Medieval Books

This book is the best book on bestiary that I have read. Ron Baxton really uses his knowledge and reseach in the making of this book and it shows. The magnificant illistrations play an inportant part in the understanding and enjoyment of this book. Baxton uses a detailed description on the many differant animals and beasts that were believed to once roam this earth in the middle ages. This book I recommend to all people with the love of mystical creatures or even the love of animals.

This book is one of the best books on bestiary that I have read. The author, Ron Baxter, uses his knowledge and reseach in the making of this book and it shows. The illustrations play a very important part in the understanding and enjoyment of this book. Baxter uses a detailed description on the animals and beasts that were believed to exist during the middle ages. I recommend this book to the people that likes mystical creatures and the important role they played on religion and art in the Middle Ages

Reading this book requires quite a background on the theses of the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. The author questions the accounts about the nature of the early Ottoman state. Did it consist of tribal Turks (extension of Seljuks) with the purpose of propagating Islam as asserted by Koprulu or were they heteredox gazis cooperating with Christian Byzantine locals as asserted by Wittek? Or were they just plunderers as claimed by a couple of Greek historians? Kafadar is very analytical. It is quite stimulating to read his logical deductions where historical data are not available. He seems to reach a synthesis closer to Wittek but not quite Wittek though. It seems more like Lindner who revised Wittek's argument in 1980's. Kafadar further discusses how the centralization of the Ottoman administration during the early 15th century eliminated the gaza spirit over time. The book is analytic and presents interesting facts and possibilites such as the real name (or the second name) of Osman.
The only drag is the abbreviations. For example, the author uses Apz for Asikpasazade or OE for Ottoman Empire throughout the text.
It is very well worth reading if you are interested in the nature of early Ottomans.

Reading Kafadar's book is not only reading a history of the Ottoman Empire, but it is remembering the complexity of history. Kafadar's book analyses the forces at play, their effects, and their results on the creation of the Ottoman Empire. The questions Kafadar asks in this book are not only very important to uncover the often misunderstood beginnings of the Ottoman's; but it also addresses "the myths of creation" about the Ottoman Empire, which were to serve political purposes. Last but not least Kafadar's style is very powerful and capable of working on such a problematic period and yet make the reader flow through his arguments so easily. I can recommend this book to all interested in the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East and generally in great historical analysis, do not shy away from it because it is not a popular historical account.

Power's work has set the tone and prepared the ground for future scholars and admirers of English nunneries. The debt owed to her is immense. She offers an "interdisciplinary" examination of medieval religious women and their world as well as the laws and social mechanisms which influenced and were influenced by them. Although recent scholarship has corrected some of her assertions, Eileen Power remains the standard work in the field.

First published in 1922, this book is rich in well-researched details that will bring the medieval nunnery to life. Scratch the surface of a habit and you'll find a very human woman. Medieval English Nunneries is an entertaining and enlightening read. I read a library copy then had to buy it for my collection. I am pleased it's still in print.

Most other books that I've read about Kabir emphasize the devotional (bhakti) side of Kabir. Hess and Singh have done a great service by showing us his wild and crazy side. The rough side. The tell it like it is side.

Kabir decried remaining within rigid religious boundaries. God is beyond. And more: beyond beyond. Yet organized religions such as Sikhism and the Sant Mat movement have tried to make Kabir one of their own. This book demonstrates the impossibility of confining Kabir in any theological structure.

Hess' Introduction is marvelous. This academic can write clearly and passionately, while still preserving high scholarly standards. I've read most of the English books about Kabir. After finishing "The Bijak of Kabir" I finally feel like I've been given an honest glimpse of this great mystic who fearlessly urges us to experience the wild Mystery that transcends all attempts to cage it within religious conceptual systems.

Kabir was an extraordinary oral poet whose works have been sung and recited throughout North India for half a millennium. He may have been illiterate ("I don't touch ink or paper, this hand never grasped a pen.") and he preached an abrasive, sometimes shocking, always uncompromising message that exhorted his audience to shed their delusions, pretensions, and empty orthodoxies in favor of an intense, direct, and personal confrontation with the truth.

Thousands of poems are popularly attributed to Kabir, but only a few written collections have survived over the centuries. The Bijak is one of the most important, and sacred book of those who follow Kabir.

Dear all-who-crave-for-knowledge, this book is good. I mean it. I am writing a fictional story and needed some reliable information on textual amulets. This is very good indeed. A thorough analyses on this subject. I highly recommend it.

The fact that so many textual amulets have not survived has made this a largely unexplored area of study. Owen Davies discussed the use of textual amulets by cunning men in his excellent Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History, but Skemer moves to an earlier period and peels away the layers of misinformation to illuminate what is known about this important practice like a beautiful manuscript. The dichotomy of attitude expressed by the medieval church, torn between the validity of textual amulets as vessels of faith against the "evils" of belief in the actual power of the words is like a spotlight on the microcosm of changing religious attitudes. This book also serves as a reminder, should it be necessary, that the dominant magick in Europe during the Middle ages and Renaissance was Christian, and this has influenced the development of modern traditions far more than most are willing to credit. By exploring the scope of use and content of textual amulets, Skemer has shone light into a hole that was largely invisible and brought it back into the light. Excellent and thought-provoking stuff!

The best part of the Black Death by Byrne is that it incorporates some of the more recent scientific discussion of the cause of Black Death. Its discussion of the many different plagues during the same period is very interesting. The Black Death may not have been Bubonic plague.

Byrne provides a comprehensive review and an enjoyable read. I appreciate how the Byrne book, published in 2004, presents the facts and assumptions. I rate it higher than the Gottfried book (published in early 1980's) with the same title.

