Books covering the CK period

[Kaleidoscope]

There's a great little thread in the EU3 subforum listing books which deal with the period covering that game. I thought it'd be fun (not to mention useful) to get one going here too.
I'll get started, and I encourage everybody to recommend their own favourites.

The Crusades: War for the Holy Land and The First Crusade: A new History - both by Thomas Asbridge. These are really fantastic books. Apart from being very well informed Dr. Asbridge is also a good author (or has a very good editor) and both books are real page turners. I especialy like that War for the Holy Land switches back and forth to present both Christian and Muslim perspectives on the conflict.

I'm also reading a biography of Henry II from the Yale English Monarchs series, which is unsurprisingly excellent, though a few decades old now. I recently finished a biography of Edward I titled Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain and found that one hard to put down, very informative and engaging.

One thing I know I'm missing out on is a good overview of the French monarchy - often in my biographies of English monarchs I'll read about the actions of whoever was King in France at the time, and what he was doing to support or (more often than not) frustrate the King in England. I find that I want to learn more about these men, but am not quite ready to begin a collection of individual biographies (shelf space is limited). Can anybody recommend a good overview of the French rulers in the Middle Ages?

 

[Lord_Andrew]

Should this post not be in the History Forum?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

There's a great little thread in the EU3 subforum listing books which deal with the period covering that game. I thought it'd be fun (not to mention useful) to get one going here too.
I'll get started, and I encourage everybody to recommend their own favourites.

The Crusades: War for the Holy Land and The First Crusade: A new History - both by Thomas Asbridge. These are really fantastic books. Apart from being very well informed Dr. Asbridge is also a good author (or has a very good editor) and both books are real page turners. I especialy like that War for the Holy Land switches back and forth to present both Christian and Muslim perspectives on the conflict.

Just finished the first book you mention, a very good read indeed.

I'm also reading a biography of Henry II from the Yale English Monarchs series, which is unsurprisingly excellent, though a few decades old now. I recently finished a biography of Edward I titled Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain and found that one hard to put down, very informative and engaging.

One thing I know I'm missing out on is a good overview of the French monarchy - often in my biographies of English monarchs I'll read about the actions of whoever was King in France at the time, and what he was doing to support or (more often than not) frustrate the King in England. I find that I want to learn more about these men, but am not quite ready to begin a collection of individual biographies (shelf space is limited). Can anybody recommend a good overview of the French rulers in the Middle Ages?

Capetian France 987 - 1328 by Elizabeth M. Hallam and Judith Everard
The Valois, kings of France 1328 - 1589 by Robert Knecht

And if you can read German

Die französischen Könige des Mittelalters. Von Odo bis Karl VIII 888 - 1498 by various authors.

 

[Orinsul]

The Glory of the Middle Ages by Regine Pernoud
while the title doesnt make it sound so good its Great, in the first couple chapters is one of the best, deepest and easiest to understand explanations of the Social Structure of Serfdom and how Fuedalism and all the rest of it worked. What the laws were and more importantly, what was the thoughts behind them.
Although shes a french historian and so when reading in english i image which translation you get does a bit of a difference.

I would strongly suggest not reading Biographies of Kings, the CK period is one of families and communities, not of Individuals. And biographies have the other problem, the same one as newspapers, They only talk about the exceptions, not what the time was like, but what the rare and interesting thing that happened that was not fitting with the time.
Academic Histories are best, but hard to find and even harder to read, but Pernoud that i mentioned, [and there are alot others like her] are academics who write to be easily read by people who are not. Not writing books as biographers do to tell a story or to sell, but to inform the greater and mostly ignorant populace on a subject that they passionate about.

Hers is not about the actions of French Kings, which is what yourve asked for, it is more useful in that it is about France. The French People and the French society and customs and laws and civilisation. Which is alot more important than there kings. What good is knowing that the King invaded here or feasted there, if you dont know why he was King or why it was important that he was King.

 

[Drakken]

I highly recommend the Gesta Francorum, or any first-hand account of the first Crusade by someone who actually was there.

 

[Buladelu]

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer with Nobel Prize. He's not so reliable as historian, but he's god as writer. "The Knights of the Cross" (Hmm, interesting that in Polish it's just "Crusaders") is about Poland, Lithuania and Teuton Knitgths from 1399 (EU3 start date, but it was covered in CK1) to 1410 (Battle of Grünewald).

