(Part 2) Best medieval literary criticism books according to redditors
We found 181 Reddit comments discussing the best medieval literary criticism books. We ranked the 82 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
I'll speak on France, as it's probably the easiest to talk about.
Outside of a warzone, or banditry, Rape was not something that happened ALL THE TIME in the high middle ages. Sure it did happen, but it wasn't just a rape fest happening all the time. However, from the records we have, there were VERY low reported cases inside of France. From the Regisre de I'Officialalite de Cersiry begining in 1314, for a period of 85 years there was only 12 cases of rape, or rather, reported rape. This was likely because of the heavy burden of proof put on the accuser of it. They HAD to have a witness to the act, and they had to prove they actually resisted the act. After all in this period of history women were viewed as the far more libidious gender. If there were no witnesses, the accused was absolved of all guilt. And to go further, to get an actual day in court, you had to be rather rich and noble. This wasn't modern times with paid leave. You had to be home to tend to the kids, tend to the harvest, work on clothing, ect ect. Infact Out of the 12 cases of reported rape in the Regisre de I'Officialalite de Cersiry in 1314-1399 10 were actually clergymen.
Source: Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age (Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture) by Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA; Connie Scarborough, Texas Tech University, Dallas, USA.
I read Medievalism in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones by Shiloh Carroll.
Carroll challenges GRRM's claim that his books are "realistic" or "historically accurate", by his biases for constructing what "realism" feels like in his fiction. She brings a depth of understanding of "medievalism" (the interpretation of the medieval era) in contrast to "medieval history" -- Yes, this book is pomo, academic, and extensively footnoted.
Carroll gets a few details of r/asoiaf's hivemind wrong, such as not reading Jon Connington as gay, but on topics like neomedievalist chivalric conventions and "monstrous woman" tropes, the discussions are solid.
The chapter on "Postcolonialism and Slavery" is the best one, showing a deep knowledge of and engagement with colonialist literatures, while placing GRRM's work in its literary context. Interestingly, the Andal invasion is discussed as a colonizing event, in terms of how it is understood by characters of the AGOT era. However, for the r/asoiaf audience, this section suffers from not incorporating the deep history provided by TWOIAF and the novellas.
Show!Sansa's story gets a lot of attention in the chapter on HBO GoT, with an argument that there are many layers of misunderstanding of medieval history contributing to her fate. Carroll dislikes Sansa's friendship with Margaery because it cuts into the distress of book!Sansa's political isolation. And Season 5 Sansa is criticized because the Northern lords would not tolerate the abuse of a trueborn Stark daughter in a "realistic" feudal setting.
TL;DR: Medievalism in A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones was not written for the online fandom. But if you are interested in a brisk read (186pp + a thorough bibliography) that touches on major scholarly entry points for engaging with GRRM's masterwork, I would recommend it highly.
Sure. :) Like I said, this research is still underway for me, so there may be other sources out there which I have yet to pick up. Determining what was traumatic vs. non-traumatic for the Romans is about as hard as determining the same for modern patients. At the end of the day, individual characteristics play a large role. Two individuals can experience the same event and only one might be traumatized as a result. That being said, there do seem to be some patterns if one is willing to paint with a broader brush.
Keep in mind that the personal identity of a Roman soldier (and this appears to be true for ordinary citizens as well) was very much wrapped up in his social environment. For a legionary to judge whether he was a "good" or "bad" person, he would have heavily relied on the level of esteem he held with others in his social circle, as well as by the strictures of society as a whole. Contrast this with a modern American who, while no one blames him/her for killing in combat, nonetheless comes from a culture which tacitly informs them from a very early age that harming others is wrong regardless of what your peers think or know. Every modern Westerner must rectify this contradiction within themselves to be at peace with their actions during battle. Some achieve this much easier than others, but the fact remains that resolving this tension is a much more complicated feat today than it would have been for a Roman legionary, who simply had to look towards how the group as a whole judged his actions. Much of this has to do with the rise of Judeo-Christian thought in the Western world, which holds each individual responsible for his/her actions.
