Top Books of the Middle Ages (AKA Medieval Period for Beginners)
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- čas přidán 18. 03. 2023
- Here are some of my favourite books on the Middle Ages. Some of these are great introductory books to the period and perfect for beginners.
I compiled this list for #historathon2023, an event in which readers are encouraged to read one history book each quarter of the year using the timeline below:
Jan to Mar - Prehistory to AD 500
Apr to Jun - 500 to 1500
Jul to Sept - 1500 to 1820
Oct to Dec - 1820 to Present
My fantastic cohosts are as follows:
@revenantreads (Creator of the event)
@billruttenberg
@TheHistoryShelf
@NicholasOfAutrecourt
@bookssongsandothermagic
@marianamasbooks
@BookTimewithElvis
Books mentioned:
Powers and Thrones (Jones)
The Plantagenets (Jones)
The First Crusades (Asbridge)
The Greatest Knight (Asbridge)
The Greatest Traitor (Mortimer)
King of the North Wind (Gold)
Constantinople (Crowley)
Queens of Jerusalem (Pangonis)
The Perfect Heresy (O'Shea)
The Dark Queens (Puhak)
You can also find me on
Instagram: Knightlyrants
Voxer:epries544
You are the only girl I have seen that likes and specializes in the Medieval times. Keep up the good work. I will search for those books that you mention.
Thank you for watching!
This is a woman.
Excellent video! Very intrigued by Powers and Thrones. Thank you.
Thank you for watching! Powers and Thrones is definitely worth a read.
Thank you! I loved your selections and reviews. I put most of them in my cart
That's awesome, I hope you enjoy them. Thank you for watching!
Thanks! Really enjoyed all these recommendations!
You're most welcome! Thank you for watching.
What a wonderful idea for a video! Like you, I'm a casual enthusiast for the Middle Ages, and there's more than a few of these I am putting on my radar to track down in the future!
Thank you! I'll be doing more of these over the next quarter. Thank you for watching!
Wow! What a treasure trove of medieval history. I have a mania for the history of the Middle Ages so I was furiously writing down titles to locate. If my bank balance survives, they should be very interesting. Thanks for highlighting them for me!
Let me know what you think if you pick any of these up. Which are your current favourites? Thank you for watching!
Thanks for recommending Power and Thrones by Dan Jones. I ordered it and love it. I read a lot of history. Unfortunately just because you have a PHD doesn't mean you can write a readable book. I am really happy to find a readable book like Dan Jones's book that is hard to stop reading.
Jones definitely knows how to write exciting history, I'm so glad you're enjoying PaT. Thank you for watching!
Great recommendations. I’ve read the Plantagenets and really enjoyed it as well. Have Power & Thrones on my TBR for upcoming quarter.
Oo I hope you like it! Thank you for watching.
Thank you so much for rekindling my interest in reading about the middle ages!! Chuck
Thank you for watching, Chuck! Are you currently reading anything on the Middle Ages?
Great recommendations! I plan to finally get to The Plantagenets in the next quarter.
Thanks! It's a great book.
Thanks for the great recommendations. Power and Thrones will be my next history read.
You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for watching.
Thanks so much for this video. I love the Middle Ages. I have just ordered King of the North Winds because of this video.
I'm so pleased to hear that, I hope you like it. What do you like to read about with respect to the Middle Ages? Thank you for watching.
Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to read The Plantagenets! It's going right to the top of my reading list.
It's such a great book. Thank you for watching!
Thank you for video)
You are welcome. I appreciate you stopping by!
Nice
Thank you for these recommendations. I only listen to audio books these days and finding titles in my genre (early-high medieval) on Audible can get hard. But I just found/bought Queens of Jerusalem, the Plantagenets and the Dark Queens thanks to your recommendation. 👍
Thank you for watching! I hope you enjoy those titles. I just got into audiobooks myself, it's certainly a skill that needs practice!
Wow, I just added a TON of books to my TBR list on Goodreads. Thank you! 🥳😄
I'm glad to hear it. Which do you think you might read first? Thank you for watching!
