Customer Reviews

The Medieval Reader

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Norman Cantor's book is a fascinating collection of a very diverse and pivotal period in history. The Middle Ages, for Cantor, extend from the year 312 (the advent of the first Christian Roman Emperor, signaling in many respects the end of the Classical Age) to the year 1517, the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation, another key paradigm shift in the world. This is reader largely of pieces contemporary for the Middle Ages - there is some commentary provided, but the bulk of the task of presenting the Middle Ages rests upon the texts themselves, most translated anew into English by Cantor and other scholars.

This is also a Western civilisation reader - the Middle Ages is of a time as a well as of a place. The geography is Western Europe, from Ireland to Germany, from Scotland and Scandanavia to Italy and Spain. This was the land of Latin Catholicism, pollinated occasionally by Islamic culture from the south and Byzantine Christianity from the east, but largely undisturbed in its development. This culture represents a system of ideas political, religious and otherwise that formed much of the basis for modern Western culture, whose dominance in the world today is, for better or worse, unmistakable.

Cantor's anthology of 100 key texts is meant to simply the task of determining what is worthwhile reading from this period. Primary texts from the Middle Ages, so defined as comprising more than a thousand years, would include literally thousands of volumes - the output of writers such as Augustine alone could take a lifetime to read. Cantor arranges key texts topically, according to certain classifications - Nobility (including the primary families of the period, a sort of Social Register of royal and landed persons who controlled most of what would be considered state power), Church (the hierarchy and the overall institution), and the Middle Class (yes, there was a Middle Class, both urban and rural, that included knights, gentry, artisans and the like). Taking these classifications, Cantor arranges first texts that show them in as isolated a form as possible, then looks at the ways they interact with each other. The final portions of the text include works that look at problems and crises, and ends with documents of resolution, pacification and incorporation.

This is no mere chronology of texts - the emphasis here is on developing the patterns of society over time in the different strata. Literary works utilised include Beowulf, the Song of Roland, El Cid, the works of Dante, Chaucer, and Malory. Church writers from Augustine, Anselm, Bernard and Aquinas are combined with political writings from those such as Petrarch, Erasmus, and various anonymous documents and letters.

There are some real stunning pieces here - Bernard Gui's Inquisitor's Manual, Maimonides' reflections on Christianity (and one of his radical followers trying to explain why Jewish sex is preferable to Christian sex - something that must be read to be believed!), an account of the murder of Thomas Becket, and more.

Take and read!

When I first purchased this book through a mail order book club I was very dubious about ever reading it. It looked very uninteresting. But like the saying goes you can't judge a book by it's cover! And it's true this book has introduced me to so many other medieval authors that it's impossible to count them all. If it had not been for Norman Cantor I would have lost out on a lot of good Medeival reading! Thanks Mr. Cantor.

Wonderfully and entertainingly written history of ideas based on personalities and events of the Middle Ages. Amazing parallels with the world condition today, may be drawn. Read it.

If you want an introduction to medieval life, this is a good first book for you.