Booklist

This is a list of books recommended by people on the berklist, with some additions of my own. I cannot attribute all the recommendations but special mention should go to Eric Kouris, Jeremiah Genest, David Chart and Michael de Vertuil.

Alchemy

Kren C., Alchemy in Europe, a guide to research, Garland, New York, 1990, ISBN: 0-8240-8538-8 General bibliography on alchemy
Halleux R., Les textes alchimiques, Typologie des sources du Moyen Age occidental, Fasc. 32, Brepols, Turnhout, 1979, ISBN: ??? Definitely, the best introductory text on alchemy. Must read!
Holmyard E.J., Alchemy, Penguin Books, 1957, (reprint Dover, 1990; ISBN: 0-486-26298-7) The best introductory text in English
Revue d’histoire des sciences, tome 49, 2-3, avril-septembre 1996, Théorie et pratique dans la constitution des savoirs alchimiques, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1997, ISBN: 2 13 047653 8 ISSN: 0151-4105 Relevant to medieval alchemy are an article on Aristotle and Greek alchemy and another on art and nature in alchemy (both in French)
Kahn D., Matton S. (ed.), Alchimie : art, histoire et mythes, Actes du 1er colloque international de la société d’étude de l’histoire de l’alchimie, SEHA-Arché, Paris-Milan, 1995, ISBN: 88-7252-178-5 800+ pages on the history of alchemy (mainly in French). More than 150 p. on medieval alchemy (mainly Greek alchemy)
Chrysopoeia, Tome VI 1997-1999, SEHA-Arché, Paris-Milan, 2000 ISBN: 88-7252-207-2 ISSN: 0984-7340 Contains the critical edition of Ps.-Appolonius of Tyana's De secretis naturae (Kitab sirr al-haliqa) in Latin, and two texts of Ps.-Arnaud de Villeneuve (Latin with French translation)
Kraus P., Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Contribution à l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam, Institut d’Egypte, Le Caire, 1942 (reprinted Les Belles Lettres, 1986, ISBN: 2-251-35533-2, ISSN: 0761-2605) Still a reference text on the alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan
Lindsay J., The Origins of Alchemy in graeco-roman Egypt, 1970, ISBN: ??? (sorry I just have the French translation) Could be interesting if the author didn't suffer from the flaw Incomprehensible
Mertens M., Les Alchimistes Grecs, tome IV, Ire partie, Zosime de Panopolis, Mémoires authentiques, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1995, ISBN: 2-251-00448-3, ISSN: 0184-7155 Critical edition of Zosimus texts (in Greek) with French translation
Colinet A., Les Alchimistes Grecs, tome X, L'anonyme de Zuretti, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2000, ISBN: 2251004785 Critical edition (Greek text with French translation) of recipe book on Greek alchemy
Newman W.R., The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber, A critical edition, translation and study, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1991, ISBN: ??? (sorry I just have a copy, not the book) The introduction (roughly 100 pages) is the best text on 13th c. Latin alchemy Then you have the 400 page Latin text and its English translation
Thiolier-Méjean S., Alchimie Médiévale en pays d'Oc, PUPS, 1999, ISBN: 2-84050-149-X, ISSN: 0756-7847 Critical edition with French translation of this alchemical texts in Langue d'Oc
Obrist B., Les débuts de l’imagerie alchimique (XIVe-XVe siècles), Le Sycomore, Paris, 1982, ISBN: ??? The reference text on the history of alchemical illustrations
Comprendre et maîtriser la nature au Moyen Age, Librairie Droz / Librairie Champion, Genève/Paris, 1994, ISBN: 2-600-0040-2 Contains 30 articles on medieval sciences (mainly in French), two of them on alchemy (with an interesting overview of the alchemy of Roger Bacon)
Encyclopédies Médiévales, discours et savoirs, Presses Universitaires de Rennes et Association Diderot, Rennes, 1998, ISBN: 2-86847-382-2 and 2-9506357-9-3, ISSN: 1159-7844 Contains an article (in French) on alchemy in medieval encyclopedias (particularly Vincent of Beauvais)
Halleux R., Les Alchimistes Grecs, tome I, Papyrus de Leyde, Papyrus de Stockholm, Fragments de recettes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1981, ISBN: 2-251-10003-2 or 2-251-00003-8 (paperback) Critical edition of two chemical paryrus (text in Greek with French translation)
Rashed R. (ed.), Histoires des sciences arabes, tome 3 : technologie, alchimie, science de la vie, Le Seuil, Paris, 1997, ISBN: 2-02-030354-X (2-02-030355-8 for the 3 vol. series) Contains one interesting article on Latin alchemy one not-so-interesting article on Arab alchemy (both in French)