To clarify the Book News notice: my book in fact covers the plague and its effects in European and Islamic society from roughly 1347 to around 1500. While sections of it focus on the first outbreak from 1347 to 1352, the chronological scope of the work is actually much broader than the reviewer indicates.
Please disregard my self-rating; providing some rating is mandatory to post to this site.

Many thousands of books have been written about William Blake. Three quarters of them should be hurled from the top of 60-storey buildings then trampled on by herds of rogue elephants. Most of the rest should be replaced with care on library shelves and quietly consumed by silverfish.

Here is a book that is not only Not an abomination but is actually worth buying. It was first published back in the happy sapphire days of 1965, when even an academic could still read a poet to find out what he or she had to say; and could write about a poet without quoting from a single unreadable French intellectual.

I have learnt more from William Blake than from anyone else writing English; but his longer poems are notoriously difficult, and at first they can appear overwhelmingly confusing. One of the major obstacles is the quantity of strange and uncouth names, of imaginary people and places, of home-made concepts, that speckle every page.

Eventually you'll find out that they mattered less than you thought, all those names. But having this book at hand to allay name-anxiety during the early stages will help you relax and just read. Blake never presents theories, or things that may or may not be true: only what he himself has Seen. What he saw was so uncommon he had to create his own way of expressing it. When you can swim in the ocean of Blake's thought - when you can make out what he's talking about - this Dictionary will have served its purpose.

I don't always agree with S. Foster Damon's interpretations. Freud and Jung should not be used to interpret Blake. He was well aware of what we call the Subconscious; but what he calls Eternity is Not, repeat Not, Jung's Collective Unconscious. Still, no two people will read Blake in exactly the same way. If you plan to explore Blake (and you should) this is the one essential guide.

Prophet? Madman? Or philosopher? The mythological characters in William Blake's prophetic poetry present a conundrum for the reader who confronts these characters with the traditional literary expectations of a symbolic reading. Indeed, the vanguard of contemporary criticism would argue that the very complexity of Blake's mythology precludes an all inclusive schemata.

Yet S. Foster Damon's A BLAKE DICTIONARY offers compelling testament that there was methodology in Blake's madness. In addition to providing a detailed enunciation of virtually every character in Blake's poetry, Damon further offers an exposition of the major themes and symbols which Blake repeatedly returned to in his longer prophetic works. Along with both Northrop Frye's FEARFUL SYMMETRY and David Erdman's PROPHET AGAINST EMPIRE, Damon's meticulously cross-referenced dictionary is an essential reference work for anyone who dares delve into Blake's complex mythology.

This book is extremely well written and fast-paced. Beer makes both kings (Knut and Olav) seem equally worthy of your support. There is a good amount of back-story before delving into Knut and Olav's personal stories. Anyone could enjoy this book!

This is a fantastic book! Beer took great pains to be fair to both King Knut and King Olav. You wanted to root for both of them. I loved the story of Olav and his handmaiden. My only problem with this book is that I wished it was longer! I didn't want it to end!

One of the best facsimilies I've ever encountered. The gold just jumps out of the pages, all other colors are vibrant and rich, the detail of the pictures is superb ... the only gripe I have is the scarce documentation. I would have liked a translation of the text, not only a paragraph or two describing each picture. But this is a very minor flaw in my eyes and should not prevent you to thoroughly enjoy this great book, as I do.
And yes, it is very pricey - but the absolutely stunning quality makes it almost a bargain ...

This superb facsimile is particularly noteworthy for the treatment of gold leaf in the original. In other facsimiles that I have seen gold is reproduced either with gold ink or with stamped foil. The gold ink does not have adequate reflectivity to be convincing, while the gold foil is too uniformly shiny to look realistic. Both typically have less than adequate resolution and registration: details get lost and the gold can be misaligned with the image. The Book of Beasts uses a new foil process that both allows the application of the foil with a resolution and registration comparable to the rest of the image and allows over printing with the other colors to reproduce the patina on the gold. The gold really looks like part of the image, allowing the detail to come through while retaining the glimmer of gold leaf. Overall, the images are as sharp and vivid as those in any facsimile I have seen, even those costing thousands of dollars. The handwritten text, elaborate initials, proportions of the page, and sturdy binding all contribute to the pleasure of turning the pages.
The introduction to the facsimile has brief descriptions of each image, describing the beast and the action, but it does not translate the Latin text. I find the text adds to the enjoyment of the images, so I recommend that you also buy Bestiary: Being an English Version of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Bodley 764 (ISBN-13 978-0851157535), which I believe is a reprint of a book published by the Folio Society in 1992. I have the latter, and it claims to translate all the text directly related to the images while skipping most of the attached sermonizing. It also has good conventional ink reproductions of the images which you can compare with the images in the facsimile.

I first read about this book in the forward to another book by Christine De Pisan (Treasure of the City of Ladies.) I became wild to own several of her writings, and am glad to own this one. I find it interesting reading even though I am not really a scholar of military history, at least not in the usual sense.

As a member of an historical re-creation society I take particular enjoyment in this book, as I have stood on the sidelines of our "battles" and know a very little about field tactics from watching. As the organizer of our medieval version of the USO Canteen, I really, REALLY liked the parts about how to feed an army before battle!

This book from 1410 consists of two main parts. The first part deals with military strategy (mostly based on Vegetius), and the second (mostly based on Bonnet's tree of battles) with laws of war, and the concept of just war. I found this work much more enjoyable than Macchiavelli's Art of War, for one thing Christine doesn't dwell so much on the supposed superiority of the Romans in all things, and she adds some interesting original material, such as detailed lists of fortification and siege equipment (up to sizes and amounts of timber, nails, etc.). This book is unique, being the only military classic written by a female author. The translation to english is very readable.