 

[Cocco81]

Martyn Whittock
"A brief history of Life in the Middle Ages"

I found it at the London airport, it tells about common-day life in England, ca. 900-1450 AD... Easy to read, and it looks like it was written based on CK! It also deals with the various powers found in CK1 (i.e. peasants, burghers, clergy and nobles...)

I strongly suggest it!

 

[Duke of Bavaria]

If you really wanna understand medieval and early renaissance thinking, especially the role of the king i think you should read: Ernst H. kantorowicz : The Kings 2 bodies. Its a hard read ,but gives you an inside look into medieval thought.

If you want a more joyful read, his book on Friedrich II. is said to be one of the best books on medieval history and very entertaining.

 

[ComradeOm]

Asbridge is very good. Another good introductory work is Tom Holland's Millennium, while Tyerman's God's War is a very solid single volume account of the Crusades. The latter also covers the 'peripheral' campaigns in Spain, the Baltics, and against the Cathars

 

[unmerged(31881)]

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World would hopefully be a required component of the CK2 Library Of Thinkery and Reading.

Secret History of the Mongols for those who like original-ish sources. In which case, i'm kinda partial to The Tale of Igor's Campaign too.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Other interesting books

A History of the Crusades (3 volumes) by Steven Runciman

The Crusades, A History by Jonathan Riley Smith

The Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople by Jonathan Philips

The Northern Crusades by Eric Christiansen

A History of Medieval Spain by Joseph F. O'Callaghan

The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain 1031 - 1157 by Bernhard F. Reilly

The Realm of St. Stephan. A History of Medieval Hungary by Pal Engel

Before the Normans. Southern Italy in the 9th and 10th centuries by Barbara M. Kreutz

The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy by Gordon S. Brown

The Normans in Sicily by John J. Norwich

Byzantium (3 volumes) by John J. Norwich

The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire by various authors

Lost Capital of Byzantium. The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese by Steven Runciman

The Sicilian Vespers by Steven Runciman

Medieval Russia 980 - 1584 by Janet Martin

The Godwins by Frank Barlow

1066. The year of three battles by Frank McLynn

Richard and John. Kings at War by Frank McLynn

Four Queens. The Provencal sisters who ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone

From Pictland to Alba 789 - 1070 by Alex Woolf

Lost Kingdom. Celtic Scotland and the Middle Ages by John L. Roberts

Kingship and Unity. Scotland 1000 - 1306 by G.W.S. Barrow

The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063 - 1415 by R.R. Davies

The Early Medieval Balkans by John V. Fine Jr.

The Late Medieval Balkans by John V. Fine Jr.

 

[Beleg32]

Wow, Veld list beats everything I recently bought The Crusades: War for the Holy Land and it is very intresting read .

 

[Susanna]

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, by Barbara Tuchman.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, by Barbara Tuchman.

How could I forget that one

 

[Beleg32]

Here nice middle ages site with some good Middle Ages books listed

 

[Phystarstk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Accursed_Kings - The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon. Really good. It's a little late in the game period, but these are just great books. If you've read George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire books, imagine those without fantasy set in real life medieval France.

 

[Nehekara]

I second Kaleidoscope's recommendation of A Great and Terrible King. I stayed up a whole night reading it, as I just couldn't put it away, and I was still hungry for more royal hijincks when Edward of Caernarfon eventually succeeded his illustrious father.

Anyone got any books on Edward II or indeed the Plantagenets as a whole to recommend?


Also, The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger is a light and amusing read about daily life in Angla-lond around eh, the year 1000.

 

[Melichai]

A New History of Ireland, Vol 2, Medieval Ireland, 1169-1534

Despite the title, it sets the scene by looking at the the 11th century events, but the focus is on the arrival of Strongbow and his Cambro-Normans and the events that follow, right up to the 16th century.

Its focused on Ireland obviously, but events such as the Gregorian reforms, Angevin and later English politics, the Scottish wars and the Bruce invasion and so on are covered in so far as they impacted the Anglo-Irish colonials and Gaelic families and their back and forth struggle for military, economic and cultural supremacy over the centuries. I liked it, it dispelled some myths and offered up some fascinating "What ifs?" that inspired a CK capaign for me, on the basis of some of the characters served up.