@@passageoftime8561 I prefer to buy books in person so when I come across them in the wild, that's when I'll get my hands on them. 🥰
I'm interested in this time period but actually know few details about it, thanks for the intriguing recommendations!
It is a fascinating period. Which time periods interest you the most? Thank you for watching!
Your channel is a fantastic discovery for me. I’m a big fan of medieval England particularly. That’s actually the first book I’ve seen reviewed about Outremer 👍
Welcome to my channel! I'm still a bit of a newb with medieval history but I really enjoy it, especially High-Late Middle Ages. Any books you would recommend?
@@passageoftime8561 Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth tracks the Byzantine Empire from its beginnings, through to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The date that is referred to as the end of the Middle Ages.
It also tracks some of the fleeing scholarly works into Europe where it sparked the renaissance.
My favourite book. Period.
He has another work called Normans, from raiders to Kings.
His two podcasts were pioneers in the history field and I recommend them to you strongly. In particular - 12 Byzantium Rulers.
@@Ozgipsy thank you for this, I am going to check this book out as well as his podcasts!
The one book on my TBR for the coming quarter is _A Distant Mirror,_ by Barbara Tuchman. I read the first few chapters years ago but never finished it and historathon 2023 will be a good reason to go back to it.
I sometimes need a good push to go back to books (or even pick them up in the first place) and find reading events to be the perfect motivation. Thank you for watching!
@Bryan M.R. The calamitous century, indeed!
This was the book that kicked off my love of medieval histories and I loved it. For me it was the right amount of covering a lot of ground and giving a primer to the era that made me feel prepared to dive into more specific areas with enough context to not feel lost.
Anything by Tuchman is good.
Thank you for the reminder of The Dark Queens, I noted that down when you talked about it before. I’m hoping to also read something on the Vijaynagar Empire in India, probably Robert Sewells A Forgotten Empire.
That sounds like a great book, I need to expand my geographical horizons over the next few quarters for Historathon. Thanks for watching!
Terry Jones' _Chaucer's Knight_ should be in any list of great commentary on medieval life.
Fantastic selection.
Have you ever heard of The Ice-Shirt by William T. Vollmann? It covers the interactions between the Norse and the Inuit in Greenland around the 10th century A.D. Historical fiction, but densely-packed and well-researched. I know the book ventures beyond the geographical areas you seem to focus on, but it's truly wonderful, and-considering your knowledge of the time period-you may have a better grasp of the cultural clash that takes place in the events of the book.
It's great to find a worthwhile book-focused channel. I'll be sure to subscribe and check out some of your other recommendations. Thanks for taking the time to share!
I haven't heard of it but it sounds right up my street. Thank you for the recommendation and for watching!
Thanks, I added three books to my cart
Awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed this. Which books did you add?
@@passageoftime8561 Powers and Thrones (Jones) , Queens of Jerusalem (Pangonis) and The Dark Queens (Puhak)
I love you ♥️
If I don't know anything about the Crusades, which of Asbridge's books would you recommend to check out first - The First Crusade or The Crusades? Always love your videos!!
I haven't read his other book The Crusades so I'd have to say The First by default. I might need to squeeze The Crusades in now, I do like Asbridge's work. Thank you for watching!
You mentioned Dan Jones’ “The Plantagenets” started you on reading about them. I’m older and the author who got me interested in the Middle Ages, was Thomas B. Costain who wrote a number of books on the Plantagenets. His books had been around for awhile even when I started to read them in the early ‘60s, and he doesn’t seem to be known today, but you might enjoy having a look at him. Thanks for the “Powers and Thrones” recommendation. That one slipped by me, but I’ll have to pick it up.
Thank you for watching! I've read a couple by Costain and I do enjoy his work. I should have mentioned him but didn't have any physical copies to show. I liked The Three Edwards and The Conquering Family.
If you are interested in Plantagenets, Sharon Kay Penman is absolutely unmatched! My favorites are the Sunne in Splendour, and When Christ and his Saints slept, incredibly good ❤️But also her Welsh trilogy, cannot recommend those more
Thank you for these recommendations, I will check them out. And thank you for watching!
