Customer Reviews

The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England (Oxford Illustrated Histories)

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I am an undergraduate at Sydney University studying Medieval History and this book has been far more useful than I would have imagined from the title. Rather than being a light-weight general introduction, as one might expect of an 'Illustrated History', the various chapters of this book are written by experts in their field. As this is written for the non-specialist and specialist alike, the style is erudite yet engaging. The the arguments and insight are representative of the most original recent scholarship.

For example George Garnett of Oxford University, an expert on Anglo-Norman history, authored Chapter 3: Conquered England, 1066-1215. The first section of this chapter is a concise essay which sums up the reasons for the Norman conquest of England in 1066 in the most compelling fashion. In fact this chapter really could be a starting point for anyone wishing to understand the Norman conquest and the period immediately following. It is still a recommended text for honours year students studying the Norman conquest at Oxford University.

Amongst other contributors of note are Professor Chris Given-Wilson of St Andrews University (Chapter 4: Late Medieval England, 1215-1485), Professor Dame Janet Nelson of Kings College London (Chapter 2: Anglo-Saxon England, c.500-1066) and Professor Christopher Dyer of Leicester University (Chapter 5: The Economy and Society).

As well as great scholarship and readable yet challenging opinion, this particular volume obviously also has the benefit of multiple illustrations depicting everything from manuscripts to castles. All in all it represent spectacular value for money.

I begin reading this because I wanted a clear, concise and short introduction to the history of medieval England. While it is short, it is not very clear or concise. The author's stilted writing is replete with insider information. Basic concepts and terms are not explained, an absolute must for an introduction to medieval history. To be fair to the author, synthesizing fragmented, biased and oftentimes fictional textual information with archaeology and other social science research is quite difficult. I am disapponted nevertheless, and will get my introduction to medieval England from elsewhere.

This is a well constructed book which contains much valuable and interesting information together with an excellent selection of illustrations.

Unfortunately the author's use of rather poor English grammar combined with convoluted and involved sentences tends to detract from reading enjoyment Nobody wishes to have to re-read sentences in order to obtain the sense in them.