Best Medieval History books?

by MadCyborg12

I found out about the New Cambridge Medieval history collection of 6 books, but at $70 a piece in paperback, I'm trying to see if there are any alternatives.

I would like a broad coverage of the Middle Ages period, not just a specific era/event. For example the set mentioned above goes in extreme detail about all the periods from the 5th century up to the 15th century.

I don't know how to really describe it, but basically something as good as the Cambridge set, but it does not cost $300+.

Thanks in advance.

y_sengaku

I'm afraid that NCMH series has not been superseded by any of the alternative series, at least from a point of view of cost-performance wise and details.

The following recommendations, as already noted by /u/Kerravaggio, cannot match the details of the series, but are selected mainly based on cost-wise and the whether it reflects the relatively recent results of the academic research:

Kerravaggio

These books were massive enterprises and are designed to be introductions to early career scholars and provide a roadmap for research. Many of the scholars selected are/were leaders in their subfield. They are certainly beginning to show their age, but it was a monumental undertaking. As reference guides, published by probably the leading publisher in the fields, with only the most prominent scholars, they volumes are priced accordingly. These books are consciously designed and priced to sit in a reference section of a library. As reference guides, they are also not really designed to be read straight through. When I was working on my dissertation about Italy in the later Middle Ages and needed to refer to early periods and I needed to understand the dissolution of the Carolingian Italy and identify the editions of original language standard texts from the period, I turned there first and delved into the footnotes. If you are beginning your forays into the Middle Ages, I’m not even sure that this would be the place to start. Does somebody need to understand the specifics of the career of Berengar II to understand the breakdown of Carolingian authority in Northern Italy? Not as much as the broad patterns at play, and, at a certain point, too much detail can obfuscate the broader patterns. While this is at the forefront of my mind, I wonder if Brill’s new handbooks of medieval Europe will replace Cambridge as the paramount guide for early career scholars https://brill.com/view/serial/BCEH. The ones I’ve used are certainly superior.

But back to the main question. If your goal is a broad understanding of medieval history from the fall of Rome to the beginning of modernity, I’d suggest just getting a textbook. It’ll be cheaper, more manageable, and will not be a fire hose of information. I like rosenwein’s two volume set myself.