctuaries for felons and feuders. Richard Kieckhefer's essay on the architectural impact of churches goes beyond the expected boundaries that such sights often limit us to exploring today in their ruins or restorations.

Gary Dickson covers a topic as relevant today as then: religious fervor by its revivals. Then as now, the public devotion could be fickle. In 1448 Perugia, a chronicler notes the conversion of one "Eliseo, who was a foolish young man. . . .When three or four months had passed, this Eliseo di Cristofano of Porta Sant'Agnolo left the friary and went back to being a barber, and he is known as Mr. Lord God; and he later took a wife, and was a bigger scoundrel than he had been before." (171) Out of such vignettes, we start to recognize our ancestors as our peers.

As I did my doctoral dissertation on "The Idea of Purgatory in Middle English Literature" (sadly missing from the documentation herein), I was eager to read the final chapter by a professor whose work I had used, R.N. Swanson. In "The Burdens of Purgatory," he handles this difficult concept deftly and with a bit of wit. He cites a fifteenth-century Carthusian ms with what he labels "salvation by civilengineering."

Swanson tells how "Purgatory appears precisely as a holding tank, where souls are cleansed. They are winched up to Christ, to Heaven, in batches, by a pulley mechanism. Two different forces set the pulley in motion (and, although this is not actually indicated, identify the particular souls that are to be saved): the Mass, celebrated by the clergy (but available to be commissioned by the laity), and alms deeds, works of charity, which would be generally be performed by the laity. (356) Again, the tendency of contributors to provide simple clarification for terms a general reader may need assistance with or reminders of can be seen in this excerpt.

One small caveat: of course, I didn't expect my dissertation to be mentioned; this book is for the educated common reader. Naturally the sources suggested throughout the anthology tend to be ideal; one slight drawback is that for specialists, it's not possible to track back to the primary sources paraphrased or summarized in the chapters, as endnotes may be used less by some professors. In Swanson's useful essay, only four endnotes appear while his colleagues have up to ten times as many references appended to their chapters. There's a lot of variation in how documented the chapters are, from a handful of endnotes to dozens. Consulting this chapter, while I can see the "evocative depiction" I just quoted is this "Carthusian manuscript," I cannot immediately ascertain from Swanson which one it is, or where it's archived or edited.

Space prevents me from elaboration, but for the record, the other fine contributors: Yitzhak Hen on "Converting the Barbarian West;" Bonnie Effros on "Death and Burial;" André Vauchez on "Clerical Celibacy and the Laity;" Grado G. Merlo on "Heresy and Dissent;" Teofilo F. Ruiz on "Jews, Muslims and Christians" in Spain; Diana Webb on "Domestic Religion;" Katharine L. French on "Parish Life."

A scholarly and thoughtful account, accessible to readers of all backgrounds
Volume 4 of "A People's History of Christianity" series, Medieval Christianity is an in-depth scrutiny of the religion and institution of Christianity from the fall of Rome and the conversion of the Germanic tribes to the beginning of the Reformation. Drawing upon primary sources ranging from handbooks, sermons, and confessional manuals to illuminated manuscripts and altarpieces, Medieval Christianity probes te nuances of medieval Christian art, architecture, devotional practices, pilgrimages, relics, heresies, revivals, crusades, programs, and much more. "The medieval church's age-old campaign against clerical incontinence... had a salutary effect, allowing it to block the process by which priestly dynasties threatened to privatize churches and treat church property as familial patrimony. In so doing, the church without any doubt assured its own survival as an independent institution within a society that was being feudalized." A scholarly and thoughtful account, accessible to readers of all backgrounds and enhanced with a handful of black-and-white illustrations as well as color plates, Medieval Christianity bears the highest recommendation for public and college library religious reference shelves, along with the rest of "A People's History of Christianity" series.
... Read more

Product Description
Mostly religious in function, but preserving the classicism of Greco-Roman art, Byzantine buildings and art objects communicate the purity and certainties of the public face of early Christian art. Focusing on the art of Constantinople between 330 and 1453, this book probes the underlying motives and attitudes of the society which produced such rich and delicate art forms.It examines the stages this art went through as the city progressed from being the Christian center of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its crisis during attack from the new religion of Islam, to its revived medieval splendor and then, after the Latin capture of 1204 and the Byzantine reoccupation after 1261, to its arrival at a period of cultural reconciliation with East and West. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Kindle version Shoddy
The kindle version is "optimized for Large Screens" ...which Amazon defines PCs and Macs.
PCs and Macs have color screens.
The real book has color, sidebars and other typographical features for captions etc.
All illustrations in this Kindle Version are B&W and not good ones at that.
Typical of all e-"books" numerous other typographical features are missing/mangled etc.

