About the Book
Following her highly acclaimed A Short History of the Middle Ages, Barbara H. Rosenwein now presents a unique edited collection of documents and readings. Spanning the period from c.900 to c.1500, the ambitious Reading the Middle Ages Volume II incorporates in a systematic fashion Islamic and Byzantine materials alongside Western readings. The original one-volume format of Reading the Middle Ages, covering medieval history from c.300 to c.1500, remains available. Special Combined Price: Reading the Middle Ages Volume II may be ordered together with A Short History of the Middle Ages Volume II at the special discounted price of $65.00 (CDN & US). In order to secure the package price, the following ISBN must be used when ordering: 978-1-44260-150-5.
Table of Contents:
Maps Plates Preface Abbreviations and Signs Chapter 4. Political Communities Reordered (c.900-c.1050) Regionalism: Its Advantages and Its Discontents 4.1 Fragmentation in the Islamic world: Al-Tabari, The Defeat of the Zanj Revolt (c.915) 4.2 The powerful in the Byzantine countryside: Romanus Lecapenus, Novel (934) 4.3 Donating to Cluny: Cluny's Foundation Charter (910) and various charters of donation (10th-11th c.) 4.4 Love and complaints in Angouleme: Agreements between Count William of the Aquitanians and Hugh of Lusignan (1028) 4.5 The Peace of God at Bourges: Andrew of Fleury, The Miracles of St. Benedict (1040-1043) 4.6 A castellan's revenues and properties in Catalonia: Charter of Guillem Guifred (1041-1075) Byzantine Expansion 4.7 Military life: Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Military Advice to His Son (950-958) 4.8 Imperial rule: Michael Psellus, Portrait of Basil II (c.1063) Scholarship across the Islamic World 4.9 Political theory: Al-Farabi, The Perfect State (c.940-942) 4.10 Logic: Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Treatise on Logic (1020s or 1030s) Kings, Queens, and Princes 4.11 Kievan Rus: The Russian Primary Chronicle (c.1113) 4.12 Hungary: King Stephen, Laws (1000-1038) 4.13 An Ottonian queen: The "Older Life" of Queen Mathilda (973-974) 4.14 An Ottonian king: Thietmar of Merseberg, The Accession of Henry II (1013-1018) Northern Europe and Beyond 4.15 Literacy: King Alfred, Prefaces to Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care (c.890) 4.16 Literature: Battle of Maldon (not long after 991) 4.17 Law: King Aethelred, Law Code (1008) Plate 4.1 Christianity comes to Denmark: The Jelling Monument 4.18 The making of Iceland: Ari Thorgilsson, The Book of the Icelanders (c.1125) Timeline for Chapter 4 Chapter 5. The Expansion of Europe (c.1050-c.1150) Maps Plate 5.1 The West: T-O Map (12th c.) Plate 5.2 The West: The Image of the World (late 12th c.) Plate 5.3 The Islamic world: Directions to Mecca (12th c.) Plate 5.4 Byzantium: The Inhabited World, from a copy of Ptolemys Geography (13th c.) Commercial Take Off 5.1 Cultivating new lands: Frederick of Hamburgs Agreement with Colonists from Holland (1106) 5.2 Local markets: Ibn Jubayr, A Market near Aleppo (1184) 5.3 The role of royal patronage: Henry I, Privileges for the Citizens of London (1130-1133) Church Reform 5.4 The royal view: Henry IV, Letter to Gregory VII (1075) 5.5 The papal view: Gregory VII, Letter to Hermann of Metz (1076) The Crusades and Reconquista 5.6 Martyrs in the Rhineland: Rabbi Eliezer b. Nathan ("Raban"), O God, Insolent Men (early-to-mid-12th c.) 5.7 The Greek experience: Anna Comnena, The Alexiad (c.1148) 5.8 A Westerner in the Holy Land: Stephen of Blois, Letter to His Wife (March 1098) 5.9 The Muslim reaction: Ibn al-Athir, The First Crusade (13th c.) 5.10 The crusade in Spain and Portugal: The Conquest of Lisbon (1147-1148) The Norman Conquest of England 5.11 The pro-Norman position: William of Jumieges, The Deeds of the Dukes of the Normans (c.1070) 5.12 The native position: "Florence of Worcester," Chronicle of Chronicles (early 12th c.) Plate 5.5 The Conquest depicted: The Bayeux Tapestry (end of the 11th c.) 5.13 Exploiting the Conquest: Domesday Book (1087) The