Medieval Europe

Children's Literature

All too often, books about the Middle Ages concentrate on what was happening in England, ignoring the importance of activities on the continent. This heavily illustrated book takes a broader look at the Middle Ages in all of Europe, so the reader learns what was happening in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, as well as England. The first cities to have business centers were in Northern Italy, German, and the Low Countries. Thus banking began in those countries as well. The book recognizes that a knowledge of geography was advanced in the Islamic world and shows a map of the Mediterranean area with south appearing at the top, a reminder that things can be accurately perceived in more than one way. A two-page segment on Islam precedes the segment on the Crusades, adding insights to something all too often told from the English perspective. Other sections of the book include society, the Christian church, government, food and farming, a merchant's home, war, castles, town life, trade, education, monasteries, health and medicine, women, sports and games, cathedrals, travel, and clothes and the cloth business. The illustrations include acetate overlays to give views of the ins and outs of homes, cathedrals and other places. This book in the "Uncovering History" series has an index and would benefit from a bibliography. 2004 (orig. 2001), Smart Apple Media, Ages 9 to Adult.
— Janet Crane Barley