To compile a list of the five best books about the Middle Ages, fortunately, is impossible. Of the hundreds of important studies on the life and feelings of medieval people, Arzamas reluctantly dared to choose those with which it makes sense to start studying medieval studies and without which today these studies cannot be imagined.

Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. "Life and Entertainment in the Middle Ages" (St. Petersburg, 1997)

Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879) - an outstanding architect, historian, archaeologist, restorer and artist. In addition to the restoration and restoration of fortress walls, castles, churches, palaces, town halls, the construction of private houses, as well as the manufacture of stained-glass windows and furniture, Viollet-le-Duc was widely known for his works on the history of architecture, articles on the history of weapons, everyday life and decoration of ancient buildings, building technology. One of his central works was the Explanatory Dictionary of French Utensils from the Carolingian to the Renaissance, published in separate volumes in 1858-1875, “an attempt to bring together and carefully classify the“ material evidence ”of past eras in order to obtain a coherent story based on them and, by combining disparate materials (sometimes short notes), to present the facts in such a way as to illuminate the social and private life of medieval society, including the creation of furnishings.

The book “Life and Entertainment in the Middle Ages” is a selection of articles from this dictionary: a collection of the most curious information and facts, a light, sometimes ironic style (“Not at all expecting that accurate information about the life and customs of the Middle Ages will add talent to those modern artists who are mediocre by nature, we are still convinced that these materials will be useful to a talented person who owns the secrets of craftsmanship"), a noble enlightening pathos - using many examples from the life of different social groups, it is shown that, contrary to popular beliefs, the Middle Ages was not a "dark age" in the history of mankind; on the contrary, we see the life of a highly organized, civilized society. The book is superbly illustrated—careful and detailed illustrations complement the text perfectly (and vice versa). Finally, a quote that seems to express the spirit of the book and the character of its author:

“The Middle Ages are in direct contact with our time.<...>If we do not know the Middle Ages, then we do not want to know it, we do not take the trouble to thoughtfully and carefully study the wealth accumulated over the centuries, from which we are separated not by years, but by prejudices carefully cultivated by those who thrive on ignorance and live by it. .

Mark Block. "Feudal society" (M., 2003)

It seems that the evolution of the development of historical studies, especially those relating to the history of the Middle Ages, is appropriate to divide into two large periods - before Blok and after. Mark Blok (1886-1944) is an outstanding French historian, one of the founders of the Annales magazine (he published it together with another major French historian, Lucien Fevre), and later of the scientific school of the same name, the creator of a fundamentally new approach to the study of history. In a nutshell: the basis of his method is that history should be studied not on the basis of an analysis of the thoughts of individual historical figures, but in direct mass manifestations; when studying a phenomenon, one must move from the period of its maturity to the time of its inception (and not vice versa, as was customary in the old historiography). To present history as a continuous process, where one thing grows out of another and where the historical fabric itself, the daily life of social groups, is of particular value - at that time it was a revolutionary idea. Actually, historical anthropology begins with the works of Blok and Febvre. The history of everyday life, interdisciplinary research, everything that has become mainstream in recent decades, largely came out of their ideas.

The book "Feudal Society", first published in 1939
(and dedicated to Western and Central Europe from the middle of the 9th century to the first decades of the 13th century) is a universally recognized classic of medieval studies, a work that breaks with traditional historiography, which studied mainly the deeds of kings and the aristocracy, political events and wars, and considered feudalism to be relations relating exclusively to the aristocracy . Blok explores feudalism from the point of view of collective psychology, social structures, the way of thinking and the picture of the world of the people who lived at that time, including the peasantry, who had practically gone unnoticed before him.

Being an excellent stylist, he saves the reader from cumbersome scientific calculations: the book is written densely, vividly and brightly. The story begins from the time of the last raids of the barbarians: Arabs, Hungarians and Normans.

