Customer Reviews

Medieval Studies: An Introduction

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Highly recommended for anyone who is thinking of pursuing a higher degree in medieval studies, or anyone who simply wants a glimpse into the various aspects of the profession. (Apparently the other reviewer does not quite understand the meaning of "Introduction"...or "medieval studies." ) Nowhere else will one find a collection of introductions to such a broad array of specialized medieval disciplines: paleography, diplomatics, numismatics, prosopography, computer-assisted analysis of statistical documents of medieval society, medieval chronology, medieval English literature, Latin philosophies, medieval art, and medieval music. If you're looking for a synthetic narrative about the middle ages, browse elsewhere. If you want to know what professional medievalists do--or even embark your own training as one--this is the book for you.

Medieval Studies is a very good handbook for those new to the discipline. It provides the reader with a solid overview of an extremely broad subject and points in directions for further study.

If you are looking for a reference book that tells you to go somewhere else to learn something, this book is for you. The only chapter that is useful is the chapter on Archaeology. The rest of them start out with something similar to "it is impossible to cover this topic in the pages provided..." The only rewarding quality of this book are the bibliographies provided at the end of each chapter.

The chapters are written by different people that supposedly have specialized in the chapter's area. There is little effort to make the chapters even remotely interesting. Instead they write in such a way to either bore or confuse their reader. They do nothing to make someone want to look up the books listed in the bibliographies.