Rövid leírás:

Originally published in English in 1985, this book concentrates on the people of the Middle Ages and how they saw the world they lived in. This book discusses the most important concepts of medieval culture – space and time, law, the attitude towards work, wealth and poverty. 

Hosszú leírás:

Originally published in English in 1985, this book concentrates on the people of the Middle Ages and how they saw the world they lived in. Medieval behaviour – social, economic, political and religious, was regulated by the Medieval picture of the world. This book discusses the most important concepts of medieval culture – space and time, law, the attitude towards work, wealth and poverty – as they are reflected in the vernacular literature of the age: sagas, epics, courtly romances, the love songs of the troubadours, and the works of Dante, as well as numerous Latin writings. This enables the reader to reconstruct the culture of the Middle Ages, revealing it as a culture which resulted from the meeting of several traditions – Christian, classical and barbarian.

Original Review of Categories of Medieval Culture:

‘…the author is revealed as a considerable scholar…throughout the reader is arrested by some unexpected idea which makes him see the period in a new light.’ C. Dyer, Journal of Historical Geography, Volume 12, Issue 1 (1986).

Tartalomjegyzék:

1.The Norman Conquest i) Domesday Book – Motives for its Formation; Extracts; Statistics ii). William of Malmesbury’s account of the Norman Conquest iii). An Estimate of William the Conqueror from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 2. The constitutional Struggle Between the Brons and the Monarchy 3. The Catholic Church 4. Trade Guilds and Universities 5. The Age of the Crusades i) The First Crusade: Extract from William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the Kings of England ii) Extracts from the Itinerarium Kambriae of Giraldus Cambrensis iii) Extracts from Joinville’s Chronicle of the Crusade of St. Louis iv) Extracts from the Voyages and Travels of ‘Sir John Maundeville’ v) Extracts from the Works of Roger Bacon 6. The Hundred Years’ War i) The Military Exploits: Froissart’s Account of the Battle of Creçy ii) The War and the Church 7. The Black Death i) The Statute of Labourers, 1349 ii) The Second Statute of Labourers, 1351 iii) Population of England as Recorded in the Poll-Tax Accounts of 1377 and 1381 iv) Extracts from the Prologue of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales v) The Vision of Piers Plowman: Prologue and Parts of Passus I 8. The Decline of Medieval Civilization i) A Selection from the Paston Letters ii) Extracts from the Stonor Papers 9. The End of the Middle Ages i) The Libel of English Policy ii) Extracts from More’s History of King Richard III