Atlas of Medieval Europe

Book Overview

With over 180 maps (including forty new ones) expert commentaries and an extensive bibliography, this second edition of an essential reference guide to medieval Europe brings the complex and colourful... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415122317
• ISBN13: 9780415122313
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.5" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

A Good Reference Book

This 280 page book is a useful reference as an overview of Medieval Europe but is very dry as a read because of the necessary brevity in this small book. Thirty-seven different Scottish university scholars contributed to the work so it is uneven in its textual presentation and illustration. The sections of the book are Early Medieval (from the fall of the western Roman empire to ca 1100), Central Middle Ages (c 1100 - c 1300), and Late Middle Ages (c 1300 - c 1500) and each of these sections is broken down into Politics; Religion; Government, Society and Economy; and Culture.One of the principal strengths of the work is the profusion of maps - well over a hundred I should think. They are, however of widely varying quality. Some are very well done and readable but others are essentially impossible to interpret either because of large amounts of detail in a small space or because of lack of references such as rivers and cities with names that can be recognized by the non-specialist modern reader.I would recommend it to the amateur historian as a reference but not to a reader who is simply interested in a good read about the people and lives of the Middle Ages.

A Surprisingly Detailed Historical Summary

The Atlas of Medieval Europe is a terrific historical resource. It contains maps and explanations of a wide variety of events and topics about medieval history. There are maps showing the most interesting and specific trends, like the spread of anti-Semitism, and the raising of provisions for war in England. I purchased this book for a specific research project, but am delighted to find that it is an informative and engaging supplement to my library. I would heartily recommend this title to anyone interested in medieval Europe. By studying the wide range of subjects covered in this atlas, one can get a feel for medieval history without trying to digest volumes of dry text.That said, nothing is perfect. I found the organization of this text to be a little clumsy at times. There is such a wide variety of topics and the topics for each period of time are not consistent. Also, with the quantity of data in some of the maps, color would be a boon.The other works on this subject are usually very brief in their descriptions and contain a grade school report level of information. In contrast, The Atlas of Medieval History is a comprehensive, adult reference that, despite a few minor shortcomings, does justice to the complexity of the subject matter.