PREFACE
xixThis encyclopedia of the many and varied worlds of the
Middle Ages covers the period from the late antique
world to about 1500 C.E., the formative era for many
aspects of modern secular and religious cultures. It inte-
grates regions and civilizations from Scandinavia in the
north to North Africa in the south, from the Maghrib to
Egypt. From west to east it treats topics from Iceland to
Moscow and the Mongols; across the Mediterranean Sea
it includes Byzantium and Seljuk and early Ottoman
Anatolia, and farther east to the Levant or eastern shore,
to Syria, Palestine, the Kurds, and Persia. The entries
emphasize the interaction among all these varied and
changing civilizations and religious groups, in addition to
covering the traditional topics of monarchy, warfare, and
chivalry. They enrich their subjects with attention to
issues such as gender and popular culture. They reflect
the changes in scholarly and pedagogical interests and
approaches that have occurred in the last two decades,
with their broadened cultural and geographic coverage.
Whatever might have been Europe during this long peri-
od was much more influenced by the many peoples and
cultures surrounding and inside it than was appreciated a
few decades ago.
The Encyclopedia of the Medieval Worldis intended to
be of use to students and scholars in a wide range of top-
ics of a historical and wider cultural nature. For example,
it includes material on literary figures and concepts.
There are entries for authors, such as Dante, and charac-
ters, such as King Arthur. Philosophical and theological
scholars and ideas are treated. Individual artists and
styles in art and architecture are included.
EXAMPLES OF TOPICS- Significant individuals (Charlemagne, Gregory
VII, Saladin) - Archaeological artifacts of particular importance
(Sutton Hoo) - Economic and agricultural practices, ideas, and
commodities (agriculture, gold, banks, usury)
4. Institutions of church and state (papacy, parlia-
ment, commune)
5. Scientific and technological knowledge and
inventions (Roger Bacon, the compass)
6. Items and practices in daily life (games, food,
cooking)
7. Landmark documents (Magna Carta)
8. Artistic production, styles, techniques, themes,
producers, and patrons for painting, sculpture,
architecture, and the minor arts (Romanesque,
Gothic, manuscript illumination, Chartres
Cathedral)
9.Social ideas and practice (marriage, death and
burial, children and childhood) of all levels of
society - Warfare (technology, battles, and wars) and
kingship (dynasties and practices) - National literary and cultural authors (Dante),
monuments (Decameron), subjects (Gawain),
and styles - Religious ideas and practices (simony, reform
movements, heresies, saints) - Cultural interchange among peoples (peaceful
and violent)
14.Theological and philosophical ideas, individuals,
and movements (Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas) - Travel and expansion (eastern Europe, the
Levant, geographical knowledge, ships)
FURTHER READING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Those beginning research and reading will be able to start
on a particular topic or entry, have the basic ideas and
interpretations presented to them, and then be pointed to
possible sources for additional exploration in primary and
secondary sources written in English. With rare excep-
tions, the reader is directed to books or monographic
studies. If there are primary sources of particular impor-
tance for the entry that are translated into English, they
are cited first in the further reading section to distinguish