Twelfth-Century Renaissance 5.14 Logic: Abelard, Glosses on Porphyry (c.1100) Plate 5.6 Gilbert of Poitiers, Gloss on Psalm 101 (c.1117) 5.15 Biblical scholarship: Gilbert of Poitiers, Gloss on Psalm 101 (c.1117) Plate 5.7 The "standard gloss": Glossa Ordinaria on Psalm 101 (1130s) 5.16 Rethinking the religious life: Heloise, Letter (1130s) 5.17 Medicine: The Trotula (c.1250, based on 12th-c. sources) Cluniacs and Cistercians 5.18 The Cistercian view: St. Bernard, Apologia (1125) 5.19 The Cluniac view: Peter the Venerable, Miracles (mid 1130s-mid 1150s) Timeline for Chapter 5 Chapter 6. Institutionalizing Aspirations (c.1150-c.1250) New Heroes in the East 6.1 Saladin: Ibn Shaddad, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin (1198-1216) 6.2 The lone Byzantine warrior: Digenis Akritis (12th c.) The Crusades Continue 6.3 The Northern Crusade: Helmold, The Chronicle of the Slavs (1167-1168) 6.4 The Fourth Crusade: Nicetas Choniates, O City of Byzantium (c.1215) Grounding Justice in Royal Law 6.5 English common law: The Assize of Clarendon (1166) 6.6 English litigation on the ground: The Costs of Richard of Ansteys Law Suit (1158-1163) 6.7 The legislation of a Spanish king: The Laws of Cuenca (1189-1193) Local Laws and Arrangements 6.8 A manorial court: Proceedings for the Abbey of Bec (1246) 6.9 Doing business: A Genoese societas (1253) 6.10 Womens work: Guild Regulations of the Parisian Silk Fabric Makers (13th c.) 6.11 Mens work: Guild Regulations of the Shearers of Arras (1236) Bureaucracy at the Papal Curia 6.12 The growth of papal business: Innocent III, Letters (1200-1202) 6.13 Petitioning the papacy: Register of Thomas of Hereford (1281) 6.14 Mocking the papal bureaucracy: The Gospel according to the Marks of Silver (c.1200) Confrontations 6.15 Henry II and Becket: Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) 6.16 Emperor and pope: Diet of Besancon (1157) 6.17 King and nobles: Magna Carta (1215) Vernacular literature 6.18 Epic poetry: Raoul de Cambrai (1180-1223) 6.19 A troubadour poem of love: Jaufre Rudel, When Days are Long in May (c.1125-1150) 6.20 A poem of war: Bertran de Born, I Love the Joyful Time (12th c.) 6.21 Song of a trobairitz: Comtessa de Dia, Ive Been in Great Anguish (c.1200?) 6.22 Fabliaux: Browny, the Priests Cow and The Priest Who Peeked (13th c.) New Developments in Religious Sensibilities 6.23 Disciplining and purifying Christendom: Decrees of Lateran IV (1215) 6.24 Art and architecture as religious devotion: Suger, On What was Done under his Administration (1148-1149) 6.25 Devotion through poverty: Peter Waldo in the Chronicle of Laon (1173-1178) 6.26 Devotion through mysticism: Jacques de Vitry, The Life of Mary of Oignies (1213) 6.27 The mendicant movement: St. Francis, The Canticle to Brother Sun (1225) Religious Feeling turned Violent 6.28 The expulsion of the Jews from Bury St. Edmunds: Jocelin of Brakelond, Chronicle (1190-1202) 6.29 Burning heretics in Germany: Chronicle of Trier (1231) Timeline for Chapter 6 Chapter 7. Discordant Harmonies (c.1250-c.1350) The Mongols 7.1 The Mongols speak: The Secret History of the Mongols (first half of the 13th c.) 7.2 A Mongol reply to the pope: Guyuk Khan, Letter to Pope Innocent IV (1246) 7.3 Accommodations: Mengu-Temir Khan, Charter to Protect the Russian Church (1308) 7.4 The Hungarian king bewails the Mongol invasions. Bela IV, Letter to Pope Innocent IV (c.1250) 7.5 Mongol trade routes: Marco Polo, The Travels (c.1300) Transformations in the Cities 7.6 The popolo gains power: The Ghibelline Annals of Piacenza (1250) 7.7 The Hanseatic League: Decrees of the League (1260-1264) 7.8 Hospitals: Charters for Bury St. Edmunds (1248-1272) 7.9 Famine at Constantinople: Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Letter (1306-1307) Heresies and Persecutions 7.10 Inquisition: Jacques Fournier, Episcopal Register (1318-1325) 7.11 Procedures for isolating lepers: Sarum manual (based on materials from c.1360s) 7.12 Jews in England: Statute of the Jewry (1275) and Petition of the "Commonalty" of the