The Complete History of This Exciting Period—in One Comprehensive Reference
The Middle Ages fascinates scholars and laypeople alike. The period has been romanticized, misrepresented, and misunderstood perhaps more than any other in history. Behind the imaginative stories of knights, castles, and epic quests there lies a medieval world that is every bit as incredible and intriguing as the fictional one—only its people really lived, its events actually happened, and its achievements helped create the world of today. The two-volume Encyclopedia of the Medieval World provides a detailed look at this significant thousand-year period.
Coverage includes:
-Significant individuals (Charlemagne, Gregory VII, Saladin)
-Archaeological artifacts of particular importance (Sutton Hoo)
-Economic and agricultural practices, ideas, and commodities (plough, gold, banking, usury)
-Institutions of church and state (papacy, parliament, commune)
-Scientific and technological knowledge and inventions (Roger Bacon, the compass)
-Items and practices from daily life (games, food, cooking)
-Landmark documents (Magna Carta)
-Artistic production, styles, techniques, themes, producers, and patrons for painting, sculpture, architecture, and the minor arts (Romanesque, Gothic, manuscript illumination)
-Social ideas and practice (marriage, death and burial, childhood) from all levels of society
-Warfare (technology, battles, and wars)
-Kingship (dynasties and practices)
-National literary and cultural authors (Dante), monuments (Decameron), subjects (Gawain), and styles
-Religious ideas and practices (simony, reform movements, heresies, saints)
-Cultural interchange among peoples (peaceful and violent)
-Theological and philosophical ideas, individuals, and movements (scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas)
-Travel and expansion (Eastern Europe, the Levant, geographical knowledge, ships).
