"Medieval Towns - a reader" is a book from one of my college classes. It is only recently that I've had time to fully read it.
This is a book of primary sources related to urban communities in Europe from the Late Roman Period to the Late Medieval Period. It covers mostly Western Europe: British Isles, Iberian peninsula, Italy and Sicily, and the eastern parts of Germania.
It covers a broad range of subjects: economy, religion, marriage and families, social conflict, entertainment (which is mixed with "civic ritual"). The documents available to them vary from court documents and chronicles to private diaries, and from personal letters to royal proclamations. Each one is sandwiched by a paragraph giving background information on it, which I assume to be written by the editor, and a group of questions about it. I presume these are meant to be discussion questions because the answers to many of them are not contained within the documents themselves.
I found them interesting. As a novelist, I expect to make frequent use of this book whenever my story takes place in a medieval European setting.
Something like this is too outside my standard grading system to give an official grade, so I'll just given it a "Pass +".
Click here for my next book review (a request): The Adventures of Sir Edric
Click here for my previous book review (also for fun): Sword Art Online volume 9
Brian Wilkerson is a freelance book reviewer, writing advice blogger and independent novelist. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
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