1. THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH: SURVEYS

 

Colin Morris, The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) paperback, $60.  Not just a book about the papacy, but a first-rate survey of the crucial period which witnessed the ascendancy not just of the papacy, but of much else: of the Crusades, of heresy, of the universities, of the mendicants. Yes, the price is outrageous, but this is a superb study, and worth the price.

 

R.W. Southern, Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, Pelican History of the Church 2 (New York: Penguin Books, 1970) paperback, $16.  Southern focuses more on emblematic moments and trends than on a straightforward narrative of events.  This survey includes long (and valuable) chapters on the medieval papacy and religious orders.

 

Peter Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity AD 200-1000 (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996) paperback, $30.  Peter Brown is not only one of the finest historians of late antiquity and the early medieval world, but is also a gifted writer.  Few historians have his ability to bring alive ancient and foreign worlds.  This survey spans much unconventional ground, not only the classic Greek and Latin forms of Christianity, but also its more exotic varieties: Coptic and Syriac, Celtic and Central Asian.  Try it for fresh perspectives.

 

Daniel E. Bornstein, ed., Medieval Christianity, A People’s History of Christianity, vol. 4 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006) hardcover, $35.  NEW.

Adriaan H. Bredero, Christendom and Christianity in the Middle Ages: The Relations between Religion, Church and Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994).

Henry Chadwick, East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times Until the Council of Florence, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $45.

G.R. Evans, The Church in the Early Middle Ages, I.B. Taurus History of the Christian Church (New York: I.B. Taurus, 2007) hardcover, $40.  NEW.

Richard Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion From Paganism to Christianity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999) paperback, $22.

Judith Herrin, The Formation of Christendom (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987) paperback, $25.  A superb study of the early Middle Ages, with a special focus on developments in the Byzantine East.

F. Donald Logan, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 2002) paperback, $23.

Francis Oakley, The Western Church in the Later Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985).

James C. Russell, The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $25.

Gerd Tellenbach, The Church in Western Europe from the Tenth to the Early Twelfth Century, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992) paperback, $32.

Carl A. Volz, The Medieval Church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997) paperback, $22.

J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church, Oxford History of the Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983) hardcover, $115.

 

 2. MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION: SURVEYS

 

Rosamund McKitterick, ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996-2004) hardcover.  5 volumes now available, 2 still to be published.  This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date survey of medieval history and civilization.

• Vol. 1: c.500-c.700, ed. Paul Fouracre (2005), hardcover, $160.

• Vol. 2: c.700-c.900, ed. Rosamund McKitterick (1995) hardcover, $140.

• Vol. 3: c.900-c.1024, ed. Timothy Reuter (1999) hardcover, $140.

• Vol. 4, Parts 1 & 2: c.1024-c.1198 ed. David Luscombe & Jonathan Riley-Smith (2004) hardcover, $110 per part.

• Vol. 5: c.1198-c.1300, ed. David Abulafia (1999) hardcover, $140.

• Vol. 6: c.1300-c.1415, ed. Michael Jones (1999) hardcover, $140.

• Vol. 7: c.1415-c.1500, ed. Christopher Allmand (1997) hardcover, $140.

George Holmes, ed., Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) paperback, $25.  A fine survey of medieval history with chapters by leading scholars.  It covers more than the history of the Church, though it offers valuable surveys of church matters.  The illustrations are superb.  A good place to start.

 

Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization, and Cultural Change, 950-1350 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) paperback, $27.

Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: The Growth of Ties of Dependence, trans. L.A. Manyan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961) paperback.

Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: Social Classes and Political Organization, trans. L.A. Manyan (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982) paperback, $11.

Robert Calkins, Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: From A.D. 300 to 1500 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) hardcover, $67.

Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, rev. ed. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993; 1st edition, 1963) paperback, $18.

Giles Constable, The Reformation of the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998) paperback, $32.

Georges Duby, The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980) paperback, $24.