Jews (shortly after 1275) Rulers and Ruled 7.13 A charismatic ruler: Joinville, The Life of St. Louis (1272) 7.14 The commons participate: Summons of Representatives of Shires and Towns to Parliament (1295) 7.15 The pope throws down the gauntlet: Boniface VIII, Clericis Laicos (1296) 7.16 The pope reacts again: Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam (1302) 7.17 The French king responds to Boniface: William of Plaisians, Charges of Heresy against Boniface VIII (1303) 7.18 Assembly of the Estates General in Paris: Grand Chronicles of France (1314) Modes of Thought, Feeling, and Devotion 7.19 Scholasticism: Thomas Aquinas, Summa against the Gentiles (1259-1264) 7.20 Mysticism: Meister Eckhart, Sermon 101 (1298-1305) 7.21 Italian comes into its own: Dante, Inferno (Canto 5) (Paolo and Francesca); Paradiso (Canto 22) (Meeting with St. Benedict) (1313-1321) 7.22 Romance: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (last quarter of 14th c.) 7.23 Medieval drama: Directions for an Annunciation play (14th c.) 7.24 The feast of Corpus Christi: The Life of Juliana of Mont-Cornillon (1261-1264) Timeline for Chapter 7 Chapter 8. Catastrophe and Creativity (c.1350-c.1500) The Plague 8.1 A medical view: Nicephorus Gregoras, Roman History (c.1350) 8.2 Processions at Damascus: Ibn Battuta, Travels (before 1368) 8.3 Prayers at York: Archbishop William, Letter to His Official at York (July 1348) 8.4 Blaming the Jews: Heinrich von Diessenhoven, On the Persecution of the Jews (c.1350) 8.5 A legislative response: Ordinances against the Spread of Plague at Pistoia (1348) The Ottomans 8.6 A Turkish hero: Ashikpashazade, Osman Comes to Power (late 15th c.) 8.7 Diplomacy: Peace Agreement between the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and the Signoria of Venice (January 25, 1478) Byzantium: Decline and Fall 8.8 Before the fall: Patriarch Anthony, Letter to the Russian Church (1395) 8.9 The fall bewailed: George Sphrantzes, Chronicle (before 1477) 8.10 After the fall: Archbishop Genady of Novgorod and Dmitry Gerasimov, The Tale of the White Cowl (end of the 15th c.) War and Social Unrest in France and England 8.11 Chivalric and non-chivalric models: Froissart, Chronicles (c.1400) 8.12 National feeling: Jeanne d'Arc, Letter to the English (1429) 8.13 The commons revolt: Wat Tylers Rebellion (after 1381) Crises and Changes in the Church and Religion 8.14 The humiliation of Avignon: St. Catherine of Siena, Letter to Pope Gregory XI (1376) 8.15 The conciliarist movement: Jean Gerson, Sermon at the Council of Constance (1415) 8.16 The Hussite program: The Four Articles of Prague (1420) 8.17 The Catholic rally against the Hussites: Emperor Sigismund, Crusading Letter (1421) 8.18 Piety in the Low Countries: Salome Sticken, Formula for Living (c.1435) The Renaissance 8.19 Re-evaluating antiquity: Cincius Romanus, Letter to His Most Learned Teacher Franciscus de Fiana (1416) 8.20 The search for a patron: George of Trebizond, Prefatory letter to Mehmed II (1465-1466) 8.21 Old sources criticized: Lorenzo Valla, Discourse on the Forgery of the Alleged Donation of Constantine (1440) 8.22 Defending women: Christine de Pisan, The Book of the City of Ladies (1404-1407) 8.23 Satirizing society: Francois Villon, Testament (1461) 8.24 An Islamic Renaissance thinker: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah (1377-1381) Finding a New World Plate 8.1 A new kind of map: Gabriel de Valseca, Portolan Chart (1447) 8.25 Taking Mexico: Hernan Cortes, The Second Letter (1520) Timeline for Chapter 8 Appendix: A Topical Arrangement of Readings Sources Index Maps
About the Author :
Barbara H. Rosenwein is Professor in the Department of History at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of several books, including Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages (2006), Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint, and Privileges of Immunity in Early Medieval Europe (1999), and Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic World (second edition, 2014).