“To imagine these northern warriors, endow them with a powerful and rude sensuality, a love of bloodshed and destruction, sometimes turning into madness that knows no bounds: an example of this is the famous orgy of 1012, during which the Bishop of Canterbury was beaten with the bones of eaten bulls, whose before that, life was reasonably guarded, counting on a ransom. Saga refers to an Icelander who took part in the raids on Europe as a "child lover" because he refused to impale babies on a spear, which was the custom of the rest of his associates. Is it any wonder that everyone was in awe of the Normans?

Aron Gurevich. "Categories of medieval culture" (2nd edition, corrected and supplemented. M., 1984)

Aron Yakovlevich Gurevich (1924-2006), who popularized and continued the ideas of the Annales school, influenced Russian historiography as seriously as Mark Blok influenced French. The book "Categories of Medieval Culture" was published in 1972 and immediately became an intellectual sensation. The Soviet reader, who had previously dealt exclusively with one or another aspect of the interaction between "productive forces" and "production relations", discovered that, it turns out, history can be viewed from the point of view of the people who lived then, with their unique picture of the world and ideas about life. It is noteworthy that the book did not become a purely local phenomenon: translated into the main European languages, it left a noticeable mark on Western medieval studies. Here is what the author himself says about the problems of his research: “We inevitably ask history questions that arise before ourselves. This questioning, the attempt to enter into a dialogue with people of a different culture than our own, is an integral function of modern consciousness. Not without reason, during the 70s and early 80s, many works appeared that explored the most diverse aspects of the culture of the Middle Ages, which for so long and undeservedly remained a blank spot on the historical map of mankind. Acquaintance with new works, as it seems, confirms the justification of the direction chosen in the book - an analysis of the worldview of a medieval person, the picture of the world that he created in the course of his socio-cultural practice.

Jacques Le Goff. "Civilization of the Medieval West" (M., 1992)

Jacques Le Goff (1924-2014) - the largest French historian, a representative of the third generation of the Annales school. The book "Civilization of the Medieval West" was published in 1964; it was published in Russian in 1992. Here is what A. Gurevich reports about the scientific method of Le Goff: “In order to understand the meaning of the statement contained in the historical source, that is, to correctly decipher the message of its author, one must proceed not from the idea that people have always, throughout history, thought and felt in the same way, just as we feel and think ourselves, on the contrary, incomparably more productive is the hypothesis that a different consciousness is imprinted in the historical source, that before us is the “Other”. Having uttered this word, we thereby approached the very essence of the work of the author of Civilization of the Medieval West. For the pathos of the diverse scientific interests of Jacques Le Goff lies precisely in the study of the problem: what was a person in a distant era of history, what is the secret of his originality, dissimilarity with us of the one who was our predecessor? Le Goff focuses not so much on the life of educated elites (although he does not stop studying their work), but on the everyday person. This ordinary person did not understand Latin, was inside the oral culture, and his manners and beliefs, behavior and appearance as a whole were of no interest to learned people who perceived him as "another"; and in that era, as Gurevich notes, it was these people who constituted the so-called silent majority and, in fact, excluded from history, formed the basis of society.

In the introductory article to the Russian edition, Le Goff emphasizes: “Most of all, I wanted to depict all these aspects of medieval civilization, demonstrating the mentality, emotionality and attitudes of behavior, which are by no means superficial or unnecessary “decorations” of history, because they gave it all its brilliance, originality and depth: symbolic thinking, a sense of uncertainty or belief in miracles would tell us more about the Middle Ages than subtly constructed dogmas and ideological anachronistic abstractions.

Progress in the economy, science, culture, religion and demography seems to Le Goff more important than the vicissitudes of political life. The latter - represented, for example, by the struggle between popes and emperors - hid "a great political innovation - the emergence of modern states that emerged from the feudal system and coexisted with it without destroying it (as traditional historiography seemed to)". The study ends with the crisis of the XIV-XV centuries, which, according to the author, was more of a mutation and transformation than a decline (as is often the case in history).

