Modern Medieval History Books

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Kaeuper, Richard. Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe .
Oxford University Press, 1999.
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This is one of the more important books that I've seen published in recent years about chivalric ideals.  In it Kaeuper examines the ideals expressed within the literature of the day (especially the chivalric manuals), and compares those ideals to the accepted high levels of violence within medieval culture.

Wright, Nicholas.  Knights and Peasants:  The Hundred Years War in the French Countryside.
Boydell & Brewer, January 2001.
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Wright begins by examing the chivalric ideals, and their lack of effect in protecting peasants from the depredations and greed of those in power.  He describes the brutality of the war, and the numerous occassions upon which the living conditions of the peasants were made intolerable by the combatants of both sides.  He also considers the methods the peasants responded in attempts to protect themselves.

Muhlberger, Steven.  "Fighting for Fun?  What Was At Stake in Formal Deeds of Arms of the 14th Century?"  Delivered at Nipissing University, March 7, 2001.

Aljouharah bent Saleh ben Abd-Arrahman Almayman. (1993) Richard the Lion Heart and Salah Ad-Din Al-Ayyubi. A Historical Comparative Study.
Florida State University, Ph.D. History.

Allmand, C.T. ed. War, Literature, and Politics in the Late Middle Ages.
NY: Barnes & Noble Books, 1976.
Essays include: "The Tree of Battles of Honore Bouvet and the Laws of War," "Chivalry, Nobility, and the Man-at-Arms," "'Mon Pais et ma Nation': Breton Identity in the Fourteenth Century."
Out of Print

Anderson, Carolyn Bernadette. (1992) Double Vision: Historiographers, Chroniclers, Romances and the Invention of Royal Character, 1050-1377.
Stanford University, Ph.D.

Barker, Juliet R.V. The Tournament in England 1100-1400.
Woodbridge, Suffolk : Boydell Press, 1982.
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Barber, Richard and Barker, Juliet. Tournaments: Jousts, Chivalry and Pageants in the Middle Ages.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New York, 1989.

Barber, Richard. The Knight and Chivalry. revised edition.
Boydell & Brewer, 1995.
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Boalt, Gunnar [and others]. The European orders of chivalry.
Southern Illinois University Press, 1972.

Bostock, A.J. The chivalry of Cheshire.
Didsbury, Manchester, England : Morten, 1980.

Bouchard, Constance Brittain. 'Strong of Body, Brave and Noble':  Chivalry and Society in Medieval France.
Cornell University Press, 1998.
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      Amazon Books Card catalog description:
Medieval society was dominated by its knights and nobles. The literature created in medieval Europe was primarily a literature of knightly deeds, and the modern imagination has also been captured by these leaders and warriors. This book explores the nature of the nobility, focusing on France in the High Middle Ages (11th-13th centuries). Constance Brittain Bouchard examines their families; their relationships with peasants, townspeople, and clerics; and the images of them fashioned in medieval literary texts. She incorporates throughout a consideration of noble women and the nobility's attitude toward women. Bouchard presents bold new interpretations of medieval literature as both reflecting and criticizing the role of the nobility and its behavior. She offers the first synthesis of this scholarship in accessible form inviting general readers as well as students and professional scholars to a new understanding of aristocratic role and function.

Cardinale, Hyginus Eugene. Orders of knighthood, awards, and the Holy See.
Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England : Van Duren, 1983.

Cherewatuk, Karen Helen. (1986) Malory's Book of Chivalry: The Morte D'Arthur and Manuals of Chivalry.
Cornell University, Ph.D.

Clark, Susan L. Hartmann von Aue: landscapes of mind.
Houston, Tex. : Rice University Press, 1989.

Clein, Wendy. Concepts of Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, 1987.
     An important book for the amateur scholar on this subject because it contains a wonderful discussion of the texts that were written about chivalry, and knighthood during the 14th Century.  Several of which were written by knights. Clein describes the texts and groups them in three categories according to how they describe chivalry:  The Romance View, The Heraldic View, and The Moralist View.
(Taken from her Ph.D. dissertation University of Connecticut, 1985.)
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Clephan, R. Coltman. The Tournament Its Perods and Phases.
NY: Frederick Ungar Pub., 1919, 1967. Preface by Charles Ffoulkes.

Coss, Peter. The Knight in Medieval England 1000-1400.
Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1993.
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Gies, Frances. The Knight in History.
Harpercollins, 1987.
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Hasty, Will. Adventures in interpretation : the works of Hartman von Aue and their critical reception.
Columbia, SC : Camden House, 1996.
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Jackson, W.H. Chivalry in twelfth-century Germany : the works of Hartmann von Aue.
Rochester, N.Y. : D.S. Brewer, 1994.

Keen, Maurice. Chivalry.
Yale Univ Press, 1986.
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Keen, Maurice. Nobles, Knights, and Men-At-Arms in the Middle Ages.
Hambledon Press, May 1996.
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Meller, Walter Clifford. A knight's life in the days of chivalry.
New York : AMS Pres, [1982?] Originally published: London : T. Werner Laurie, 1924.
Rutgers ALEX STACKS CR4509.M35 1982

Oorts, Paul. (1993) The Reputation of the Trojan Prince Hector in the Middle Ages.
Penn. State. Ph.D. Comparative Literature.

Scaglione, Aldo. Knights at court : courtliness, chivalry & courtesy from Ottonian Germany to the Italian Renaissance.
Berkeley : University of California Press, 1991.

Sears, Theresa Ann. (1982) Narrative at the Crossroads: A Reevaluation of the Early Spanish Books of Chivalry.
Cornell University, Ph.D.

Vale, Juliet. Edward III and chivalry : chivalric society and its context, 1270-1350.
Woodbridge, Suffolk : Boydell Press, 1982.
(Rutgers) ALEX STACKS CR4513.V34 1982

Wood, Charles T. The age of chivalry; manners and morals, 1000-1450.
New York, Universe Books, 1970.

Wright, Sylvia. The Age of Chivalry : English society, 1200-1400.
Warwick Press, 1988.

Young, Alan R. The English Tournament Imprese.
NY: AMS Press, Inc., 1988.
(Rutgers) ALEX STACKS DA115.Y67 1988
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