Come on this is an Art Book!

Not Quite as Accessible as the Other Reviewers Found It
The back cover says that it is "The handbook of Byzantine art for lay readers and specialists." As a lay reader (though I have read rather extensively about other periods in art and history), I did find it about one level above what I would expect from an introductory text. For example, the author on numerous occasions would go into some detail to explain the dating of a particular object, rather than use that space to describe, for example, its artistic style, or how the object (or others like it) was used or experienced by the people of that period in history. In part for that reason, I did not find this "brisk" reading as one reviewer put it.

The back cover also says that the author overturns the myth that Byzantine art (BA) remained constant. He does indeed go into great detail to show how BA of a given period was the product of a variety of factors, and how a given piece of art was different. But, again for a lay person, what is salient is how so much of BA was in fact fairly consistent in style and subject matter, and for so long, due its spiritual function. For my money, I would have liked to read at least as much about its continuity as about how much it changed.

There was also no map in the book, even though it is about art in many different countries.

And finally, although he organized his chapters chronologically, he roamed pretty freely with the art he was discussing, such that he regularly went into things, at length, that chronologically belonged to a previous or forthcoming chapter.


All that said, I did learn a lot from the book, and would recommend it to anyone with more than a beginner's knowledge of this period in art history. (You can get that beginner's knowledge by first reading Wikipedia's entries on 1) Byzantine art, 2) Icons, and 3) the Byzantine Empire.)

Excellent
An extended history beyond description of art objects, makes understanding what art in the Byzantine Empire represented. I loved it!

Exactly what I was looking for
I was in search of an affordable book that featured color plates of the greatest art of the Byzantine world, running the gamut from late Roman times through the fall of Constantinople and Robin Cormack's excellent work more than fit the bill. Indeed, this may be the perfect introductory work on Byzantine art. Magnificently produced, the book is positively littered with high-resolution color and black-and-white photos which show amazing amounts of detail. Particularly stunning are the reproductions of the various mosaics from inside the great church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and from San Vitale in Ravenna.

The text of the book is descriptive and analytical. Though somewhat scholarly in content, the writing is clear and the style is brisk. Enough historical background is provided to make the book suitable for a reader with little or no knowledge of Byzantine history. The devotional aspects of Byzantine Art were handled dispassionately with no trace of secular conceit--not always a given these days--and the Iconoclastic controversy was well covered in commendable detail. My only minor quibble was that the endnotes were buried amidst the back-matter and were somewhat difficult to find.

Over all, Cormack's book will make an excellent textbook for courses in Christian and Medieval Art, and a perfect supplemental text for general Byzantine Studies courses. The lovely cover art and stunning interior photos will also make it the kind of book that will be picked up and perused by friends and family if left around the house.

One of the best introductions to the subject
Having had the chance to listen to Robin Cormack speak, and always having had an interest in Byzantine art, I look forward to reading this. I was not disappointed in the least. As Cormack rightly points out both in his introduction and his bibliographic essay, the art of Byzantium is presented either in an homongenous manner, linking all stylistic periods and developments into a monolithic, unchanging facade, or as a realm only the specialist would be willing to engage in. Cormack deftly navigates through the subject in such a manner that is both introductary as well as substantial enough for those already familiar with the subject. Where controverserial arguments are needed, Cormack enthusiastically dives in; where basic explanation is necessary, Cormack elucidates without dumbing-down; where a style of writing is called for to atmospherically render the majesty of the art, Cormack's writing never fails.

For those of us teaching art history classes, finding a textbook devoted to Byzantine art is especially difficult. We now have the classic that will be more than sufficient for years to come. ... Read more

Product Description
Compact but singularly well thought out material of a theological, logical, poetic as well as philosophical nature. ... Read more

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Product Description
Renowned for lampooning the schoolboy view of the medieval world in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Terry Jones is also regarded as a true connoisseur of the Middle Ages. In this lavish volume, he slays the dragons of cliché and platitude.

