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The Library

What I'm Using to Learn About the Middle Ages &

A Template for Creating Your Own Autodidactic Reading List  

The Post-Roman North

An Introduction to the Middle Ages

Shelf 1

Times, Places & Events

The Migration Period 
Barbarian Kingdoms
(400-900)

 

Shelf 2

The Stuff of Legend

Matter of Britain

Matter of France

Celtic & Brittonic Cycles

North Germanic Saga literature

​

Shelf 3

Historical Languages

Old English
Middle English
Old French
Mediaeval Latin


 

The contents of these shelves primarily focus on both the individual and entangled histories of Britain, France and Ireland in the Middle Ages (and to a lesser extent their dealings with Rome, Scandinavia and other influences).
 
As you will see from the following list of materials, I have decided to place special emphasis on earlier forms of the English language and the history of French literature. I intend to explore similar developments of Insular Celtic languages at a later time.

Shelf 1

Times, Places & Events

The Migration Period 

Barbarian Kingdoms

(400-900)

​

​

Shelf 2

The Stuff of Legend

Matter of Britain

Matter of France

Celtic & Brittonic Cycles

North Germanic Saga literature

​

Shelf 3

Historical Languages

Old English
Middle English
Old French
Mediaeval Latin


 

The shapers of Culture

Shelf 4

Times, Places & Events

The Renaissance
The Plague
Borgian Rome
I Gironi Infernali


 

Shelf 5

The Florentines

Poetry
Prose
Politics
 

Shelf 6

Historical Languages

(Vulgar) Italian



 

This second set of shelves works to bridge the gap between the days of Petrarch to the death of Machiavelli. Of prime importance is the emergence of the vernacular literatures and the rippling effects this had on the literature of Western Europe.

Primary Sources​​

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  • Aneirin: Llyfr Aneirin - The Book of Aneirin (Peis Dinogat / Pais Dinogad / Dinogad's Smock) 

  • Anonymous: Beowulf - A Dual-Language Edition translated and with an Introduction and Commentary by Howell D. Chickering, Jr. 

  • Anonymous: La Chanson de Roland - Édition bilingue et traduction de Pierre Jonin.

  • Anonymous: Gutasagan (Forngutnisk & Svenska) 

  • Anonymous: The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok - translated by Ben Waggoner.

  • Boethius: Consolation of Philosophy. 

    • Boethius Consolation of Philosophy, Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by Joel C. Relihan​

    • Chaucer's Translation of Boethius's "De Consolatione Philosophiæ", Edited from British Museum Additional MS. 10,340, Collated with Cambridge University Library MS. li.3.21 by Richard Morris â†—

    • King Alfred's Old English Version Boethius De Consolations Philosophiae, Edited from the MSS., with Introduction Critical Notes and Glossary by Walter John Sedgefield â†—

    • King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius, Done into Modern English, with an Introduction by Walter John Sedgefield â†—

  • Chrétien de Troyes: Romans de la Table Ronde, Introduction de Michel Zink.

  • ​Dante Alighieri:

    • The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, A Three-Part BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation starring John Hurt and Blake Ritson

    • The Divine Comedy, Translated by Clive James

  • Francesco Petrarch: The Great Poets: Francesco Petrarch, Selections, Naxos AudioBooks, Poetry, Read by Anton Lesser

  • Geoffrey Chaucer: Tales of Caunterbury.

  • Geoffrey of Monmouth: History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae).

  • Giovanni Boccaccio: The Decameron, Naxos Audiobooks: Complete Classics Unabridged. Full cast recording with Simon Russell Beale as Boccaccio.

  • Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun: The Romance of the Rose, a new translation by Frances Horgan

  • Guilliaume Tirel: Le Vidandier de Taillevent.

  • Layamon: The Brut / The Chronicle of Britain.

  • Niccolò Machiavelli: The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, edited and translated by Peter Constantine with an Introduction by Albert Russell Ascoli

  • Stephen Greenblatt, ed: The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume A, The Middle Ages, 8th Edition.

  • Tristan et Iseut, Les poémes français, La saga norroise - textes présentés, traduits et commentés par Daniel Lacroix et Philippe Walter.

  • Wace of Jersey: Roman de Brut / Geste des Bretons.

  • Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival, Band 1 und 2, Mittelhochdeutsch / Neuhochdeutsch, Reclam

​

​

Language Resources:

​

  • Edouard Prokosch: A Comparative German Grammar Revised Edition.

  • (Edited by) F.A.C Mantello and A.G. Rigg: Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide

  • Klaus-Peter Wegert, Simone Schultz-Balluff und Nina Bartsch: Mittelhochdeutsch als fremde Sprache: Eine Einführung für das Studium der germanistischen Mediävistik, 4., durchgesehene Auflage.

  • Markus Bieswanger and Annette Becker: Introduction to English Linguistics 3rd Edition.

  • Peter S. Baker: Introduction to Old English 3rd Edition. 

  • Thorlac Turville-Petre and A. J. Burrow: A Book of Middle English 4th Edition.

  • Wolfgang Obst und Florian Schleburg: Lehrbuch des Altenglischen. (DE)

​

Secondary Sources

​

  • Alistair Horne: Seven Ages of Paris (Age One 1180-1314 and Age Two 1314-1643)

  • Andrea Antonioli: Cesare Borgia: Il Principe in Maschera Nera

  • Barbara Tuchman: Der Ferne Spiegel: Das dramatische 14. Jahrhundert - übersetzt von Ulrich Leschak und Malte Friedrich

  • Das Philosophie Buch (Die Welt des Mittelalters 250-1500) - übersetzt von Dr. Klaus Binder und Dr. Bernd Leinweber.

  • George Holmes, ed: The Oxford History of Medieval Europe.

  • George Minois: Charlemagne. (FR)

  • Guy de la Bédoyére: Roman Britain.

  • K. W. Nicholls: Gaelic and Gaelicized Ireland in the Middle Ages.

  • Maria Bellonci: Lucrezia Borgia, con una prefazione di Giulia Caminito

  • Marion Turner: Chaucer: A European Life

  • Miranda Aldhouse-Green: The Celtic Myths, A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends.

  • Patrice Gueniffey, ed: Les Derniers Jours des Rois de Charlemagne à Napoleon III.

  • Paul Lukacs: Inventing Wine (Ch. 2 Worldly Goods: Wine through the Middle Ages)

  • ​Paul Strathern:

    • The Borgias: Power and Depravity in Renaissance Italy

    • The Medici: Power, Money and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

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Mythology​

​

  • Séamus Ó Searcaigh: Laochas.

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Digital Sources

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A Template for Creating Your Own Autodidactic Reading List  

Step 1: Choose which time period you would like to study

 

Step 2: Brainstorm the following topics about the period

  • Times, regions, events and empires of interest

  • Individuals (real or otherwise)

  • Defining features of the time

  • Languages & texts of interest

​

Step 3: Find materials that cover your key points of interest to develop a priliminary list. I recommend aiming for the following as a foundation:​

  • Mythology/Religion/Philosophy Overview (1)

  • General History (1-2)

  • Biography (3-5)

  • Primary sources in the original or translation (3)

  • Specialised history (optional)

​

​

Step 4: Start studying and adjust your list with new titles to read and topics to study as they arise.

​

Sample Brainstorming of the Middle Ages

L'histoire du Moyen Âge

History of the Middle Ages

TOPICS

​

Civilisation - Rulers - Politics - War

Myth/Religion & Philosophy - Literature - Language - Linguistics

Landscape - Archaeology - Art - Food & Drink - Technology - Trade

​

Languages of Interest

​

Old & Middle English

Anglo-Norman

Old French

Medieval Latin

Old Norse/Old Icelandic

Old and Middle High German

Times & Regions of Interest / Events & Empires

​​

  • "The Dark Ages" (Migration Period & Language Development)

  • Roman Britain & Post-Roman Britain 

  • France

  • Ireland

  • The Far North (Iceland & Scandinavia)

  • Holy Roman Empire

  • The Huns

​

​

​

Individuals (Real or Otherwise

​

  • Charlemagne

  • Clovis I

  • King Arthur 

  • Tristram and Iseult

  • Attila 

  • Erik the Red

  • Snorri Sturluson

  • Marie de France

​

Literary History

​

  • French

  • West & North Germanic languages 

  • Irish

  • Welsh

  • German

Asides

​

  • French culinary history

  • Manuscript making

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