As far as sources go, I mostly rely on primary sources since there has yet to be any major scholarly work on the topic of PTSD in the Roman world (I aspire to fill that gap). But I can recommend a few wonderfully written books that deal with Roman thought and emotion in general. Carlin Barton's The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans looks at the emotional life of the Romans from their own eyes. Her newer, thicker book Roman Honor explores much the same subject with a broader scope. If you only go with one, I would say buy Roman Honor since it covers and revisits a lot of the material found in Sorrows. Barton also has the advantage of a truly compelling narrative style which makes reading her work a joy. Another good book, though a bit more dry and academic, is Robert Kaster's Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome. Kaster is specifically interested in the language of emotion in ancient Rome. He gets at the meaning of words like pudor or satietas beyond the dictionary definition of "shame" or "satiety" to what it really meant to the Romans themselves.
Biological markers of PTSD are a compelling way to approach the subject, since ostensibly the neurological mechanisms prompting traumatized behavior should be common to all humans past and present. The main problem with this is that there is no way we can look at a Roman's brain to be sure. People often assume that the same brain activity will inevitably result in the same outward expression of that activity, but researchers have shown this not to be the case. In the most outstanding symptom of PTSD, intrusive memories, we have a perfect example. The same neurological mechanism may be at play for all people who experience intrusive memories, but how they choose to describe what they are feeling is shaped by how their culture and language informs them. We see this even among traumatized individuals today, who may have different triggers according to what they experienced and how they interpreted those experiences. The Romans described these phenomena in terms of ghosts and spiritual pollution because these were the tools they had at hand to talk about what they were going through. And what was or was not experienced as traumatic also has much to do with society at large. Your typical American child might very well be traumatized by watching someone slash open the throat of a cow, drenching himself in its blood. But for a Roman child of the upper class this was an exciting day at the temple of Magna Mater.
There's a lot more fanfiction than you'd think.
"Pride an Prejudice and Zombies" is fanfiction. So is "Bride and Prejudice".
Homer's story about the cyclops in the Odyssey was fanfiction.
Shakespeare wrote fanfiction about folk tales.
Lots of authors have written organized fanfiction. You can find hundreds of Star Wars and Star Trek books written in their respective universes. Larry Niven invited other authors to write books in his Kzinti wars universe, and several well-known authors accepted.
Human beings have been adapting, crossing, or changing stories to suit themselves ever since we started telling stories. Fanfiction is just a term for doing so.
"That's the way with writers; they'll steal anything, file off the serial numbers, and claim it for their own." - Heinlein.
You could check out Haunted Greece and Rome by Debbie Felton (huh, they even have a Kindle edition). It looks like Pliny and Plautus both write about ghosts. I have to admit, however, that I find Plautus insufferable and Pliny boring as all hell.
If you're looking for more 'scary' stories than strictly ghost stories, read up on necromancy. I've always thought Lucan's description of Erictho is pretty terrifying.
I vaguely remember a couple of Seneca's tragedies having ghostly/frightening scenes, as well, but I can't remember off the top of my head which ones. Medea is probably one, but there's at least one more.
Go to the food court at the mall. Walk up to the Mead and Ale stand and ask "is there a Nike store at this mall", "Hey, where are you guys from, you sure look strange...", "Hvat segir þú? Fyrirgef mik. Ek skil eigi...
Seriously though, this book is fun: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Old-English-Primer-Revised/dp/1933202742
A rare detailed, sourced answer on this sub. Kudos. The value of Potter's approach is the way he places Constantine's religious self-imagining in the context of recent imperial models and his focus on the evidence of coinage and iconography, which allows us to trace developments over Constantine's time in power.