It was the Humanists who created the image of the Middle Ages as a time of ignorance, misery, and superstition, and it is this image that Medieval Lives aims to dispel. Terry Jones and Alan Ereira are your guides to this most misunderstood era, and they point you to things that will surprise and provoke. Did you know that medieval people didn’t burn witches in the Middle Ages? In fact, as our guides point out, medieval kings weren’t necessarily tyrants, and peasants entertained at home using French pottery and fine wine. An exhilarating, supremely entertaining volume presenting medieval Britain as a vibrant society teeming with individuality and innovation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Entertaining
You know how school teachers can (and they often do) make history the most boring thing ever - well,here is a little,short and sweet book that would thrill anybody who was ever been bored in a school. Some 200 pages with very funny stories and anecdotes about real people in medieval times,as opposite to myths and legends later fabricated centuries later. Forget (almost) everything you have ever heard about Knights and dirty peasants and damsel in distress and such things - they wouldn't know what are you talking about,and as for knight's chivalry,well it appears it was only for the books - in reality it was the rule of the sword,kill now,pray later. In fact,if you have enough money to pay monks,they can pray for you so you can avoid the nuisance.
The book is cleverly divided in several chapters,each dealing with typical character ("Peasant","Minstrel","Outlaw" and so on) - it's all written in a very nonchalant way with lots of completely off-the-wall observations which will make you laugh out loud. There is a lot of humor here but also a lot of sadness and brutality once you start reading between the lines,after all,no matter how serious or unserious things might have been,it always comes to the same point: powerful and rich men were controlling less fortunate creatures,way back and today. Just looking at the treatment of women in medieval times (burned,raped,kidnapped,robbed,hanged) it makes you wonder how did human race survived at all.
It's very clever little book (and I wouldn't mind even if it's three times longer,because it's really easy read) but of course I am aware that things that looks ridiculous to modern reader now were very serious matter back than. After all,just imagine that in a few centuries someone writes a book about us.

well worth a read
A very interesting and informative history of the period.Written a humorous tone but full of little known information. The author clearly explained the themes of the 'middle ages'. An excellent overview for anyone with an interest in this poorly understood period. Certainly represented a very different view of the 1000 years between the fall of the Roman Empire (in Western Europe) and the Renaissance from those commonly presented.

Strongly Recommended

`Propaganda, thy name is History'
This slender volume contains some neatly presented information about life in the Middle Ages (defined as 1066 to 1536), and introduces humour and colour into the mix.Be warned, though, its real value is in providing a panoramic view of the times rather than a detailed snapshot of the events. If you want or need more detail, you'd be well advised to delve in to the bibliography provided.

Still, it's hard not to wonder about why nobody ever mentions King Louis the First (and Last).And which monks were forbidden the delights of donning underpants (and why)? Did medieval people think the world was flat?Not according to Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, who advise that this was an invention of a French antireligious academic (Antoine-Jean Letronne) and the American novelist Washington Irving during the 19th century.

Under the headings of Peasant, Minstrel, Outlaw, Monk, Philosopher, Knight, Damsel and King are vignettes which serve to bring some meaning to these headings and some context to some of the names that readers may remember from history. For example, the stories of Blondel (Minstrel) and William Marshal (Knight).

A fun and entertaining read for those looking to a light-hearted but informative snapshot of the times.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Great Book
I found the book to bea good idea of what Medieval Live was about. I'm going to be part of a local Ren Faire and found the book to be very helpful in putting together a character of a monk.

Entertaining and provocative survey of medieval archetypes
When Terry Jones joined Monty Python, he kept his day job.He is a scholar and professor of medieval studies.Which means, MEDIEVAL LIVES is serious history for general readers, but it is also history dished up in a fluent voice that chuckles over human folly, is appropriately stern at the abuses of power that caused incredible pain and suffering, and returns with awe at the lights of human achievement that managed to flicker in an epoch of constant bloodshed.

Nothing seems to annoy Jones more than the inaccuracies that have circulated as fact about the period he defines as beginning with the Norman Conquest in 1066 and ending when Henry VIII effectively dismantled the old church in 1536.The overarching inaccuracy is that the medieval period was static and primitive.Au contraire says Jones and developed a BBC series taking the 470 years archetype by archetype, looking at how things changed often dramatically in that long period, sometimes progressively, sometimes regressively for the likes of peasants, minstrels, monks, outlaws, scientists, knights, women and kings. He stomped forcibly on the inaccuracies and falsehoods largely promulgated in the Renaissance and Victorian eras. This book is the companion volume to that series.As someone who has not seen the television series, I can vouch that you never miss it. The book is a stand alone triumph.