Johan Huizinga. "Autumn of the Middle Ages" (M., 1995)

The immediate predecessor of the Annales school, the Dutch philosopher, historian and culturologist Johan Huizinga (1872-1945), in his works is already moving away from the positivist concept of history as a process that requires a rational explanation. He believes that laws and rules that claim to be universal cannot be applied to history. Huizing can be attributed to the forerunners of the New Historical Science, in particular, the appeal to collective psychology, the study of mentality, the way of medieval life. The Italian historian Ovidio Capitani, in a preface to a 1974 edition of Huizinga's work, wrote:

“What seemed strange in his historiographical method (compared to the historiography of the 19th century) today can be characterized as a certain prelude to interdisciplinary research, to a non-Eurocentric direction of research, which is currently not only “conceptualized”, but also going through a stage of exaltation.” The first edition of Autumn of the Middle Ages appeared in 1919. Subsequently, the book was translated into all European languages ​​and reprinted several times; in Russia was first published only in 1988 - almost seventy years later. According to the author, the book “an attempt is made to see in the XIV-XV centuries not the proclamation of the Renaissance, but the completion of the Middle Ages; an attempt to see medieval culture in its last life phase, as a tree whose fruits have completely completed their development, filled with juice and are already overripe. The overgrowth of the living core of thought with rational, stiff forms, the drying up and hardening of a rich culture—this is what these pages are devoted to. My gaze, when I wrote this book, rushed, as it were, into the depths of the evening sky, but it was blood-red, heavy, deserted, in menacing lead gaps and shone with a copper, false brilliance.

Much in this book has not lost its relevance today, but these words of the philosopher are worth remembering, especially at those moments when it seems that the world is rapidly plunging into darkness:

“Every time leaves behind much more traces of its suffering than of its happiness. Disasters are what history is made of. And yet, some unconscious conviction tells us that the happy life, serene joy and sweet peace that fell to the lot of one era, in the end, are not too different from everything that happens at any other time.

Books about the Middle Ages can be very diverse. Some authors emphasize the realism of events: they show the spirit of the era of knights, tournaments and constant battles. Others fantasize with magic, mix in the fantasy genre, and eventually get their fans. In this article, the most diverse selection of works about the mentioned era has been made.

Perfect satire

One of the most famous world books about the Middle Ages is Miguel de Cervantes' two-volume Don Quixote. This masterpiece perfectly satirizes the mores of the era in which all events take place. The plot tells about the man of the same name, who sincerely wished to become a noble knight in a peaceful period. He enlisted the support of his faithful squire Sancho and set off in search of adventure. On the journey, Don Quixote managed to meet many personalities, fight enemies in the form of windmills, and mark himself many more times. The work is incredibly easy to read, despite the impressive number of pages.

The most famous chivalric romance

When it comes to books about the Middle Ages, it is simply impossible not to mention Walter Scott and his legendary novel Ivanhoe. If the reader wants to plunge headlong into the atmosphere of knightly duels, feel the spirit of the era, then this story is an ideal option. The author skillfully twists the storylines in which he assigns places to a huge number of different characters. The main character in the story does not appear immediately, he is mentioned only on the first ten pages. Then the story picks up pace. All events take place in England, when the Normans began to oppress the Saxons in every possible way. Walter Scott introduces readers to Richard the Lionheart, often mentions King John and the Magna Carta, there was even a place for the famous Robin Hood. The novel is not in vain considered a classic that perfectly demonstrates the Middle Ages. This is how he earned worldwide fame.

great story

Books about the Middle Ages were written by a variety of authors at all times, but not every one of them gained worldwide popularity. The novel "White Company" received such an honor, and its author was the master of detectives Arthur Conan Doyle. The creator of Sherlock Holmes also gave the world a great story that will tell all readers about the Hundred Years War between France and England. The author correctly emphasizes that the era of knights in brilliant armor is coming to an end. Swords will be replaced by new, more deadly weapons, because they are already beginning to be used in conflicts. The main character Nigel is a simple archer in his squad. It would seem that fate in a big battle does not depend much on him, but Arthur Conan Doyle refutes this. He shows that even one hero with his skills can change the outcome of history. The writer managed to create a work that is remembered for a long time, and captures after reading the first few pages.