There were of course some Christians in the countryside during Constantine's reign. Athanasius' Life of Antony provides anecdotal evidence for this in late third and early fourth century Egypt, which is backed up by documentary evidence. One interesting petition dated to 324, for instance, makes casual mention of a monk and a deacon strolling about in the fields just outside an Egyptian village. Anyone interested in more information on the evidence from papyri might consult Luijendijk's Greetings in the Lord or Choat's Belief and Cult in Fourth-Century Papyri.
Bit of a warning, I might have gotten a bit too much. But, in my search I realized we have a rather large section of rock art. So let me know if you'd like any feedback on rock art traditions and archaeological assessments, or if that's much too obscure and prehistory for you.
Starting with the prehistoric suggestions and moving on from there, Movement, exchange and Identity in Europe in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC takes a look at Ireland and Britain social exchanges with the rest of Europe, with an argument that the channel didn't inhibit progress and the exchange of ideas/trade but actually was conducive to such things. It's a collection of papers.
More of an extension off the first suggestion, Becoming European looks at the earliest foundations for European culture and traces the influence of those prehistoric civilizations into modern day. More of the same with Bronze Age Connections so really you have your choice of the group for which might better suit what you're looking for.
The next title, Romans and Barbarians Beyond the Frontiers brings together academics on Roman Britain, specifically looking at the surviving viewpoints of Rome's take on "barbarians" of the north. There's quite a bit of research, both broad and niche, about Roman Britain but that doesn't tend to focus specifically on northern Europe like this collection does.
Slight aside, one of the interesting socio-political heroes that come from this time period is Arminius, and while lately he's been associated in a negative light, the original story of him being captured, raised in Rome, and eventually betraying Rome during a military campaign in the north, is pretty interesting. Forbes had an article about the coin deposit discovery that confirmed the location of the battle, just to get you started in that direction if you're interested. Maybe a bit too obscure?
Apparently this book isn't in production anymore, but it's in my database so maybe you might luck out and find a library that has it. But splendour of power examines the material and social value of kings and gold/silver, specifically around the North Sea - so smack dab in the region you're look at. Bit unfortunate it's not in print. A quick google search yielded this, so maybe delve more into that if you're interested?
Moving on down the timeline, Everyday Products in the Middle Ages looks at the average consumer and individual's lifestyle in relation to archaeological objects.
Next to each other, both focus on a specific region but examine social spheres, are Myth and Materiality in a Woman's World for Shetland and Myth and Materiality for Ireland. Both look at how myths and research can feed into the other, while providing specific case examples throughout history of both locations.
For a more contemporary take, the essay Heritage and Peacebuilding by Diana Walters does include regions outside of your list, but the first half takes a look at northern Europe and the Balkans in order to see if a peaceful society is attainable looking at the heritage/history of each region.
And since war is an extension of politics by another means, there are quite a lot of books on warfare in the region! I nabbed the Roman Britain one because it's perhaps the most extensive list, with Warfare in Northern Europe Before the Romans - which is, as the title says, actually prior to Rome's influence.
If you'd like a main source, the publisher Pen & Sword seems to have quite a selection of war, war histories, family histories and the like. Their Your Towns and Cities in the Great War series provides exhaustive coverage of UK cities that were impacted by the Great War. Really useful and helpful if you want primary sources such as legal documents, letters, death certificates and copies of land deeds.
Sorry if that was a bit much! I had trouble narrowing things down and left a lot off at the last minute because I was concerned about being on point. These are all pretty scholarly, but that's research texts for you. The Pen & Sword books should be more trade-focused as far as price points are concerned. And as always, double check local universities and libraries near you since we can usually afford the big research collections!
Steady reading!
The two resources already mentioned, (Crystal and Millward), are both too vague to help I think. I'm not sure about the Crystal one, but the Millward treats Old English as a uniform standard (that's not a criticism of the book).
What you want is something like Campbell's Old English Grammar. There is a detailed description of the various sound changes that occurred just prior to and during Old English, and in the grammar section, after recording the West Saxon norms, it gives the dialectal alternatives as well as chronological changes.
The book is old, but still the standard. More recent and excellent are this one and this one, but it's been a few years since I've read through them so I can't give more details.
