Friday, January 11, 2008

My Current Medieval History Reading List

I've only recently started reading about the Middle Ages, and find it all fascinating! I first read through Jean Plaidy's "Norman Trilogy" and "Plantagenet Saga" books for a great overview of English Medieval history. Now I'm expanding into more topics of interest. The following are some books I've read and/or am planning to read. These are good introductory books, as well as ones that are well written for a general audience:

By Joseph and Frances Gies:
Life in a Medieval Castle
Life in a Medieval Village
Life in a Medieval City
The Knight in History
Marriage and the Family in the Middle ages
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages
Other:
  • Charlemagne Father of a Continent, by Alessandro Barbero
  • The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe, by Richard Barber
  • How the Irish saved civilization: the untold story of Ireland's heroic role from the fall of Rome to the rise of medieval Europe (Hinges of History Series, Volume 1), by Thomas Cahill
  • Chivalrous Society, by Georges Duby
  • The Last Apocalypse: Europe At the Year 1000 A.D., by James Reston
  • 1066: The Year of the Conquest, by David Howarth
  • William Marshal, Knight-errant, Baron, and Regent of England, by Sidney Painter
  • Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, by Ronald McNair Scott
  • A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman
  • Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes, by Bertram Fields

About the Crusades:
By Jonathan Riley-Smith:
The Oxford History of the Crusades
The First Crusaders, 1095-1131
The Crusades: A Short History
The Atlas of the Crusades
Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade, by James Reston
The Dream and the Tomb: a History of the Crusades, by Robert Payne
The Knights Templar, by Stephen Howarth

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