 

[nattai]

Well...since I have been able to rely on my university library for so long now I find it hard to remember what may or may not be widely available in bookstores, some of these may not be easily findable, but, for what its worth:

Victory in the East by John France
Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades by John France
(he is probably the pre-eminent military historian of the period at the moment)

Also anything by John Haldon, Jonathon Riley-Smith, Dimitri Obolensky and John Gillingham is well worth a read.

But yes, some of the primary sources from the period are extremely readable.

William of Tyre's History of the Deeds (trans by Babcock and Krey iirc)
Alexiad by Anna Komneni
O' City of Byzantium by Nicetas Choniates
Odo of Deuil, De profectione Ludovici VII in Orientem (On Louis VII's journey to the East)

My favourites for their readability and flavour though are;
Ibn Jubayr; The travels of Ibn Jubayr
Usama Ibn Munqidh; Memoirs

For what its worth I am not a fan of either Runcimann or Tuchman, but they are widely available.

 

[Cèsar de Quart]

I strongly recommend books by Georges Duby. He's a very gifted writer, able to pass on you his passion for the time he describes.

The Sunday of Bouvines, by Georges Duby - About the preparations, the reasons of the battle of Bouvines, the aftermath, and also the society and life style surrounding the main characters of the battle: knights and lords.

William Marshal, by Georges Duby - Besides of telling is the story of this, the best knight of his time, victor of hundreds of tournaments and marshal to no less than three kings of England (he was born under Henry II, he lived under Richard, he fought John and he was regent to Henry III), besides that, this books is a very sharp analysis of the knightly society. Their moral code, their way of life, their youth, their matureness, the myths and the truth about them...

The Crusades through Arab eyes, by Amin Maalouf - One of the best displays of historical divulgation I've ever red. Interesting, thrilling, sometimes it makes you feel there, and it's not a novel. All that Maalouf says is based on strong evidence, documentation and accounts from the Muslim part. It's amazing to see such a famous period as the Crusades through the eyes of those who are usually seen as "the others" with no further approximation.

Millennium, by Tom Holland - I haven't red this one, but since his other book Rubicon, about the Roman Republic, is one of my favourite books... this one, about the Dark Ages, cannot disappoint me.

The Fall of Constantinople, by Sir Steven Runciman - Although Runciman wrote it lacking some sources, he uses well the ones he has. It's true that he had no regard at all for social or economical history, and for him all is based on facts and important men doing important stuff (and gossip too), but his books are very readable and even emotive. Besides, you all know what's the book about. One of the most dramatic battles of the Middle Ages.

The Sicilian Vespers, by Sir Steven Runciman - The same as above, but regarding the conflict between Charles d'Anjou, the Sicilians and Peter III of Aragon. Also interesting from the political history side.

Popular Religiosity in the Early Middle Ages, by Oronzo Giordano - One of the most interesting essays I've ever red about the issue. The way people misunderstood almost everything the theologians and well-learned clergy tried to explain, and led to deviations, local curious ways of mass and cult, small harmless heresies and blasphemies (like cooking sacramental bread in shape of a man, and then breaking it into pieces, so that the most important parts, such as the head or the genitalia, can be given to the most important people of the village. Isn't that an amusing blasphemy?)

The Heretics, by Michael Fraschetto - Another divulgation book. This one is a good one, although a little irregular on the style and the contents, but a must-have if you like the issue of Medieval heresies.


About sources, I recommend two of them:

King Jaume I's Chronicle, also known as El Llibre dels Feyts (the Book of Deeds), by the King himself (mostly). - You wouldn't expect a Medieval king to make something like this. In this book you seem to enter his day-to-day life, with so much attention to details and quotidian facts. You would also be surprised to see that King Jaume spends most of the book crying about many things. Amusing and entertaining. But, of course, you may need a little predisposition, because the language is old. I don't know how is the English translation, but I red it in Medieval Catalan. Sometimes you get a little tired of "translating" from old to modern.

And, of course, Tirant lo Blanch, a novel written by a Valencian knight of the XVth Century, Joanot Martorell. The novel itself is amusing and entertaining, but its value, besides literary, is also historical, because the way Tirant lives is the way many young knights lived in the XVth Century.

Take care!