Shadowa

I need some recomendations about good books on the Middle Ages and Pre-Middle Ages in Great Britain--any time from 400 BCE to roughly 1375 BCE. I have a short attention span, and so a lively writing style is preferred--no dry old professors droning on and on about one specific battle. Thanks guys!

PamHKyle

Try the books by Terry Deary, they"re great! And very entertaining.
The titles that might interest you:
- The Measly Middle Ages
- Dark Knights and Dingy Castles
- The Storming Normans
- The Smashing Saxons
- The Cut-Throat Celts
- Bloody Scotland
- Cruel Kings & Mean Queens

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Verkleefd

Well, I think that life during the Middle Ages in Northern Europe had slight differences, varying from country to country. It depends really on what you are attempting to write. Also, how much daring you will be putting into it, because it is not an easy task. I will recommend Sigrid Undset's novels, almost all set during the Middle Ages. This is serious literature, so it will give you a more fiable insight to the ethos and minds of the age, implying also more difficulty in the reading. The book will describe for you what people thought, how they lived, etc.
I will definitely agree that any serious attempt to bring back to life the past has to be carefully researched and crafted, so you must know the century you are working perfectly, in order that everything that you write can sound convincing.
There are plenty other writers, but Undset wrote mostly about women in the Middle Ages. Her novels are difficult to find today, though she won in the 1930s a Nobel Prize for Literature. Anyway, I have a hardcover volume published by Alfred Knopf in 1955, that was from my grandmother, the omnibus of the Kristin Lavransdatter saga (consisting of 3 novels); there is also the Master of Hestviken saga, focusing on male life during the times.
These editions are excellent because they have drawings at the end pages of houses, armours, and dresses of the time.

Sand

The Middle Ages are one of my favourite time periods and I took a university course on it once, just for interest. The Middle Ages are more typically thought of as closer to 1000 - 1400 AD, i.e. after the fall of the Roman Empire and just up to the Plaque. It's often called the Dark Ages, but in reality it was a period of tremendous innovation and growth, economically, scientifically, and spiritually.

Here are some books that may be useful in your research. I don't know that I'd recommend reading any of them cover-to-cover, unless you were really interested in the topic (which I was and still am), but they're all good reference books if you're looking for something in particular.

Medieval Households by David Herlihy - very well regarded author on this subject

The Fourth Estate: A history of women in the Middle Ages by Shulamith Shahar - a very comprehensive study of the role of women of various classes including nuns, married women, nobility, townswomen, and heretics. Also discusses legal rights of women.

An Economic History of Medieval Europe by NJG Pounds - Pounds is an authority on this subject. It's pretty dry reading but full of detail on day to day life. Talks about towns, agriculture, trade, manufacturing, etc.

Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages by RW Southern - Again, dry reading and he talks about macro issues mostly, but religion was such an integral part of life it's important to know what was going on at the time.

Feel free to pm me if you have a specific question.

Hodge

Oh! Oh! 400 BCE to 1375 CE overlaps with my favorite people! The Celts!



I bought this amazing book on the history of the Celts for a research paper in my British lit class, and I must say, it's an incredibly well produced and high quality book for such a low price. Lots of sexy information in it, too. If you want to talk about Britain, I insist you talk about the people who lived there before the Romans, Angles, Saxons, Picts, Norse, and other groups invaded,

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