Suggested Readings665and Political History (1990). Medieval concepts of the social order
are studied in G. Duby, The Three Orders: Feudal Society (1980). An
immense literature exists on chivalry and the life of the knightly
classes. S. Reynolds, Kingdoms and Communities in Western Europe,
900–1300 (1984), and G. Duby, The Chivalrous Society (1977).
M. Keen, Chivalry (1984) is the standard work on the subject.
On noble marriages, see G. Duby, The Knight, the Lady, and the
Priest (1984); on tournaments, R. Barber and J. Barker, Tournaments:
Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages (1988).
The rural economy and village life are described in G. Duby,
Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West (1968),
G. Homans, English Villagers in the Thirteenth Century (1975), H. S.
Bennett, Life on an English Manor: A Study of Peasant Conditions (1960),
and the best-selling E. Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou (1978). For the
lowest levels of the social order, see M. Mollat, The Poor in the Mid-
dle Ages (1986). The standard work on family structure, marriage
patterns, inheritance, and similar questions is D. Herlihy, Medieval
Households (1985). B. Hanawalt, The Ties That Bind: Peasant Families in
Medieval England (1986) provides a vivid and insightful picture of
English peasant life. On women in various social settings, see
M. Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life
(1986), and S. Shahar, The Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the
Middle Ages (1983). On children, P. Ariés, Centuries of Childhood
(1962) has proved controversial. See also D. Herlihy, “Medieval
Children,” in Essays on Medieval Civilization,ed. B. Lackner and K.
Philip (1978). For the common practice of abandonment, see J.
Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in West-
ern Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (1989).
Chapter 12
Attempts to understand the later Middle Ages should begin
with the classic J. Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (1949).
B. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century(1980)
is a popular, best-selling, and memorable vision of the age.
R. Gottfried, The Black Death(1983) is the most recent account of
the plague. W. H. McNeill, Plagues and Peoples(1976) discusses the
impact of epidemic disease in general. H. Miskimin, The Economy
of Early Renaissance Europe, 1300–1460(1975) is the best study of
economic matters, but see also J. Hatcher, Plague, Population, and the
English Economy, 1348–1550(1977) and G. Huppert, After the Black
Death: A Social History of Early Modern Europe(1986). M. Mollat and
P. Wolff, The Popular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages(1973) surveys
both peasant and urban revolts.
A general work that covers military innovations in the later
Middle Ages is P. Contamine, War in the Middle Ages(1984). On
the evolution of the ship, see R. Unger, The Ship in the Medieval
Economy(1980) and the profusely illustrated R. Gardner and
others, eds., Cogs, Caravels and Galleons(1994).
For the tribulations of Russia, begin with D. Morgan, The
Mongols(1986). I. Grey, Ivan III and the Unification of Russia(1964)
is a brief biography of the founder of the Muscovite state. For
Poland, see N. Davies, Poland: God’s Playground(1981). The stan-
dard work on the Ottomans is H. Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: The
Classical Age(1973). S. Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1435
(1965) is excellent.
The best accounts of the Hundred Years’ War are E. Perroy,
The Hundred Years’ War(1951) and C. Allmand, The Hundred Years’
War: England and France at War, c. 1300–1450(1988). M. Warner,
Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism(1981) is the best study of
“The Maid.” On the Hundred Years’ War in Spain, see the perti-
nent chapters of J. O’Callaghan, Medieval Spain(1975) and J. N.
Hillgarth, The Spanish Kingdoms, 1250–1516,vol. 1 (1978).Chapter 13
The best survey of fifteenth-century Spain is J. Hillgarth, The
Spanish Kingdoms, 1250–1516,vol. 2 (1978). See also P. Liss, Isabella
the Queen(1992). Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition(1997). On
France, J. Major, Representative Institutions in Renaissance France,
1421–1559(1960) is an outstanding monograph. P. M. Kendall,
Louis XI: The Universal Spider(1971) and R. Knecht, Francis I(1982)
are good biographies. For Burgundy, see R. Vaughan, Valois Bur-
gundy(1975). The best study of the War of the Roses is J.
Gillingham, The War of the Roses(1981). The Reign of Henry VI
(1981), Edward IV(1974), and Richard III(1982) by
C. Ross are sound biographies as is S. Chrimes, Henry VII(1972).
F. Boulay, Germany in the Later Middle Ages(1983) surveys the later
empire. F. L. Carsten, Princes and Parliaments in Germany: From the Fif-
teenth to the Eighteenth Century(1963) is a classic study of representa-
tive institutions. For eastern Europe, see the collection of essays
by A. Maczak and others, East-Central Europe in Transition from the
Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century(1986), and R. Crummey, The
Formation of Muscovy, 1304–1613(1987).
L. Martines, Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance
Italy(1988) is an excellent survey of the Italian cities and their
cultural preoccupations; G. Brucker, Renaissance Florence,2d ed.
(1983) remains the best general treatment of Florence. Two out-
standing introductions to Renaissance humanism are C. Nauert,
Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe(1995) and D. Kelley,
Renaissance Humanism(1991).
Useful collections of essays on various aspects of the hu-
manist program are found in A. Rabil, ed., Renaissance Humanism:
Foundations, Forms, and Legacy,3 vols. (1988) and C. Trinkhaus,
The Scope of Renaissance Humanism(1983). Humanist ideas on
rhetoric and education are explored by J. Siegel, Rhetoric and Phi-
losophy in Renaissance Humanism(1968), P. Grendler, Schooling in
Renaissance Italy, 1300–1600(1989), and A. Grafton and L. Jar-
dine, From Humanism to the Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in
Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe(1988). See also M. King,
Women in the Renaissance(1991). On the dissemination of human-
ism to northern Europe, see R. Weiss, The Spread of Italian Human-
ism(1964) and the collection of essays by A. Goodman and
A. MacKay, The Impact of Humanism on Western Europe(1990).
E. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change,2 vols. (1978)
examines the impact of the printing press. On Erasmus, see
R. Bainton, Erasmus of Christendom(1969) and J. Tracy, Erasmus of
the Low Countries (1996).
E. Cochrane, Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renais-
sance(1981) is a good survey of an important topic. Among the
immense literature on Machiavelli and Guicciardini, J. R. Hale,
Machiavelli and Renaissance Italy(1960), F. Gilbert, Machiavelli and
Guicciardini(1965) remain especially useful. F. Hartt, History of
Italian Renaissance Art(1979) is an introductory survey to an
immense topic. K. Clark, The Art of Humanism(1983) is a brief
but provocative essay.