Jones manages to pull together an amazing amount of material and information in a relatively short book, weaving social, political and religious history.As such, the book is like a survey course, which is not a bad thing at all.To see what Jones can really do when he throws all his scholarly resources and colleagues at a medieval subject, see WHO MURDERED CHAUCER?That is top-notch historical investigation and criticism that skimps on nothing.


... Read more

Product Description
Mercenaries were a common feature throughout most of Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, and had been known far earlier. But nowhere did such a sophisticated system of hiring, payment and organisation of mercenaries develop as it did in Italy. The condottiere – whose name came from the condotta or contract between himself and his employer – was the result. Whether commander or humble trooper, the condottiere was a complete professional. His skill has never been doubted, but his loyalty and dedication to a particular cause often has. David Nicolle provides a fascinating exploration of the condottiere; his roles, arms and equipment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Italian Medieval Armies 1300-1500
'Italian Medieval Armies' is a detailed look at the endemic and savage warfare of late medieval Italy.Here the political scene was dominated by fierce mercenary generals, while the battlefield was ruled by the condottiere mercenaries.Indeed, while early medieval Italian armies were populated largely by patriotic citizens fighting for their homes and families, those of this period were known for their cruel and flamboyant mercenaries from Central Europe and England.

Towards the close of his book Nicolle looks at 8 important battles and campaigns of this era to give a summary of Italian battle tactics and leadership.All throughout the book are black-and-white photos of suits of armor, castles, and contemporary artwork that help flesh out some of these events and those that lived them.Gerry Embleton's color plates in this book are among his betters; they are pretty much on par with his great artwork in the 'Armies of Medieval Burgundy' title.

Shortly, this is a nice men-at-arms title and a good companion to the recently published 'Condottiere 1300-1500'.

Not bad but could be better
There is a reason I'm trying to learn Italian.The reason is that as an armchair historian, I've discovered that few English titles are able to do justice to anything Italian.This is especially true with Renaissance era literary works as the Italian language is far less vulgar then that of English - which is considered a "power language".Although David Nicolle does a descent job, I feel the book is too small to really go into detail as the Italian political and social climate of the day was incredibly treacherous and even small aspects would cover volumes.Also some of his viewpoints lack credibility.One such viewpoint is that the French and English invaders were bigger in physical size.Perhaps Mr. Nicolle has seen one too many Joe Pesci movies?From the Armour pieces I've studied, there's certainly nothing to indicate Italians of the day were smaller in size.Today, if you look at the sports teams in Europe, Italians are among the tallest.Goes for both Rugby, Football(soccer), and fencing.Anyway I can't imagine why someone would make such a broad assumption. It's hard to imagine the Romans -the greatest empire known to man - being smaller people then the rest of Europe.Unless the Italians shrank during the Middle Ages?Hmmm not likely. Although it did remind me of Time Bandits when Napoleon says with great disappointment, "I wanted to invade Italy because I thought they were all small people".:)

Anyway decent book if you want some nice pics and a summary of events from the period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Coplestonian readability
Copleston's encyclopedic knowledge is brought to the forefront in this book which is essencially vols 2 and 3 of his Medieval Philosophy series united for the sake of presenting the era in a more unified and coherent manner.

For the most part Father Copleston S.J. makes each chapter interesting and a clear progress builds from one chapter to the next, even if the chapters are not arranged chronologically (such as with the chapters on Jewish and Muslim philosophy). The final chapter on Nicholas of Cusa argues intelligently for the fact that he should be concidered neither a Medieval, nor a Renaissance figure but belonging very clearly to the watershed age between the two eras.

Surprisingly light on Aquinas, Copleston's history runs the full of the Middle Ages, from the classical philosophical influences to the patristic writings, Isidor of Seville and Cassiodorus, John Scotus Eriugena, the translators, Jewish and Muslim philosophers etc. If you want a great book on Aquinas (biography more that philosophy) look at Copleston's "Aquinas". Not that A Histor of M P neglect Aquinas, but given the overview nature of the book, Copleston is very selective and focuses on the influences on Aquinas and his contributions to later philosophy more than the whole Thomistic spirit.