History with other accents

Among the best books about the Middle Ages are only those works that leave a big mark on the soul of the reader. The novel The Crusaders by Henryk Sienkiewicz is considered such a masterpiece. It was for this work that he was awarded the Nobel Prize. The author approached writing in an original way. On the one hand, he carefully treated all the details of the era, vividly showed the period when the Poles entered into a confrontation with the knights that had returned from the crusades. The historical trace is visible everywhere, even in small descriptions of details. If you look from a different angle, then Senkevich does not promote this topic in the novel. It shows the love story of a beautiful Polish lady and a knight. The development of their relationship, the vicissitudes of fate and the influence of the family on the couple are emphasized here. That is why the book gained popularity not only among fans of the Middle Ages, but also among fans of romance novels.

Peripetia with the main character

Historical books about the Middle Ages should not monotonously retell all the main events of the era. For this there is scientific research, and in novels there must be artistic value. I understood this very well when I created my work called “Knight of Light”. The plot tells about the main character Arthur, who was separated from his beloved girl named Mildred. To meet her again, he decides to take de Breton, who, by the will of fate, died in his arms. The equipment will help him get to the tournament, where Mildred must be. Only now the prince also wants to get a girl for himself, and his parents have completely different plans in this regard. Arthur will have to hurry, but another serious obstacle appears in the way in the form of the Templars. They consider the protagonist de Breton, to whom they have their own scores. The difficult path to love is described by the author according to all the canons, and the novel has gained great popularity among readers.

world classic

If the aforementioned books about knights, the Middle Ages, love stories and adventures did not fit, then you can turn your attention to the classics of the genre. William Shakespeare's Hamlet ranks first in this category. Events unfold in that era, but the emphasis here is on the tragedy of a young Danish prince. The plot tells how, due to the intrigues of his uncle, he lost his throne when he arrived from Europe after training. The young Hamlet was filled with progressive ideas about how to make people better. He sincerely wanted to change the whole world, but it was impossible to do so. Step by step, he learned more about the courtiers, their manners, interests, and was amazed at this. Hamlet was tormented by the desire to strive for the ideal and the thirst for revenge against his uncle. The legendary writer William Shakespeare perfectly conveyed this tragedy on the pages of his work. It is written in such an accessible and exciting way that it captivates for hours.

An unexpected journey

The authors paid attention not only to realism when writing works about this era. Books about hitmen in the Middle Ages also enjoyed and are very popular. Mark Twain excelled in this genre with his novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The story captivates readers from the first page. The protagonist was an ordinary American citizen until he received a good blow to the head. When he woke up, he was no longer at home. In some unknown way, he was transferred to the era of knights, namely England during the reign of King Arthur. The strangely dressed guy immediately aroused suspicion among the locals. In the very first settlement he is taken into slavery, and in this way he will go straight to the king. Mark Twain perfectly depicted the difference between eras, and also showed the way of adaptation of the protagonist, who had to experience all the intrigues at the royal court. The work causes genuine delight thanks to an unusual adventure.

Worldwide popularity

Books about the Middle Ages in the fantasy genre, due to their unusual nature, do not always find a reader, but George Martin, with his A Song of Ice and Fire cycle, proved the possibility of writing an interesting work. The author created his own universe, which strongly resembles the Middle Ages. There is a lot of emphasis on realism, but there is also a place for giants, resurrections and dragons. All these elements are combined into a single book that evokes a feeling of delight. A Song of Ice and Fire has long been a worldwide masterpiece. Many readers here are attracted not only by the setting, but also by the vicissitudes of the struggle for power. There are many houses in this universe that want to claim the Iron Throne for themselves. The author skillfully binds readers to the characters, but also suddenly takes the characters out of the game. This is done so masterfully that readers can't move away from the incredible plot twists for a long time.

