marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker

A review of all that Anglo-Saxon literature has to tell us about the year and the seasons.

Read more... )
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Romance of the London Directory by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

About names. Shorter than his other two works I've read and crossing much of the same grounds. His historical assertions often show the time written (19th century), and his claim that the common use of Robert was all derived from Robin Hood is -- implausible at best. (Much more likely that it was the common use that pulled in the outlaw as well, especially since he does, despite the author, appear to be unreal.)

But lots of discussion of names, both personal and surnames.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
English Surnames: Their Sources and Significations by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

A 19th century book with an overview. In a few places, the history it discusses is dated. However, it's mostly a good history of names. In places, it turns into lists (which may be useful for someone looking for names).  Mostly medieval since that was the origin.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Vikings: From Odin to Christ by Martyn Whittock and Hannah Whittock

A book about the conversion of the Scandinavian peoples.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them by Nancy Marie Brown

A discussion on topics suggested by the famous Lewis chessmen: medieval chess figures carved from walrus ivory.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Feudal Society, Volume 1 by Marc Bloch

An extensive and rather academic study of feudalism from the beginning.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Women in the Days of the Cathedrals by Régine Pernoud

Stuff about women in the Middle Ages. Like Those Terrible Middle Ages, popular and light in tone, and more devoted to debunking myths than making a systemic study, but full of facts, and how things were in fact worse after the Middle Ages than during them.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Idea of the Labyrinth: from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages by Penelope Reed Doob

An analysis not so much of labyrinths -- though she discusses the ancient treatment of them -- as what was thought about them. For instance, a labyrinth can be a symbol of marvelous artistry, or even of creation itself. On the other hand, it can be an inextricable condition -- invariably a symbol of something bad, such as sin or error (which, in its original meaning was "wandering astray"). Or again, it can be an impenetrable condition -- usually bad, sometimes good, as a symbol of learning and so finally arriving at the center.

Some of the comparisons seem a bit strained, but it's full of interesting stuff.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Chivalry in Medieval England by Nigel Saul

An overview. Everything from the knights' fees (and the tendency even of early Norman kings to charge you for not showing up, and use the money to hire professionals), to the decline of number even as the status went up, attempts to force men to become knights, the luster kings lent it, the evolution of coats-of-arm -- chivalric tales and how they matched or didn't -- or influenced -- real life. The first rise of status toward nobility, and the later sinking as they were fit for the House of Commons.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Knight In Medieval England 1000-1400 by Peter R. Coss

A survey across the centuries. Starting with the forgeries of the Paston family to claim long knightly descent, and point out the elements that would develop until then.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth

Covers the entire era that could be called "Viking" from the days of Charlemagne to the final Christianization and end of the raids.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties by Timothy Brook

Another author in this series.
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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China by Dieter Kuhn

The first book in this series to be written by a different author.

Read more... )
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty by Mark Edward Lewis,

From the geographical shifts of population and importance, the succession of emperors, the revisions of the legal code, the urban life, with its main roads forbidden to most by night, the beginning of the examination system (which might win you a prestigious marriage instead of a post), the importance of tribute bearers in their native costume to show how far its power reached, how Buddhism was still treated as foreign, the Buddha being denounced as mere ghost or ancestor, to honor only his own family, and accusations against foreign monks going so far to claim they were animals in disguise (one, it was declared, was revealed to be a camel), women who became Daoist or Buddhist nuns to escape marriage and more.

Arranged by theme.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties by Mark Edward Lewis

He refers to the period by one of the names by which it is known, but he points out that there are several.

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marycatelli: (Galahad)
A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry by Geoffroi De Charny

A medieval knight discussing knighthood.

Bit different in structure than a modern treatment would be. Discusses what men-at-arms do in various ways, and how love ought to be secret (though he speaks of men who say they would not consent to be Queen Guinevere's love it were not known) and what sorts of virtues are and how they are important.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain by Darío Fernández-Morera

A historical work, discussing history before, during, and after the period.  Also the legal systems -- Muslim, Christian, Jewish -- that prevailed there (inside and outside communities).  In particular dwelling on the conflicts inside religious communities and between them.  An excellent survey that debunks a lot of myths.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
A Medieval Book of Seasons by Marie Collins and Virginia Davis

About the cycle of the year in medieval times.

Opens with a discussion of measuring time in the era, and some other aspects of medieval life, and then four sections on spring, summer, fall, and winter.  Includes a lot of illustrations for Books of Hours, which were heavily conventionalized -- from England to Italy, despite the differences in climate, the activities were usually the same and seldom even shifted by month -- but a good source of information.  Discusses agriculture, animal husbandry, games, and more.

Popular rather than scholarly.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Coffee and Coffeehouses by Ralph S. Hattox

A look at the introduction of coffee into Arabic society.

Read more... )
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Lady in Medieval England 1000-1500 by Peter R. Coss

Exactly what it describes.  Strictly looking at the lady, with some discussion of what the term meant.

Stuff from the Doomsday Book, to wills, to coats of arms.  Court cases about abduction and murder. Statues of women and indications of significance.  Letters to and from ladies.  And lots of stuff.

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