The only place that it gets a little dry is with the later scholastics, Ockham and the discussion of the nature of language and logic which Copleston masterfully combines together and presents as the precursor of 20th century analytical philosophy and compares to Wittgenstein. Still, the nominalist chaper is quite slow and heavy reading due to the nature of the subject.

Copleston notes that in the introduction to the 1972 edition that he added and expanded significantly the sections on Jewish and Muslim philosophy so make sure you get a later edition.

Cheers,

Adam

An interesting text of a lesser-known time
Copleston's `History of Medieval Philosophy' has gone through several revisions, the first of which was in 1952 as part of Methuen's Home Study Books series.This is a text I used in a second-year philosophy course at my university.So often the study of philosophy jumps from the classical period of ancient Greece, with a bit of expansion in Rome and early Christian times, to the Renaissance, Enlightenment and more modern periods.The so-called `Dark Ages' are often ignored, but as Copleston's book will attest, there was plenty of activity, many prominent figures, and quite a significant development of philosophy through this period - as a link between the classical Greek/Roman period to the Renaissance, it could not help but to be of importance.

Copleston takes in the wide range of philosophical development.This does not focus exclusively on the Western philosophical tradition, although that is the primary subject matter.Copleston brings in material from the Islamic and Jewish philosophical traditions contemporary with the Western development - at the time, the Islamic culture was more advanced than that of Western Europe, and many significant advances in various disciplines were made in this civilisation.

Three chapters on ancient Christian thought (religious and philosophical) set the stage for the era; Neoplatonism was a dominant philosophical school, embrace by Augustine.Other notable figures of the period include Origen, Pseudo-Dionysius, and Boethius (although Copleston describes him as being `not of much originality').After this examination of the ancient Christian times, he proceeds to the early Middle Ages, looking at the developments around the time of Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance (an often overlooked historical period).John Scotus Erigena appears here, as the first eminent philosopher of the Middle Ages, according to Copleston.

From Scotus to Anselm and Abelard is a relatively `dry' period, which some activity, but not much development.However, in St. Anselm and Peter Abelard are first-rate philosophical minds, in very different casts.Anselm was much more the theologian; Abelard was more concerned with philosophical development that at certain periods might earn him the label of heretic.

Copleston devotes individual chapters each to the Twelfth Century Schools of philosophy, the Philosophy of Islam, and Jewish Philosophy of the time.In the twelfth century, there were many centres of learning - Oxford, Paris, Bologna, which developed as significant academic hubs (Oxford and Paris have continued with world reputations begun at this time).Islamic philosophy looks at figures such as Al-kindi of Baghdad (d. 870) and Al-Farabi (d. 950), who dealt with the religious/philosophical divide in different ways.Abu Ibn-Sina (Avicenna, in Christian writings) was possibly the most significant of Islamic philosophers, and much of his writing as survived.A Persian by birth, he was a Renaissance man with interests in sciences, philosophy, history, medicine and religion.Most famous to Christians of the time was probably Ibn-Rushd (Averroes), who was born in Islamic Spain, and through whom many of the Aristotle works were transmitted into the West.

Jewish thinkers of the time looked back to the figure of Philo, a great Jewish philosopher/historian from the time before the destruction of the Temple.Jewish thinkers of the time include Saadia ben Joseph, Isaac ben Solomon Israeli, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Abraham ibn Daud, and of course, Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides).Neoplatonism was a strong strand through most of these philosophers, derived from Philo and general philosophical traditions.Maimonides was addressing the concerns of most philosophers of the time of any religious or ethnic persuasion with his `Guide for the Perplexed', an attempt to reconcile religion with philosophy.

The `second half' of medieval philosophy takes place in response and reaction to the rediscovery of Aristotle's works, preserved by the Muslim culture.Thomas Aquinas is the strongest figure associated with this rebirth of Aristotilianism.Other figures, such as Duns Scotus (not to be confused with the earlier John Scotus), William of Ockham, Marsilius of Padua, and Nicholas of Cusa finish out the medieval period, in anticipation of later figures such as Descartes and Francis Bacon.

