Later Medieval Europe, 1250-1520: From St. Louis to Luther

by Daniel Philip Waley, Peter Denley

From the divine right of kings to the political philosophies of writers such as Machiavelli, the medieval city-states to the unification of Spain, Daniel Waley and Peter Denley focus on the growing power of the state to illuminate changing political ideas in Europe between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Spanning the entire continent and beyond, and using contemporary voices wherever possible, the authors include substantial sections on economics, religion, and art, and how developments in these areas fed into and were influenced by the transformation of political thinking. The new edition takes the narrative beyond the confines of western Europe with chapters on East Central Europe and the teutonic knights, and the Portuguese expansion across the Atlantic. The third edition of this classic introduction to the period includes even greater use of contemporary voices, full reading lists, and new chapters on East Central Europe and Portuguese exploration. Suitable as an introductory text for undergraduate courses in Medieval Studies and Medieval European History.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, European History, Medieval History

374 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Nick Stengel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry, but hey, the author is covering 270 years in 300 pages. At level of condensing, it read like a wiki article. Which is to say, lots of facts, good organization, and not much interest. If you treat it like a reference book, which it is, it's quite good.

[Michael]

A very quick zip around roughly 300 years of history in Western Europe. The 13th and 14th centuries are particularly ones that I do not know much about; unfortunately the feeling I had after reading this book was not that I learnt what happened, but that I became aware of how much I don't know. Waley doesn't give explanations of the most major of figures; he takes it as assumed knowledge. This is okay if you have an idea of the time period but for me this was a bit of problem, especially with French kings. Overall, not bad for a very quick overview, and there were some stand-out chapters like the one on Burgundy, but perhaps not ideal as a introductory text to any of the time periods or places covered.

[Suz Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicer-than-average textbook exploring this time period from political, economic, religious, artistic and intellectual points of view.

[NDV135 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just the kind of book that I was looking for. It gave a good concise overview (mostly on politics, with a lesser amount of other areas), that will help me as I dive deeper and deeper into learning about the Later Middle Ages.

[Olga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but a bit painful to read.