Dark world with its own rules

Books about the Middle Ages and magic do not always have to affect the real world. Many authors create their own world, which resembles Europe of the 11th-14th centuries. So did Andrzej Sapkowski with his Witcher series. The story of Geralt of Rivia, nicknamed the White Wolf, touches to the core. The author masterfully twisted the plot, in which there are no unnecessary details. The story touches on global wars, racial conflicts and shows a huge number of characters with their own characters and experiences. A distinctive feature of the entire Witcher saga is that Sapkowski does not divide everything into good and evil. It shows the real events that take place in that world. Often the hero has to choose between evil and lesser evil. The books also show the influence of Slavic legends and mythology. The author turned out to be an original world, in which it is interesting to dive headlong and for long hours.

Final list

1. "Don Quixote".
2. "Ivanhoe".
3. "White Squad".
4. "Crusaders".
5. "Knight of Light"
6. "Hamlet".
7. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".
8. "Song of Ice and Fire".
9. "Witcher".

What will warm the soul, frozen from loneliness? What will be the best gift for Christmas? Of course, love! Love is fiery, passionate and romantic, sensual and tender. Love is like this collection, which includes the stories of three queens of historical romance - Jane Feather, Sabrina Jeffries and Julia Landon.

Knight of the Holy Sepulcher Alexander Trubnikov

A rich peasant and a poor knight go on a crusade. At first, their relationship does not add up, but after killing a couple of villains together and ending up in a web of medieval intrigues, the ancient French became close friends. Many adventures, battles and love, Templars and Saracens, and most importantly - the author's excellent sense of humor. All this makes the book "Knight of the Holy Sepulcher" an extraordinary event in the world of historical adventure novel.

love insight Jill Tathersol

The main character of this fascinating love story is endowed with a wonderful gift of foresight. Her new acquaintance is investigating the firm where she works. Feeling that he is in mortal danger, she tries to save her friend. Their desire by common forces to avert trouble gradually develops into love ...

Vow of love Mary Spencer

Is it possible today to write a book that combines the tenderness and romanticism of a romance novel with a gripping, enthralling plot of historical narrative? Yes, if Mary Spencer undertakes this!.. And then a story worthy of being sung in the medieval "knightly romance" is born. The story of the proud knight Eric Stavelot, who vowed to deliver the woman he loved to someone else's marriage bed, and the young Lady Margot Le Brun, who secretly swore an oath not to belong to anyone but Sir Eric, who won her heart as a child. And then it starts...

sisters Georg Ebers

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Word Georg Ebers

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Gentle scoundrel Linda Bartell

Linda Lang Bartell's romance novel is set in medieval Italy. The beautiful daughter of a prince must become the wife of an illegitimate gypsy whom she hates. The mortal danger that threatens him provides an excellent opportunity to avoid an unwanted marriage ... Will true love overcome the obstacles that have arisen in its path, will Juliet fall in love with her handsome fiance?

sand borders Susana Fortes

Susana Fortes (1959), Ph.D. in Geography and History, university lecturer, and one of the most prominent names in modern Spanish literature, she is the recipient of many awards. It is distinguished by a virtuoso style and "soft rigidity" of the story. "Sand Borders" is a book that is read in one breath, as it is a kind of fusion of thriller, detective, spy thriller and romance. In the center of the narrative is the fate of three people: two men and a woman who were brought together, using the words of Salvador Dali, “a presentiment ...

Alexandr Duma Henri Troyat

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evening song Candice Camp

The novel is set in medieval England. To take revenge on his enemy, the evil and treacherous duke invites a commoner girl to play the role of a noble lady. The beautiful Alina agrees, but, finding herself in the arms of a courageous and beautiful knight, she realizes that she is in mortal risk. Lies push young people apart, but true love makes them happy again. Love, hate, tenderness, deception - all this is intertwined into a tight knot of a fascinating plot.

Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole

The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Walpole opens a long series of popular Gothic novels, "novels of mystery and horror", but at the same time historical novels on medieval themes, which culminate in a new, higher stage of development in the medieval novels of Walter Scott. "Castle of Otranto" is a novel that struck the imagination of contemporaries with a heap of terrible, mysterious and supernatural. The action of the novel takes place in medieval Italy, at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. The owner of the castle of Otranto, the cruel feudal lord Manfred, is ...

Arthur is the dragon king. barbarian roots... Howard Reed

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sinner Susan Johnson

Susan Johnson, perhaps the most original of today's talented writers in the United States, The Sinner is a magnificent fusion of historical women's romance and melodrama. This is a moving story about the love between a young beauty from an impoverished Scottish family and a young English duke, who has a reputation as a violent libertine. A non-standard plot, in which authenticity is elegantly combined with fiction, and sincerity in describing the feelings and love relationships of the characters creates an indelible impression on the reader of the joy of love.

Serapis Georg Ebers

Georg-Moritz Ebers (1837-1898) - a famous German Egyptologist, a talented novelist. His works (Ebers left readers 17 historical novels: 5 about the European Middle Ages, the rest about Ancient Egypt) combine scientifically based reproduction of the depicted era and a fascinating plot. The seventh volume of the Collected Works includes two historical novels. The first of them, "Homo sum", is dedicated to the emergence of the institution of monasticism in the depths of the Christian communities in Egypt and Syria. The second novel, Serapis, takes the reader to Alexandria in 391...

Catherine of Aragon, Margarita and Mary Tudor. Sisters and eternal rivals. Cunning intrigues, unexpected conspiracies, vile betrayals and secret marriages - they did everything for the good of their states. The three queens, bound by ties of blood, had every reason to hate and destroy each other.....

In this world, any shadow is a gate to a dangerous and unexplored dimension, tunnels in which are laid by adherents of the secret arts. Here the Sun has a dark twin star, an ordinary handshake can turn into a curse, and a shadow can throw a person away. There are six giants of poison, .....

1452. Byzantium is collapsing under the onslaught of Ottoman soldiers who take advantage of the weakness of Emperor Constantine. Saving the mysterious beauty Yamina from death, the ruler almost died and is now bedridden. The capital is under siege. But suddenly, under the walls of Constantinople, a brave Scottish warrior John appears .....

The patriarchs are being replaced, the half-mad Empress Catherine is trying to lure the skillful commander Piper Hekt to her and arrange another sacred campaign. Hect is forced to hide his many secrets from everyone, while his sister Geris and great-great-grandfather Kloven Februaren, a great wizard, want Piper...

Stuntman Sasha Petrov, taking part in the filming of a "pirate" film, suddenly finds himself in a situation that he could only dream of in a nightmare! A storm, a “cine” ship that crashed on the rocks, and ... instead of a cozy hotel room on the outskirts of Tunisia - a dirty shed, .....

Germany, 1626. The principality-bishopric of Bamberg, one of the richest and most prosperous in the German lands, is seized by a witch-hunt mania. To search for and arrest the "devil's servants", a special investigative commission was created, headed by vicar bishop Friedrich Förner. Through torture, false.....

Once upon a time, the girl Rosalyn Clifford helped a Scottish prisoner sentenced to death to escape from her brother's castle. Now she herself is a prisoner of the Scotsman she saved - and this is none other than the famous Highlander warrior Robert Boyd, whose very name inspires horror .....

Els Tage, a former Dringer spy, has become so accustomed to the image of Piper Hekt, the commander-in-chief of the patriarchal army, that he is no longer sure who he is and on whose side he fights. Meanwhile, attempts on his life do not stop. It is restless in the west and east: they are trudging .....