AlMaghrib

- -Rihla. Ibn yubayr. the voyage of a pilgrim from spain to la Meca write in 1183. maYbe a strange a difficuld to found book. Is edited in english like "The voyages of Ibn Jubayr" by R.J.C.Broadhurst, London 1952. "Ibn Yubair:Rihla" ed. de W.Wright, 2nd ed. revised by M.J. De Goeje, Leiden-London, 1907, reprint New York, 1973.
- -"A history of the Arab Peoples" Albert Hourani. ed. Faber and Faber Ltd. 1991

Alpine Faeries

As far as faeries go, try the books with the legends of the Dolomiti by Carlo Felice Wolf ("I monti pallidi"- non ricordo la casa editrice). They are full of beatiful stories and ideas on faeries (and other magical beings) in the Alps. TRULY beatiful. On par with (and imho often even surpassing) classic anglo-celtic myths as the children of lyr or the sons of tureen (which ok, aren't exactly on faeries even if they're about the tuatha de danann).

The Black Sea

Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and Barbarism. Neal Ascherson. Vintage Press. ISBN 0-09-959371-8.

Byzantium

A History of the Byzantine State and Society Warren Treadgold Stanford UP, 1997 ISBN: 0-8047-2630-2

Balkans

Fine, JVA: The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century
Fine, JVA: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey form the LAte Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest.
Obolensky, D: The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453

Bogomils

Obolensky, D: The Bogomils: A study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism.

Science

Toby E. Huff, The rise of early modern science, Islam, China and the West, Cambridge University Press, 1993

Eastern European Maps

Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe, by Paul Robert Magocsi, published by the University of Washington Press, 1993.

Fiction

Jack Vance: Lyonesse, Lyonesse II: the Green Pearl, Lyonesse III: Madouc. Entirely in the ArM tradition. Probably where they stole the idea of the Code from. More focused on mundanes than wizards, but the fairy sequences province one of the best sources for running the less than absolutely serious fey.
Paula Volsky: The Sorcerors Lady, ... Heir, ... Curse. Magicians in a pseudo Venice. So Ars Magicaish it even has a form of certamen.
Judith Merkle-Riley: A Vision of Light, In Pursuit of the Green Lion. No mages but a great vision of what companions should be like. You should be warned that the American(as opposed to the English) edition of Vision looks like a very bad romance novel complete with blue, yellow and gold cover. Perserve anyway.
Kate Elliot: Kings Dragon (v1 of Crown of Stars series). Although a fantasy world, the parallels to C11th Germany are many. To some extent this is as close as you'll get to Mythic Europe. People have Memory palaces and use Theurgy. There are fae in the forests and the nomadic shamen have powers directly taken from historical texts.
Chaz Brenchly: Tower of the King's Daughter (v1 of the Outremer series). Another fantasy world very closely resembling Mythic Europe - in this case the Crusader states of C12th.

Folklore

Check out "Merlin's Ring" by H. Warner Munn (I'm pretty sure that's the right name). This is a nice piece of fantasy, which roams across a substantial portion of the Old World from around AD 1000 to 1500 and has a lot to say about Gods, the Fay, Magic and the ways in which they can change or be changed... Mind you, I'm pretty sure it's out of print by now.
Then again, for a really inspired sampling of Old Greek Myth, read Gene Wolfe's Duology, "Soldier of Mist" and "Soldier of Arete".
Likewise, Somtow's "Shattered Horse" will give you a lot of ideas about the Ancient Greek conception of the mythic world.

