Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages - Hardcover

Bunson, Matthew E.

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9780816024568: Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816024561 ISBN 13: 9780816024568

Publisher: Facts on File, 1995

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Alphabetically arranged entries cover the history, events, philosophy, art, science, literature, social issues, and ideas that have come to define this era

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From Booklist:

This encyclopedia includes 2,000 articles on "all aspects of the medieval world" from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance. Bunson is the author of many other reference books, including The Vampire Encyclopedia (Crown, 1993) and The Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire (Facts On File, 1994). He appears to have written all the articles and provided all the line drawings for this encyclopedia himself. Bunson intends to represent a "wider perspective" of medieval culture with attention paid to the "significant non-European cultures that held a prominent role in the shaping of Western and Near Eastern civilization." He has made an effort to include topics relating to Islamic dynasties, Balkan empires, and the Mongols of Asia. However, this perspective is not unique. These topics are also covered in the intellectually formidable, 13-volume Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Macmillan, 1982^-89); single-volume encyclopedias such as The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Medieval Civilization, by Aryeh Grabois (Octopus, 1980); and The Middle Ages: A Concise Encyclopedia, edited by H. R. Loyn (Thames and Hudson, 1989). Of the single-volume encyclopedias, Grabois is the most comprehensive and is also the most richly illustrated, with several hundred photographs, floor plans, and maps, including full-page colorplates.

The alphabetically arranged articles in the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages are concise, well written, and generally accurate, although oversimplified at times. Topics include persons (Saint Bede, Genghis Kahn), events (Fairs, Plague, Inquisition), and places (Sutton Hoo, Bosnia, Fez). The length of most articles is between one paragraph (Danelaw, Dance of Death) and several pages (Byzantine Empire, Crusades). The encyclopedia's strong point is its many short articles on historical figures, especially from the Islamic areas and Eastern Europe. Its weakest point is its coverage of art and architecture. The article Chartres, for example, is primarily about the town, with a cross-reference to Cathedral, where Chartres is mentioned only briefly. Cross-references are provided to related articles, and an index concludes the volume. Special features in the encyclopedia include chronologies ("Chronology of Medieval Literary History" ), maps, and genealogies of important dynasties (Merovingian Dynasty, Palaeologi Dynasty). Appendixes include lists of medieval rulers and dynasties by geographic region and a glossary.

Illustrative material is limited almost exclusively to amateurish line drawings presumably made by the author. This is the most unfortunate feature of the encyclopedia. Reproductions of artwork and monuments would have illustrated the richness and spirit of the medieval world much more effectively. In many cases very little information about the illustration is provided. For example, a line drawing of Geoffrey Chaucer riding a horse is a copy of a well-known painting in the Ellesmere manuscript of the Canterbury Tales, but it is not so identified. Readers using the encyclopedia to find visual material will be disappointed. No suggestions for further reading are included with the articles, although there is a four-page "Suggested Reading List" at the end of the work. It is arranged by very broad topical and geographic headings such as "Islam and East" and "Western Europe." The list effectively identifies the most important books in English in each broad area, but this is a list of classics rather than recent research. Only one book was published in the 1990s; about a quarter are from the 1980s.

While the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages provides articles on Islamic and Balkan historical figures that are not included in other single-volume encyclopedias of medieval history, its flaws make it a necessary purchase only for comprehensive collections. Collections with Loyn or Grabois or the Dictionary of the Middle Ages need not acquire this book.

From Library Journal:

While classical and modern history are usually adequately covered in most library collections, medieval subjects are often slighted because of lighter demand and the high cost of major sources on the era. This new work from encyclopedist Bunson (e.g., Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, Facts on File, 1992) is a nicely priced, moderately sized, two-volume set that will enable many libraries to strengthen this subject area. Bunson defines the Middle Ages as spanning the years 410 to 1492. Arranged alphabetically, the articles average five pages, with See Also references pointing readers to related subjects and mentions of topics with their own entries appearing in bold type. The articles are tersely factual, concentrating on names of people, places, and events; coverage is less satisfactory for social concepts or philosophies. As a result, this work is more a dictionary than an encyclopedia, and its conciseness may frustrate individuals needing something beyond a brief description. While some of the best materials are the strongly focused chronologies of events, dynasties, and literature, the "Magna Carta" receives only 31 lines and "Alchemy," 62. Binding, illustrations, and the all-important index, essential for exploiting the wealth of information scattered throughout the articles, were not available for review. Libraries requiring in-depth materials will want the exhaustive Dictionary of the Middle Ages (Scribner, 13 vols., $990). A comparable though older title is The Middle Ages: A Concise Encyclopaedia (LJ 9/1/89); Bunson's similarly priced set is preferred, although its bibliography is unfortunately not much more current. For small and midsized public and school libraries.?James Moffet, Baldwin P.L., Birmingham, Mich.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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