Can someone recommend me some good medieval books?

by damir33

Books to do with the medieval period and the kind. My personal areas of interest:

Chivalry, cathedrals/churches, knights, everyday life, hunting.

pas-du-chat-noir

For everyday life, The Medieval Village by G. G. Coulton is one I've been reading through. It's somewhat dated, and it's clear the author expects the reader to have some familiarity with the particular terminology he uses, but it is very in depth. Covers the top to bottom structure/life/holidays/oh-christ-all-the-minutiae about life in medieval villages in England, with a bit of comparison to villages in France. I have a copy of Medieval Wordbook by Madeline Pelner Cosman open alongside it, which I recommend as well.

International_KB

I'm no expert but I enjoyed Beik's A Social and Cultural History of Early Modern France. It's a good (academic) introductory survey of the period.

butter_milk

You should check out our booklist as a starting point.

For everyday life, A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344 by Judith Bennett is very good.

There is a chapter about hunting in A Cultural History of Animals in the Medieval Age by Brigitte Resl, which is where I would start for hunting.

TheGreenReaper7

The best place to start a study of chivalry remains Maurice Keen's Chivalry, (London and New York, 1984). I must add that to the book list soon. I'd then move onto either David Crouch (The Birth of Nobility) or Richard Kaepuer (Chivalry and Violence or Holy Warriors: The Religious Ideology of Chivalry). Full citations of these are available in the book list.