Of all the sub-periods in which European medieval history has been divided over time, the later middle ages is possibly the one on which the burden of past and current grand narratives weighs the most. Its chronological and geopolitical boundaries are shaped by a heavy narrative of decline or transition, and consequently this period is often interpreted through the lenses of previous or following developments, becoming in turn the tail-end of the 'feudal', 'communal', 'imperial versus papal' era or the announcement of modernity. The Later Middle Ages addresses the urgent need to revise and rewrite the story of this period, forging new critical and technical vocabularies not derived from the study of other periods. By adopting a conscious approach towards temporal and spatial variety, and by breaking the traditional and unitary narrative of decline and transition into one of many changes and continuities, it charts the principal developments of late medieval Europe while opening up to different political cultures and societies, throwing new light on older concepts, and revealing analogies and differences with other geopolitical contexts.
Including maps, illustrations, a detailed chronology and a rich range of reading suggestions, The Later Middle Ages aims at providing a first introduction to a very complex, dynamic, and fascinating period for Europe and beyond.
Author(s): Isabella Lazzarini
Series: Short Oxford History of Europe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 320
City: Oxford
Cover
Series page
The Short Oxford History of Europe: The Later Middle Ages
Copyright
General Editor’s Preface
Editor’s Preface
Contents
List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Plates
List of Contributors
Introduction
An end or a new beginning?
Models and narratives
Evidence
Events
Features
Chapter 1: Power, government, and political life
Political history—past and present
The inheritance from the thirteenth century
Political geography
Patterns of conflict
Consolidation
Europe in 1500
Chapter 2: The economy
Population
Explaining the crisis
After the Black Death
Market integration
Tariffs, tolls, and measures
Grain markets
Regional fairs
Proto-industry
Labour markets
Technological progress
Technological transfer
Testing and modelling
Invention and innovation
Capital markets
Urbanization and specialization
Trade
New developments on the late medieval economy
Chapter 3: The church and religious life
Identifying ‘the church’
The papacy
Ecclesial ideas
National and local churches
The lower clergy
The religious orders
Spirituality
Crusades
Jews
Witchcraft
Heresy
Anticlericalism
The church in 1500
Chapter 4: Culture and the arts
Patronage and consumption
Literacy and the vernacular
Humanism
Architecture
The visual arts
Music
Printing
Chapter 5: Space, time, and the world
Assumptions and approach
Evidence and extent
Cosmography
Geography
Time and place
Representation of place and time
Discovery and rediscovery
Chapter 6: Society, family, and gender
Gender
Patriarchy
Roles of men and women
Family, marriage, dowry, and inheritance
Masculinity, femininity, norms of gender and of sexual practice
Society and space
The Querelle des femmes
Chapter 7: Global Middle Ages: The east
Why study late medieval history globally?
The late medieval world: advantages and problems of a global grand narrative
Brokerage in fragmented political landscapes
Beyond brokerage
Networks, cultural capital, and power in the eastern Mediterranean
Networks and power beyond the eastern Mediterranean
Conclusion: Into the sixteenth century
Further Reading
General
Sources
Introduction
Principalities, power, and political life (Chapter 1)
The economy (Chapter 2)*
The church and religious life (Chapter 3)
Culture and the arts (Chapter 4)
Space, time, and the world (Chapter 5)
Society, family, and gender (Chapter 6)
Global Middle Ages: the east (Chapter 7)
Chronology
Maps
Index
