51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good Collection of Excerpted Texts, April 12, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Portable Medieval Reader (Portable Library) (Paperback)
This book contains excerpts from 100+ different medieval texts on diverse subjects. The excerpts are arranged thematically, with like subjects grouped together. There is, for example, a section on monastic life and practice, with several different texts provided to illustrate monastic life both as it was supposed to be, as it actually was, and as it was seen by non-monks. The texts chosen provide accounts of various monastic orders (the Franciscans, the Cistercians, etc.)in different parts of Europe. Similar thematic sections are provided for nobles, peasants, craftsmen and merchants, and there are thematic sections on a range of more specific subjects to boot. The kinds of texts chosen range from the highly literary and erudite (poems, philosophical treatises, etc.) to the mundane and prosaic (court records, trade accounts, etc.) All in all it's an excellent compilation, although I wish more had been provided to "introduce" each selection-- with a bit more said about the author, the work the excerpt was taken from, it's specific historical context in which it was written, etc., so that the reader of "The Portable Medieval Reader" could be a bit more informed about the sources provided.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Portable Medieval Reader, November 5, 2007
This review is from: The Portable Medieval Reader (Portable Library) (Paperback)
The Portable Medieval Reader offers a great deal of extracts from hard to find works, but unfortunately it suffers from a lack of thematic cohesion and an ability to place actions and situations within an historical context. It is difficult to place the ideal reader, for a scholar would seek out the full texts, and a history buff would be best suited to reading overviews and coherent works rather than these extracts. What value, then, does the Portable Medieval Reader have?
Well, it is a very interesting piece of work. During the Medieval period, which for this book is somewhere between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Catholic church hung heavy over the minds and hearts of the Western World. Her rulings, teaching and exhortations are like thick velvet drapes laid everywhere ' somewhat pretty, perhaps even comforting to look at and touch, but overall it serves to dull the essential nature of what it covers. There is a strong focus on churchly matters and the trappings of faith ' which makes sense when you realise that the majority of educated people were part of the clergy.
Forgetting the church a moment, there are snippets of information from all areas of Medieval life. There are essays on how a good knight should behave, and on how a good wife should behave. There are recipes and writings on fashion, and there are biographies and histories. But these asides are brief, and even the longest and best biographies, which deal with Kings and other men of consequence, are either written by, or focused upon, the church and her power.
Poetry is supported strongly within the book, although most of it lies towards the end. Chaucer has a (brief) section, but it is Abelard and various scattered 'anonymous' which take up the largest page counts. The reasoning of editors James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin was that Chaucer (and Boccaccio) are very easy to find, whereas John of Salisbury, Aniar MacConglinee, Bernart de Ventadorn and Guido Guinicelli are not. To me this is an admirable reason for inclusion (and exclusion), and for the most part, the choice pays off. Chaucer is, of course, a phenomenal poet, but the work suffers little from leaving him mostly out of the picture. The other poets, many anonymous, are shown variably as being witty, intelligent, lusty, bawdy, melancholy, despondent and happy. An even greater selection of poetry would have been appreciated, but what is here certainly provides a wide range of artistic expression.
Another of the more interesting aspects of the work is the sections on the Jewish people, and on the Crusades. During the Medieval period, the rights of Jews were at a very low ebb, with usury and 'thieving Jews' being a massive problem for the church and the people. Jews were not allowed to own much land or have control over important assets and they were often persecuted and expelled from countries ' or killed. Reading Pope Gregory X's allows an unparalleled insight into the minds of the majority against the Jew, with such comments as 'no one shall disturb them in any way during the celebration of their festivals', and that Jews should no longer be charged with stealing Christian children to kill them and drink their blood. That a Pope had to officially state objections to such behaviour is breathtaking from a twenty-first century perspective. Similarly, the fraught relationship between Muslin and Christian was as difficult ' probably more tense ' then than now. Then, the Crusades were in full swing, with a great deal of misinformation and deceit on both sides.
For all the informative asides and insightful glimpses into a time no longer ours, it is unfortunate that the vast, vast majority of the work is taken up with clergymen talking about being clergymen. While this was undoubtable an important part of Medieval life, it becomes somewhat tiresome to read about yet another indistinguishable monk or priest. This is where the Portable Medieval Reader suffers the most. Rather than reading the entire work straight through, it is recommended that articles of interest be read. It is simply too exhaustive going through the endless Christianity-focused articles.
The Portable Enlightenment Reader benefited from the outstanding selection of essayists and poets. Perhaps one of the great essayistic periods in history, the Enlightenment Reader was intelligent and relevant to men and women today. Sadly, this is less true of the Portable Medieval Reader. The church, while strong, does not overshadow the lives and times as it did back then. Essays by intelligent men and women probably best show the temperament of the time, along with the literature and the press, and a lot of this simply didn't exist. Universities were created during the Medieval period, as well as the realisation that a non-Latin language was valid as a method of expression. What this means for the work is that the focus is clearly one-sided, which can make for often, but not always, difficult reading. Recommended, but be aware of what you are getting yourself into before diving recklessly in.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Medieval Reader, November 22, 2008
This review is from: The Portable Medieval Reader (Portable Library) (Paperback)
This is hands down the best Medieval reader of its kind. It covers a vast array of middle age topics: politics and warfare, the church, chivalry (of course), social and intellectual life, and more.
The translations are superb, brought up-to-date so that modern readers will truly enjoy these timeless writings. At the same time, I commend the editors for choosing translations which capture the spirit of the originals.
Anyone studying world history or literature will find this to be the perfect companion to their studies. I also highly recommend the following:
1.
The Portable Roman Reader (Viking Portable Library)2.
The Portable Renaissance Reader3.
Medieval Europe: A Short History4.
The Portable Chaucer: Revised Edition (Viking Portable Library)
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