The medieval philosophical construct remained in the Western tradition we have inherited an expressly Christian one - the interplay between Plato and Aristotle took place on the stage of the dialectical relationship of church and state, church and academia, and faith vs. knowledge.Developments would continue, and indeed still continue to this day, on all these fronts.

Magisterial, but dry book.
Frederick C. Copleston is a master historian. His nine-volume A History of Philosophy is remarkable in its breadth, depth and analyticity, especially the volume on ancient Greek philosophy. However, Copleston's work A History of Medieval Philosophy, while being a good intro work is nevertheless very dry and difficult to read. The familiar objectivity and precision of the Jesuit is present in this book. But Copleston needed to add life to this work. That is the main "beef" I have with this history. That complaint notwithstanding, this is a great text. Copleston begins his coverage of the medieval period by showing the important connection between ancient Christianity and medieval thought. He then discusses such thinkers as John Erigena, Berengarius of Tours and Roscelin of Compiegne. He briefly recounts the controversies that the latter two individuals are known for (i.e. transubstantiation and tritheism) before turning to Anselm of Canterbury and Anselm of Heloise fame.

Maybe Copleston could have supplied more details in the aforementioned chapters and spared some unnnecessary details in other parts of the book. In any event, Copleston's history must be read by all those who are serious about medieval philosophy. It is the perfect place to initiate one's immersion into medieval thought.

A Marvelous Introductory Resource
In this book, one finds access to the world of medieval philosophy.The book does a great job of hitting the key ideas of numerous figures within medieval Christian philosophy and provides worthwhile chapters on philosphers from the Islamic and Judaic traditions as well.Additionally,the survey provides biographical sketches and historical background for thetreatments of the key figures and periods. ... Read more

Product Description
A monk's chronicle offers a record of life and events in 13th-century England and further afield. Colour reproductions of the original manuscript decorations add to the detail. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Disappointing
I have to wonder what the publisher's intentions were with this book. It does seem to have been aimed at a general audience: with its large format, glossy stock, and color photos, it's something of a coffee-table book. And the fact that the editor has only included what he reckons as one-sixth of Matthew Paris' chronicle makes it of limited use to specialists. Therefore, if judged on its intentions, I have to say that it fails, for two reasons.

First, as a previous commenter has noted, it's dull. It's very, very boring. There is very little here of interest to the general reader. This is due to the author's interests, as well as the nature of the genre. Matthew Paris was a monk in an abbey, and as such he was greatly concerned with ecclesiastical business; consequently, a great deal of his chronicle is devoted to ecclesiastic abuses and machinations which are very difficult to follow if you aren't a specialist. Another big drawback is that medieval authors rarely went into the kind of detail that modern readers find interesting. It can be maddening. MP will often write something like "F. did something so outrageous that it's unfit to mention here". I've been reading this kind of literature for years in preparation for writing a novel, so I know that MP is not unique in this. All medieval literature is pretty dull. Chronicles in particular are usually dull; imagine the result if you watched the nightly news and then wrote your own brief summaries of the day's events. That's pretty much what MP's chronicle was.

Finally, I was disappointed by the illustrations. They are not related to the text, so they can't really be called illustrations. Many of them are not reproduced at adequate size, or sufficient magnification, so you can't really see their details. These often seem fuzzy, as well. It seems that many of the images that are reproduced at adequate size are generic, almost abstract representations of cities which really provide no useful information about what the particular city looked like.

For History Lovers
This is not a story book or some modern re-interpretation of history to suit someone's modern agenda.It is a very readable, well translated work with some colorful illustrations focusing on a 4 year portion of the major Chronicles written by the 13th century English monk Matthew Paris.It may look like light reading or a coffee table book, but it is for students and lovers of Medieval History who already possess a basic knowledge of the events Paris chronicles - the rebellion of Simon de Montfort, the crusade of Louis IX, the 4 sisters from Provence who became Queens (France, England, Queen of the Romans [Germany], and Sicily), etc.It is not for beginners, but a delight for the erudite !

Much duller than I had predicted
The journal of a monk, Matthew Perry, was preserved, translated,andchopped up. Some pieces were then placed in a book for publication.Disjointed, obscure in many instances and almost impossible to read withouta reference library close at hand, The Illustrated Chronicles.., is a choreto comprehend with little reward for your effort. Advertised as some kindof entertaining historical memoir, it is anything but. Not for most anddefinetely not for me. ... Read more