May 2024 HistoryCAT: Middle Ages

Welcome to the May HistoryCAT! We are exploring the Middle Ages--roughly, 500-1400--this month. Please feel free to read either fiction or nonfiction. Here are some lists of books about this time period to give you some ideas:

12 Must-Read Titles in Medieval Historical Fiction
Medieval History (500-1400)
Good Books About the Middle Ages

The wiki awaits your book entries!

Hopefully I'll finish Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth in early May. I started it this month, but I've got other things I need to be reading also so my progress has been slow. It's 1000+ pages.

I've been thinking of re-reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (14th century Italy).

Other possibilities are:
The Lions of the North by Edward Marston (England under William the Conqueror)
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik (Tang Dynasty China)

My goal is to finally read Shakespeare's Kings: The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337-1485 by John Norwich.

If I go with fiction, I can find lots of Ps to also fit the AlphaKIT: Jean Plaidy, Philippa Gregory... But we'll see.

I have lots of options for this topic, both fiction and nonfiction and also primary works. Right now I am planning on these:

Lieder (Mittelhochdeutsch/Neuhochdeutsch), a collection of songs by Neidhart von Reuenthal, a 13th century poet
The Romance of the Middle Ages by Nicholas Perkins, a book about medieval romances and how they influenced later writers

I'm looking to read Labyrinth by Kate Mosse for the SFFKit, and I saw it has also been tagged Middle Ages; it looks like there is a dual timeline with one taking place in 1209 and the other in 2005, so it looks like it will work here too.

Can I squeeze in Gutenberg's Apprentice? Set in the mid 15th century. Some sources do say the Middle Ages 'finished' somewhere between 1400-1450.
Hope this is OK. :)

>8 JayneCM: Wikipedia gives the Middle Ages as approximately 500-1500AD. Surely anything in that range would count. It notes that there's no universally agreed on end date.

>8 JayneCM: >9 atozgrl: Absolutely, I gave rough dates and you should do what works for you!

Alright, this challenge finally did it for me - I pulled Erec and Enide out of the bag where it has lived for a couple of years and have started reading it! The work is astounding and my hat is off to the translator for managing to keep it in verse.

The June thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/360825#n8535028

I've been working on this one, which has been unread for years:


The Last Plantagenets by Thomas B. Costain

It's slow but good reading.

>13 fuzzi: I need to get back to that series. I read the first one. Perhaps I can check the next out later in the summer.

I read A Raven in the Foregate by Ellis Peters, book 12 in the Brother Cadfael series which takes place in 1142.

I have finished Les empires normands d'Orient, a non-fiction book about the Norman kings of Sicily.

>14 thornton37814: which one did you read? The Conquerors was the original entry, then it was revised and became The Conquering Family. I read The Conquerors and The Magnificent Century as a teen from my mother's bookcase, then The Three Edwards probably fifteen years ago.

I completed Shakespeare's Kings: The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337-1485 by John Julius Norwich and I loved it. 4.5 stars

>17 fuzzi: I read the first one as "The Conquering Family." I think the other two are on my Kindle, so it's only a matter of taking time to read them.

The Price of Blood / Patricia Bracewell
4 stars

Emma of Normandy became queen of England in the early 11th century. Aethelred was her husband, the king… much older than Emma was and they rarely got along. In fact, Emma was attracted (and it was mutual) to Aethelred’s oldest son, Athelstan. Aethelred had many children from his first wife, many close to Emma’s age. When one of the top nobles is murdered in 1008, his daughter (Elgiva), fearing for her life, runs. She ends up marrying the heir to the Danish throne. The Danes and Vikings are teaming up to attack England. Emma wants to keep her toddler son close, but Aethelred wants to keep her away from him, so sends him to be raised by his daughter and her husband, who is Aethelred’s closest advisor… one who really doesn’t have Aethelred’s best interests in mind.

This is the second in a trilogy, and I didn’t even remember the first book (or that there was one) until I looked it up after finishing (though it wasn’t that long ago – 3 years – since I listened to the audio). Given that, I’d say you don’t need to read the first one to read this one. This is a time period I don’t think I’ve read anything else of, but I really liked Emma’s strong character. Elgiva was also a strong character, but she wasn’t a terribly nice person. Now, all that being said, in reality, there isn’t much known about these women, so their roles in history, as portrayed in this book, are fictional. Luckily, there is a good cast of characters at the beginning of the book (also luckily, I wasn’t listening to the audio, so it was easy to refer to), since many of the characters have names starting with E or AE! There is also a glossary, and an author’s note at the end.

I just listened to Turning Points in Medieval History by Dorsey Armstrong which was very good, touching on some key moments throughout the Middle Ages.

COMPLETED The Lions of the North by Edward Marston (1080s England)

Yes! I finished Erec and Enide for this month's challenge! Fits both the categories of a Challenge and Arthurian reads.

I read Lieder (Mittelhochdeutsch/Neuhochdeutsch) by Neidhart von Reuental, a collection of poems/songs from the first half of the 13th century. I must admit that they are not my favourite medieval texts, but it still feels good that I finally read this book which had lingered on my shelf for ages.

I have started The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson for this month's challenge, but I won't finish it by the end of the month. I'll have to report back later in June.

I finished The Black Arrow yesterday. It is set during the Wars of the Roses and tells the story of Richard Shelton, who becomes involved in some of the fighting in the war, but is mostly concerned with him finding out what happened in the mysterious death of his father and what is going on with Sir Daniel Brackley who is his guardian and whose loyalty to the various sides in the war is changeable.

I thought the story was overly violent in places and I didn't see the reason for some parts of the story to be included. Although I note that it was apparently originally published in serial form, so maybe that explains why the story was unnecessarily padded in places. It was OK, but not up to the other books I've read by Stevenson.

>5 LibraryCin: I am reading The White Queen by Philippa Gregory now but it begins 1464.

I am very late with Kaisergestalten des Mittelalters, but this collection of mini-portraits of various Medieval Emperors is best read with breaks between the individual chapters, so not to be overwhelmed with all the details. Some were better than others.