Synopses & Reviews
Medieval Panorama re-creates one of the great ages of European civilization through spectacular reproductions accompanied by a lively, informed commentary. Covering the entire period from the Dark Ages through the first flowering of the Renaissance and ingeniously organized by topic and thoroughly cross-referenced, this all-embracing book enables readers to explore an era of breath-taking artistic achievement and profound religious faith. More than 800 superb illustrations, drawn from archives, libraries, and museums all over the world, are organized into themed double-page features with clear, authoritative commentaries that will appeal to every level of readership.
Medieval Panorama covers every aspect of medieval life: religion the single most dominant force of the whole period and medieval man's extraordinary preoccupation with guilt, redemption and the fate of the soul; the political structure and the lifestyle of the ruling class knighthood and chivalry, feasting and hunting, ceremony and the ruthless exercise of power; the immense wealth of medieval art, with spectacular illustrations of architecture, manuscript illumination, sculpture, and stained glass: the lives, emotions and beliefs of ordinary people, including their experience of social relations, work, and sex; the inner world of medieval man alchemy, magic and witchcraft, astronomy, courtly love, and Arthurian romance; the fascinating and unfamiliar world outside Christendom, and how it interested with and influenced medieval Europe.
This book also includes biographies of key personalities, from Charlemagne to Wycliffe, timelines, maps, glossary, gazetteer, and bibliography.
Synopsis
With more than eight hundred illustrations, Medieval Panorama is an all-encompassing visual re-creation of the medieval world: its peoples, its defining characteristics, indeed, its whole culture in the widest sense.
Every facet of the medieval world-from the fall of the Roman Empire to the dawning of the Renaissance-is covered in more than one hundred themes. Eight main sections encompass a range of subjects from religion through the structure of secular power, art and architecture, the daily life of ordinary men and women, philosophy and science, to an unusual emphasis on the imperfectly known world outside Europe. Specific topics include the papacy, monasteries, popular religion; kingship, knighthood, and courtly life; Gothic cathedrals; manuscripts; life on the land and in the city; cosmology, magic, and the romance of chivalry; the Moors, the Jews, and the mysterious East.
A biographical dictionary, timelines, maps, and a glossary, as well as illuminating cross-references to connect related topics, make Medieval Panorama an indispensable reference work for students, educators, travelers, and museum-goers.
About the Author
Robert Bartlett is one of the world's most distinguished medieval historians. A former research fellow at Göttingen University and professor of medieval history at the University of Chicago, he is currently professor at the University of Saint Andrews. His publications include
The Making of Europe and
Trial by Fire and Water: The Medieval Judicial Ordeal.