Other than those, much of what you are asking for is found scattered through various books and articles, but they are all for specialists (as are the ones I give above), so they might be tough to get through depending on your knowledge of the field.
Indeed. If you're interested in digging a little deeper there is a good book that explains Snorri Sturluson's life and the context for much of the mythology we know through the Eddas today. Nicely written, I enjoyed it a lot.
Paradebeispiel?
Here's your IE root for caleō, etc, though the 'e' at the end should be a laryngeal. So, a totally different root from the cold root, with a different initial consonant.
A good accessible (in price and ease of use) source of (IE) etymology in general is the American Heritage Dictionary of the Indo-European Roots.
For Greek etymology, there's Beekes in English, or the more outdated Frisk and Chantraine. Of course, they're all excessively expensive. If I could find mine right now, I'd let you know what they say.
I'm pretty sure this is just coincidence, though.
Good question , to answer this you have to go back to the beginning of the rumor which is as I believe based off at least originally the stories coming from the Indian sub-continent of It’s successful conversion to Christianity. As often with a lot of information at this time it was from word of mouth and very difficult to verify So rumors could blow up from a small Christian minority in India to a full blown kingdom of god in India. However as time went on it’s possible that in the 1200s the resulting popularity of this myth could be based on the great Kahn himself who had slammed into the Muslim world killing millions of them and sending tons of refuges into the areas around the remnant crusader kingdom and giving them reason to believe that as they were giving gods justice to the Muslims on one side that the Great Prestor John who in some stories is immortal was giving it to them on the other side a hammer and anvil of religious fervor. They never had any solid reasons for them to believe it but put yourself in their situation if you had traveled across the world in a time where you that was unheard of and you had gotten there not to a holy war where you drove the Muslims off the field but instead often time sat outside the walls of your holy cities being held by infidels and dying of starvation dehydration and just the grind of a siege and then you heard of an incredible kingdoms and they are coming to retake the holy land with you wouldn’t that just give you hope it’s understandable entirely for them to believe it don’t you think? source a book about it another book of primary sources about the evolution of the myth
A few off the top of my head:
It's not focused specifically on Vikings, but I like the Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture a lot. Perhaps some of the information on archæology, pagan religion etc. will interest you (they're all independent sections).
> Icelandic would not have been remotely comprehensible to an English or Scots speaker. It is, however, very similar to Old Norse.
A good number of Norse words made their way into the English language, especially in the Danelaw areas, so depending on the context, they might have been able to figure things out (and the same is true of modern Icelandic). In fact, had our visitor been a bit earlier, they would have pretty much understood each other, (and here is an Icelandic page relating a story where Icelanders and English men could converse without problems) so it rather depends on the uptake of Anglo-Norman which was probably fairly widespread in some areas, but less so in others.
Pre-Early Scottish, as far as we can determine would have been descended from Old English and other Scandanavian languages, and so could also have been partially intelligible to an Icelander (and vice-versa). We have very little of it, so we can't say for certain whether or not it would have been intelligible.
You'll want the Liuzza translation, Heaney's is nowhere close to the original text.
She does sing on it. Speaking of Bagby, this recommendation showed up in my inbox today. Beowulf at Kalamazoo: Essays on Translation and Performance From the email
>A major scholarly book has just been published which documents a gathering of prominent Anglo-Saxonists and scholars of oral poetry at the University of Western Michigan. Benjamin Bagby was a participant in that meeting, where he also performed his version of 'Beowulf'. The book includes essays on translating 'Beowulf', essays on performance (featuring a lengthy roundtable discussion with Bagby and various scholars), and reviews of Seamus Heaney's best-selling English translation of 'Beowulf.' There is also a CD with readings from 'Beowulf' by Bagby (in the original) and a variety of other readers in various languages.
The asking price is steep but I'm sorely tempted.
For a more 'Medieval Literature' folklore focus:
If you'd like actual fiction/novel recommendations, I'm happy to give those as well! Just say the word.