When Christ and his Saints Slept is a better version of Pillars of the Earth. I wish it was more popular. I'll be reading The Sunne in Splendour soon. I hate Richard III. Lol. We'll see if my mind changes.
@@strangementalitypaperYT oh I’d love to hear your thoughts after! Also, how’s it that the audio version never been produced? I’d love that 🙏
Love this video. Really curious if any Thriller, fiction, Middle Ages books you could recommend?
I'm really sorry for the late reply! I don't read a huge amount of medieval fiction. But two that come to mind that are more of a thriller genre are Between Two Fires by Buehlman and A Plague on Both Your Houses by Gregory. Both are set during the Black Death. The first I thought was okay, Gregory's was really good. It was sort of like a medieval whodunit. Thank you for watching!
the greatest knight was brilliant, it would make a great movie.
I agree! Thank you for watching!
This was very helpful, thank you 🙏
I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for watching!
Queens of Jerusalem... has a magic looking cover! My selection for the 2nd quarter of #historathon2023 will probably be the New Cambridge Medieval History vol.I Although the Prestwich biography of Edward I is a contender. I have already started this; there is a stupefying instance when 17 years old he arranges a breakfast with the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke's brother to discuss peace terms, and during the said breakfast they are both poisoned and he isn't! Not to be missed. 🤔
It's such a beautiful cover, I love the blue with gold pomegranates and Jerusalem crosses. I will need to check out Prestwich's bio on Edward I, I find him really fascinating and have read only one standalone bio on him so far (A Great and Terrible King). I wonder how much of his personality derives from him seeing his father (and their royal perogative) being pushed around. Thank you for the recommendations and for watching.
My last name is Norman. How could I not love The Middle Ages? Haha
Nominative determinism strikes again! 😁
@@passageoftime8561 Blame Maude. She shouldn’t have been such a badass!!
I love your focus on the Middle Ages. I'm passionate about the Plantagenets too. Please note that THE GREATEST TRAITOR by Ian Mortimer is not a novel. It's nonfiction.
Thanks for watching! I misspoke. 😊
A great book is We Appy Few. The story of a hundred year old man telling a young Henry 8th his account of the battle of Agincourt. Its funny, touching, and deals with the nature of history, truth, faith and language.
This sounds fantastic, I am going to look for this now. Thank you for watching!
You are one of the few people I've seen who recommend books about Medieval history, a period so unjustly maligned. What biography of Richard III , my favorite Shakespeare villain, recommend me? Take care!
Welcome to my channel! The Middle Ages are so fascinating. Shockingly, I haven't got one to recommend on Richard III. I want to read Matthew Lewis' biography, though. Thank you for watching!
"The Daughter of Time" by Josephine Tey.
‘Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me’ by Matthew Lewis. It puts Richard firmly within the context of his time, and actually portrays him as a human being rather than a caricature.
@@lisanorth4934 Thanks! Have a happy New Year!
Richard III: A Study in Service by Rosemary Horrox. Richard III was truly a Shakespearean villain, but that was because WS had to toe the Tudor line (see A Daughter of Time for a good argument about that). Richard was a loyal retainer to his brother, Edward IV, and a good king. Yes, he probably usurped the throne, but the old saying "woe betide a kingdom with a child king" spoke of the problems that a regency could instigate.
Is that St. Nektarios in the icon?
St Dionysios. I picked it up from a tourist shop in Zakynthos. 😊
Have you read Phillipia Gregory ?
I've heard a lot of good things about Gregory but I don't think I have. If I had to read one, which would you recommend?
This seems like a great collection. I need to read about the middle ages but 18th century America is calling me again.
Thank you for watching! Which books do you plan on reading re: 18th century? I'm looking for recommendations for this time period.
Fiction?
I don't read a huge amount of fiction when it comes to the Middle Ages to warrant a standalone video, I'm afraid. Only two come to mind (not including contemporaneous fiction). Thank you for watching!