Good books for me about the Middle Ages?

[dragons in the flower bed]

Hi all.

 

My middle kiddo is already beginning to dig in to the books I'd stockpiled for 08-09's lessons on medieval times. I need a good read for me to complement what he's studying, not a classic or a history, but something from a philosophical angle, discussing the play of ideas on the medieval stage. Any ideas?

[Plaid Dad]

C. S. Lewis's The Discarded Image has a literary focus, but with reference to intellectual history, if I'm remembering it well. (It's been a while since I read it. :)) There's another book that helped me a lot in grad school, but I'm not coming up with the title right now. I'm sure it will percolate to the top of my consciousness eventually; I'll let you know when it does.

 

ETA: Nix that. I dug out my diss. and the author I was thinking of (Jacob Burckhardt) focused on the Renaissance. My work was on the late MA, so there was a lot of overlap between medieval and Renaissance studies there. Sorry!

[dragons in the flower bed]

C. S. Lewis's The Discarded Image has a literary focus, but with reference to intellectual history, if I'm remembering it well.

 

I looked inside at Amazon, and got sucked right in (as should be expected from Lewis). I'm going to hunt it down on bookfinder.com right now. Thanks!

[LisaNY]

The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop is a good read, and has the things you are looking for.

[DIY-DY]

Hi all.

 

My middle kiddo is already beginning to dig in to the books I'd stockpiled for 08-09's lessons on medieval times. I need a good read for me to complement what he's studying, not a classic or a history, but something from a philosophical angle, discussing the play of ideas on the medieval stage. Any ideas?

 

Alison Weir writes beautifully. Her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine helped me understand the culture, the political environment, the aspects of the Middle Ages that I didn't "get" before.

 

Also, The Medieval Machine: Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages, by Jean Gimpel - fantastic, intersting read.

 

At some point last year, I read a book called The Stuarts. I just tried to find it on Amazon, and there are two - could be either one, I'm not entirely sure. It was *fantastic* to finally understand the lineage that lead up to the Tudors (not to mention being able to place people in the right order/time, as well as getting a little insight into what they were like - what the attitudes and philosophies were that shaped the era).

 

I'm a rabid excerpter (made that word up, do ya like it?) I chase my poor husband around, reading excerpts that I find humorous or interesting. Things that clarify mysteries for me, etc. Normally, he runs and hides, or at least avoids making eye contact when there's a threat of a random excerpting. With the Stuarts, he actually started asking me, "So, what's ol' James up to today?" LOL!

[Firefly65]

I would recommend two books for the early Middle Ages by Peter Brown to get you started:

 

The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750

 

The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD (Making of Europe)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moira in MA]

We recently studied The Canterbury Tales and I used Margaret Hallissy's A Companion to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for my reading along side the text. It does a great job of explaining the context of the Tales especially in terms of the growing dissatisfaction with the Medieval Church, women's roles and the preference for ancient authority. Highly recommended.

 

HTH