Forests

The ecological history of European forests / edited by Keith J. Kirby and Charles Watkins.
European woods and forests : studies in cultural history / edited by C. Watkins.
Trees and man : the forest in the Middle Ages / Roland Bechmann ; translated by Katharyn Dunham.
Grazing ecology and forest history / F.W.M. Vera

German Faerie Tales

the folktales collected by the brother Grimms : these are all well known fairytales, and they were collected in situ, so the original stories are probably pretty old.
The Niebelungen legends (the same used by Wagner in the Tetralogy)
Tales about Till Eulenspiegel (a legendary prankster, the tales of his mischief is still rather popular in Germany.)
2 poems Die Lorelei, and Der Erlk=F6nig (from Goethe; if you can't read German, I'm sure they were translated in just about every every european languages and a dozen others..)

German Nobility

Barraclough, Geoffrey, editor, Mediaeval Germany: 911-1250, Basil Blackwell, 1961.
Leyser, K. J., Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society: Ottonian Saxony, Edward Arnold, 1979.
Reuter, Timothy, Germany in the Early Middle Ages C. 800-1056, Longman, 1991.
Arnold, Benjamin, German Kighthood 1050-1300, OUP 1985 Other books by Arnold include Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany (1991),Count and Bishop in Medieval Germany (1992), Medieval Germany: A Political Interpretation 500-1300 (1997).

Ghosts

_Ghosts in the Middle Ages_ by Jean-Claude Schmitt. ISBN 0-236-73887-6.
Medieval Ghost Stories by Andrew Joynes. ISBN 0-85115-817-X

Hansa

Dollinger, P. ed. The German Hansa (NY: Routledge, 1999)

Hedge Magic

Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1989.
Seligmann, Kurt. Magic, Supernaturalism and Religion. Pantheon Books, New York, NY, 1948.
Cavendish, Richard. A History of Magic. Sphere Books Ltd, London, 1978.
Magnus, Albertus, ed. by Michael R. Best & Frank H. Brightman. Book of Secrets, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973.
McNeill, F. Marian. The Silver Bough, volume one scottish folk-lore and folk belief. Cox and Wyman, Reading, 1956.
Ginzburg, Carlo. Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath. Penguin Books, 1991.
McIntosh, Christopher. The Devil's Bookshelf: a history of the written word in western magic from ancient egypt to the present day. The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, 1985.
[Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome (London: The Athlone Press, 1999)]
"Forbidden Rites" by Richard Kieckhefer, ISBN 0-7509-1380-0 A genuine fifteenth century necromancer's manual, will full text and good reproductions of the diagrams of the summoning circles,
Alan Sutton Publishers (they have a suspended sheep as their symbol), 'Magic in History' series.
"Conjuring Spirits" edited by Claire Fanger, ISBN 0-7509-1382-7 Several twelfth and thirteenth century magical texts are discussed. Hermetism
_The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind_, by Garth Fowden. Princeton Paperbacks, ISBN 0-691-02498-7.

Hungarian Folk Tales

Folktales of Hungary, ed. Linda Degh, trans. Judit Halasz, University of Chicago Press, 1965, isbn: 0-226-14024-5.

Iberia

a three volume set by Colin Smith called _Christians
and Moors in Spain_,

Ireland

Curtayne, Alice. The Irish Story: A Survey of Irish History and Culture. New York, New York: P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1960.
Richter, Michael. Medieval Ireland, The Enduring Tradition. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995
Neville, Peter. A Traveller's History of Ireland. New York, New York: Interlink Books, 1997
Gerald of Wales. The History and Topology of Ireland. Trans. John J. O'Meara. London, England: Penguin Books, 1982

Lithuania, Baltic and Poland

Lithuania Ascending : A Pagan Empire Within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th Series, 25) by S. C. Rowell.
"The Northern Crusades: The Baltic and the Catholic Frontier, 1100-1525" by Eric Christiansen, published by Macmillan, 1980.
"Gods Playground: A History of Poland", by Norman Davies.

