Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe provides imagined biographies of twenty different figures from all walks of life living in Eastern Europe from 900 to 1400. Moving beyond the usual boundaries of speculative history, the book presents innovative and creative interpretations of the people, places, and events of medieval Eastern Europe and provides an insight into medieval life from Scandinavia to Byzantium. Each chapter explores a different figure and together they present snapshots of life across a wide range of different social backgrounds. Among the figures are both imagined and historical characters, including the Byzantine Princess Anna Porphyrogenita, a Jewish traveller, a slave, the Mongol general Sübodei, a woman from Novgorod, and a Rus’ pilgrim. A range of different narrative styles are also used throughout the book, from omniscient third-person narrators to diary entries, letters, and travel accounts. By using primary sources to construct the lives of, and give a voice to, the types of people who existed within medieval European history, Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe provides a highly accessible introduction to the period. Accompanied by a new and interactive companion website, it is the perfect teaching aid to support and excite students of medieval Eastern Europe.

"Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe provides imagined biographies of twenty different figures from all walks of life living in Eastern Europe from 900 to 1400. Moving beyond the usual boundaries of speculative history, the book presents innovative and creative interpretations of the people, places, and events of medieval Eastern Europe and provides an insight into medieval life from Scandinavia to Byzantium. Each chapter explores a different figure and together they present snapshots of life across a wide range of different social backgrounds. Among the figures are both imagined and historical characters, including the Byzantine Princess Anna Porphyrogenita, a Jewish traveller, a slave, the Mongol general Sübodei, a woman from Novgorod, and a Rus' pilgrim. A range of different narrative styles are also used throughout the book, from omniscient third-person narrators to diary entries, letters, and travel accounts.By using primary sources to construct the lives of, and give a voice to, the types of people who existed within medieval European history, Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe provides a highly accessible introduction to the period. Accompanied by a new and interactive companion website, it is the perfect teaching aid to support and excite students of medieval Eastern Europe. "--Provided by publisher.

This volume provides a collection of ‘imagined lives’ – individuals who, no matter their position on the social hierarchy, were crucial to the development of medieval Europe and the modern period that followed. Based on primary source materials and the latest historical research, these literary accounts of otherwise unsourced or under-sourced individuals are written by leading scholars in the field. The book’s approach transcends the limitations of both historical narrative and literary fiction, offering a research-informed presentation of real people that is enriched by informed speculation and creative storytelling. This enriched presentation of the lives of these individuals offers the quickest route to understanding medieval culture, society, and intellectual thought. Crucially, the book treats the whole of Europe, broadly defined: both conventional areas of study such as England and France, and also lesser studied but no less important areas such as eastern Europe, Iberia, and the Balkans. The reader of Portraits of Medieval Europe encounters the diversity present in the European past: the resulting portraits – unique, personal, and engaging – offer not only a wide geographical scope but also perspective on the formation of European society in its fullest form. This book is accessible and engaging for students new to medieval history as well as those wishing to expand their knowledge of medieval society.

The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Central Europe summarizes the political, social, and cultural history of medieval Central Europe (c. 800-1600 CE), a region long considered a "forgotten" area of the European past. The 25 cutting-edge chapters present up-to-date research about the region's core medieval kingdoms -- Hungary, Poland, and Bohemia -- and their dynamic interactions with neighboring areas. From the Baltic to the Adriatic, the handbook includes reflections on modern conceptions and uses of the region's shared medieval traditions. The volume's thematic organization reveals rarely compared knowledge about the region's medieval resources: its peoples and structures of power; its social life and economy; its religion and culture; and images of its past.

Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of scholarship on Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. The goal is to offer an overview of the current state of research and a basic route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than 10 different languages. The literature published in English on the medieval history of Eastern Europe—books, chapters, and articles—represents a little more than 11 percent of the historiography. The companion is therefore meant to provide an orientation into the existing literature that may not be available because of linguistic barriers and, in addition, an introductory bibliography in English. Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize, awarded annually by the De Re Militari society for the best book on medieval military history. The awarding committee commented that the book ‘has an enormous range, and yet is exceptionally scholarly with a fine grasp of detail. Its title points to a general history of eastern Europe, but it is dominated by military episodes which make it of the highest value to anybody writing about war and warmaking in this very neglected area of Europe.’ See inside the book.

The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1300 is the first of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of the whole of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology and historiography. This vast region represents more than two-thirds of the European continent, but its history in general—and its medieval history in particular—is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade and the experiences of women and children. This book is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Written by two leading experts on the Crusades in an enjoyable and compelling style, this is an accessible narrative of a complex political and military history. The history of the Teutonic Knights is one of crusading in an era of wars, intrigues, assassinations and betrayals. Originally established as a hospital order during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land in the late 12th century, the order evolved into a formidable military force dedicated to defending and expanding Christianity in the Baltic region. This book explores the crusade aimed at Lithuanian pagans in the Middle Ages, when crusaders from the Holy Roman Empire, France, England and Scotland came to Prussia to fight alongside the Teutonic Knights. What ensued was a long-drawn out, many-sided struggle, with Lithuania and Poland first becoming powerful states, then expanding into Belarus and Ukraine, where the Mongols and Tatars had long held sway. The book culminates with Lithuania converting to the Roman Catholic Church and the dramatic sieges of Vilnius. Written by two leading experts on the Crusades in an enjoyable and compelling style, this is an accessible narrative of a complex political and military history.