The Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages [Paperback]

Helen Waddell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2000

Widely acclaimed study of the makers and singers of medieval Latin poetry considers the works of such poet-scholars as Fortunatus, Abelard, and the colony of Irish scholars around Liège and Cologne. Other topics include humanism during the first half of the 12th century, the archpoet, the scholars' lyric, and the Carmina Burana.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (August 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486414361
• ISBN-13: 978-0486414362
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will live for ever, September 3, 2003

By 

F. P. Barbieri "Fabio Paolo Barbieri" (London UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages (Paperback)

When I bought this book, I had some misgivings, because it was dated 1927, and I am always nervous about reading old books in unfamiliar areas - there might be some important discovery that completely changes the picture, and of which they are unaware. But I felt I needed it, because it covered a grievous gap in my own knowledge of one of my subjects - the state of culture, and its social organization, in the middle ages. And by the time I was turning the first page, I knew I'd struck gold. Gold? Diamonds! This is the sort of book that never grows old, because it is built on a most extraordinary knowledge of the relevant material - again and again, she quotes unpublished manuscripts and material in obscure German and Italian publications - joined with immense sympathy for people. a broad vision that sweeps over several centuries, an eye for the significant detail, and a delicious and humane sense of humour; it is a classic like Gibbon. I wonder whether GK Chesterton ever read it? He would have loved it. It is a wonderfully insightful picture of the intellectual life of the West over seven centuries (400-1200 AD), drawn entirely from contemporary documents. Therefore the view it presents may be modified by further discoveries, but cannot be disproved or contradicted, because it grows from the soil of real people's experience. I can't praise it enough.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appealing to holders of collections about Medieval studies, January 22, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages (Paperback)

Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages is the acclaimed study of a noted scholar which records the makers and singers of medieval Latin poetry and their traditions. Waddell's classic appears in a fine affordable edition which will appeal to holders of collections strong in Medieval studies.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Twentieth Century's Best Book About the Middle Ages, November 1, 2008

By 

A reader (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages (Paperback)

What had been intended as an account of the traveling scholar-clerics of medieval times outgrew its original purpose to become a history of the preservation of the poetic impulse, from the decay of antiquity up to the eve of the Renaissance. "The Wandering Scholars" is not only a significant contribution to scholarly knowledge, but is itself a work of pure poetry, made all the more poignant in our own day by knowledge of the tragic fate that awaited the author. The buyer should be warned, however: although the book created a publishing sensation when it appeared in 1927, finding enthusiastic admirers ranging from the ranks of the University to the inmates of His Majesty's prisons, the steady decline of educational standards may render the book difficult for the general reader of today, and even the best-prepared could spend a lifetime exploring the many levels of meaning and allusion in Miss Waddell's pioneering work of genius.