Georges Duby, ed., Revelations of the Medieval World, Volume 2 of A History of Private Life (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987) paperback, $21.

Georges Duby, Women of the Twelfth Century, 3 vol. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997-1998):

• Vol 1: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Six Others (1997) paperback.

• Vol 2: Remembering the Dead (1998) paperback, $17.

• Vol 3: Eve and the Church (1998) paperback, $14.

Robert Fossier, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages, 3 vol. (New York: Cambridge, 1986, 1992) hardcover.

Henry Mayr-Harting, The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991) paperback.

Johan Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, trans. Rodney J. Payton (reprint: Chicago: University of Chicago, 1997) paperback, $18.  A classic from the 1920s, recently re-translated.

Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, ed., A History of Women in the West: Vol. 2: Silences of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992) paperback, $16.

Jacques LeGoff, Medieval Civilization (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990) paperback, $39.  LeGoff, one of the leading medieval historians of the 20th century, focuses not on events, but on social milieu.

Angus Mackay, ed., Atlas of Medieval Europe (London: Routledge, 1998) paperback, $26.

Rosamond McKitterick, ed., The Early Middle Ages: Europe 400-1000, Short Oxford History of Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) paperback, $20.

Francis Oakley, The Medieval Experience, Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching 23 (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1974; reprint, 1988).

Edward Peters, Europe and the Middle Ages, 3rd edition (New York: Prentice-Hall, 1997)hardcover.

J.R.S. Phillips, The Medieval Expansion of Europe, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) paperback.

Nigel Saul, The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) paperback, $25.

R.W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967) paperback, $17.  A masterpiece of historical scholarship.

Brian Tierney, Western Europe in the Middle Ages, 300-1475, 6th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 1998) paperback, $90.

J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Barbarian West, 400-1000, 4th ed. (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996) paperback, $29.

Leslie Webster & Michelle Brown, The Transformation of the Roman World, AD 400-900 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) paperback, $30.

 

 3. MEDIEVAL THOUGHT: SURVEYS

 

G.R. Evans, ed., The Medieval Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Medieval Period (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001) hardcover, $45.  An excellent, up-to-date one-volume introduction to medieval theology, with individual chapters devoted mostly to individual theologians: Augustine of Hippo, Bede, Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, Peter Lombard, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas.  A good place to start.

 

Brian Davies, ed., Great Medieval Thinkers series (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000-  ) paperback.  A valuable series focused on individual medieval theologians.  The volumes to date are:

• Deidre Carabine, John Scottus Eriugena (2000) paperback, $28.

• Richard Cross, Duns Scotus (2006) paperback, $29.  NEW.

• Christopher M. Cullen, Bonaventure (2006) paperback, $20.  NEW.

• G.R. Evans, Bernard of Clairvaux (2005) paperback, $28.

• John Marenbon, Boethius (2003) paperback, $25.

• James McEvoy, Robert Grossteste (2000) paperback, $30.

• Philipp W. Rosemann, Peter Lombard (2004) paperback, $25.

Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: a History of the Development of Doctrine, 5 vol. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,  1974, 1978, 1984) paperback, $21-22 per volume.  One of the finest studies of the evolution of Christian thought.  One problem: Pelikan presumes you really known your history—and the procession of names he mentions.  Three volumes are relevant to medieval theology:

• Volume 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700).

• Volume 3: The Growth of Medieval Theology (600-1300).

• Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700).

A.H. Armstrong, ed., Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967) paperback.

Joseph Canning, A History of Medieval Political Thought, 300-1450 (New York: Routledge, 1997) paperback, $27.

M.D. Chenu, Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century: Essays on New Theological Perspectives in the Latin West, Medieval Reprints for Teaching 37 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997) paperback, $17.  A selection of path-breaking essays by one of the architects of Vatican II.  Originally published as La théologie au douzième siècle (Paris: Vrin, 1957).

Marcia L. Colish, The Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400, The Yale Intellectual History of the West (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997) paperback, $19.

Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, Vol. 1 and 2, trans. Mark Sebanc, Ressourcement Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B. Eerdmans, 1998) $40 per volume.  An older, classic study now available in English.

G.R. Evans, Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers (New York: Routledge, 2002) paperback, $19.

G.R. Evans, Philosophy and Theology in the Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 1994), paperback, $20.

G.R. Evans, The Language and Logic of the Bible: the Earlier Middle Ages (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991) paperback, $22.

Margaret T. Gibson, The Bible in the Latin West (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1993).

Michael Haren, Medieval Thought: The Western Intellectual Tradition from Antiquity to the Thirteenth Century, 2nd edition (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992).

David Knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought, ed. D.E. Luscomb (London: Longman, 1989) paperback, $38. An older survey, reprinted.

Norman Kretzman, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinbourg, eds., Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy: from the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism, 1100-1600 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982) paperback.

Roberta Kreuger, The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002) paperback, $24.

John Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy, Routledge History of Philosophy (New York: Routledge, 2003) paperback, $30.

John Marenbon, Early Medieval Philosophy (480-1150) (Cambridge, MA: Routledge, 1990), paperback.

John Marenbon, Later Medieval Philosophy (1150-1350) (Cambridge, MA: Routledge, 1994) paperback, $32.

A.S. McGrade, The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) paperback, $24.

B.B. Price, Medieval Thought: an Introduction (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1992) paperback, $20.

R.W. Southern, Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe (New York: Blackwell, 1995).  Two volumes to date; a third is forthcoming in 2005.

• vol. 1: Foundations (1995) paperback, $39.

• vol. 2: The Heroic Age (2000) paperback, $41.

 4. ANTHOLOGIES OF CLASSIC TEXTS

 

Dominic Bellenger & Roberta Anderson, Medieval Religion: A Sourcebook (New York: Routledge, 2007) paperback, $32.  NEW

Patrick J. Geary, ed., Readings in Medieval History, 3rd ed. (Broadview Press, 2003) paperback, $35.

Thomas Head, ed., Medieval Hagiography: An Anthology (New York: Routledge, 2001) paperback, $37.

Judith Herrin, ed., A Medieval Miscellany (New York: Viking Press, 2000) paperback, $15.

Oliver O’Donovan & Joan Lockwood O’Donovan, ed., From Irenaeus to Grotius: A Sourcebook in Christian Political Thought, 100-1625 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000) paperback.

Brian Tierney, ed., The Middle Ages: Sources of Medieval History, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 1992) paperback.

 

 5. GENERAL REFERENCE WORKS

 

Henry Chadwick and Gillian R. Evans, ed., Atlas of the Christian Church (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987).

Chris Cook, The Routledge Companion to Christian History, Routledge Companions (New York: Routledge, 2007) paperback, $30.  NEW.

David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $16.

William W. Johnston, ed, Encyclopedia of Monasticism, 2 vol. (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000).

J.N.D. Kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (reprint: New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) paperback, $16.

Anthony Kenny, ed., The Oxford History of Western Philosophy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) paperback, $16.

Juan María Laboa, ed., The Historical Atlas of Eastern and Western Christian Monasticism (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003) hardcover, $100.  Magnificent photos; disappointing as a text.

Philippe Levillain, ed., The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, 3 vols. (New York: Routledge, 2001).

Elizabeth A. Livingstone, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997) hardcover, $125.  An abridged paperback version is available under the title: Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (2000) paperback, $16.

Peter Murray & Linda Murray, eds., The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) paperback, $26.

Linda Murray & Peter Murray, eds., Dictionary of Christian Art, Oxford Paperback Reference (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004) paperback, $17.

Ken Parry, David Melling, Sidney Griffith, and Dimitri Brady, eds., A Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999) paperback, $35.

Margaret Schaus, ed., Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia, Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages (New York: Routledge, 2006) hardcover, $175.  NEW.

 

 

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Revised: December 15, 2007

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  William Harmless, SJ