Mechanics

Sherwood. M. "Magic and mechanics in medieval fiction", Studies in Philology, vol. 44 (1947) pp 567-592.

Medieval Culture

Gurevich, Aron. _Medieval Popular Culture: Problems of Belief and Perception._ Trans. Janos M. Bak and Paul A. Hollingsworth. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture 14. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988. ISBN 0-521-38658-6

Moneylending

J. Shatzmiller, Shylock reconsidered: Jews,Moneylending, and Medieval Society, University of California, 1990

Slavic Myth

'Forest of the Vampire' is a book of Slavic myth in the Time Life 'Myth and Mankind' series. ISBN 0 7054 3613 6
Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend.
Esbensen, Barbara J. The Dream Mouse: A Lullaby Tale from Old Latvia. Illustrated by Judith Mitchell. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-24975-0
Kimmel, Eric A. Sirko and the Wolf. Illustrated by Robert Sauber. Holiday House (a Ukrainian Tale)
Langton, Jane. The Hedgehog Boy: A Latvian Folktale. Illustrated by Ilse Plume. Harper.
Lewis, J. Patrick. The Frog Princess: A Russian Folktale. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. Dial Books.
Oparenko, C. (1996). Ukrainian Folktales. New York: Oxford University Press.

Saints and the Medieval Paradigm

The Golden Legend, Readings on the Saints by Jacobus de Voragine, translated by William Granger-Ryan, published by Princeton University Press in two volumes, hardback and paperback.

Church and Piety

Gurevich, A. (1988) Medieval Popular Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Lynch, J. H. (1992) The Medieval Church (London: Longman)
Moorman, J. R. H. (1945) Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Swanson, R. N. (1995) Religion and Devotion in Europe, c. 1215 - c. 1515 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Medieval Popular Religion 1000-1500 ed. John Shinners ISBN 1-55111-133-0

Prices and Economy

Dyer's "Standards of living in the later Middle Ages"

Universities and Science

Marshall Clagett's The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages (U. of Wisconsin Press, 1959)
The foundations of modern science in the middle age Edward Grant Cambridge University Press, 1996

Scotland

Smyth, Alfred P. _Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland, AD 80-1000._ (1984)
Barrow, G.W.S. _Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000-1306._ (1981)
Grant, Alexander. _Independence and Nationhood: Scotland, 1306-1469._ (1984)
Barrow, G.W.S. _Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland._ 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-85224-604-8. [A classic by one of the deans of Scottish medieval history. Later than the canonical date for ArM, but still a worthwhile antidote to the many historical liberties taken by "Braveheart."]
Crawford, Barbara E. _Scandinavian Scotland._ Scotland in the Early Middle Ages, vol. 2; Studies in the Early History of Britain. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-7185-1282-0.
Ewan, Elizabeth. _Townlife in Fourteenth Century Scotland._ Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1990. 0-7486-0151-1. [O.K., it's late. But it's also a paperback treatment of Scottish medieval towns not an easy thing to find.]
Frame, Robin. _The Political Development of the British Isles, 1100-1400._ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-19-289183-9. [England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland treated together in a broad comparative perspective.]

Pontus and Trbizond

Bryer, Anthony and David Winfield. The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos. Dumbarton Oaks Studies number 20. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1985.

Virgil

Vergil in the Middle Ages by Domenico Comparetti Princeton Univ. Press ISBN: 0691026785

Wales

The Age of Conquest' by RR Davies ISBN 0-19-820198-2

Warfare

Nicolle, David "Medieval Warfare Sourcebook, Vol: 1" (1995) (Vol 1 covers Western Christendom; Vol 2 will cover Byzantium and the East.)

Damascus

R. Stephen Humphreys, "From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus."


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