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Well if you are looking for some good historical novels try Bernard Cromwell's Grail Quest series:
The Archers Tale
Vagabond
Heretic
It tells the story of a young english longbowmen during the 100 years war. Great read, and really shows how devasting the long bow was.
Firstly Look at page 2 of this topic and read everything posted by sledge for info on the Hellenic and Roman periods. Essential reading.
The Middle East: Bernard Lewis.
A complete in depth history of the region, the spread of islam and the rise and decline of the ottomans. This is a masterpiece.
Anglo Saxon England: Frank Stenton
This is it, trust me.
England under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075-1225: Robert Bartlett
A seriously in depth look at the culture, economics and politics of the time.
An Anatomy of Terror - Fact (Unknown author)
Not entirely based on Medieval Europe though, it explains about the Assassins of Western and Eastern Europe - the Templar Knights and the assassins of the Muslims who's only objective was to kill and die to seek a place in Paradise.
It also refers to the origins of the secret family society of the Mafia in their clans in Sicily and fending off Normans and the ways of the Black Hand trade that operated in Sicily during the Medieval period.
It talks about Saladin, being a Muslim leader who believed in mercy and respect for the Catholic faith who led an army to defend the Holy Land against Frankish invaders and how he left his merciful ways to defeat the crusaders without mercy or prisoners.
It explains about the clan systems that were around but not entirely about the Medieval period. It is more about modern warfare and terrorism and the political affairs up to modern day, set just after 9/11.
Many good recommendations in this thread, I could perhaps add a few personal favorites, but, thinking about it, I believe it may be more useful if I post references to sites where you can find a number of primary sources (and other texts) online (with my own personal impressions). Most will be to texts of the Classical era, which, considering how close R:TW is, may be almost good timing. Also, I have added a few references of web-published essays or articles which I've found particularly good and useful.
Soooo...
First of all: Perseus: Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Not just texts. You also have images (Greek vase paintings, for example) and more... As for the texts you have an english translation and an original in either Greek or Latin where you can go and make sure if pila or longche were annoyingly translated as "javelins". And you have lots of interesting primary sources: Caesar, Polybius, Appian, Herodotus, Tacitus, Flavius Josephus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, Livy, Strabo, Sallust, Cicero, Nepos...
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
Lacus Curtius Roman texts: Nice site. You'd find Cassius Dio's history here and, secondarily, Velleius Paterculus and Frontinus' Stratagemata. Oh, and Procopius' Secret History if you are into that... Also, Polybius again.
http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/e...exts/home.html
Forum Romanum: tons of Latin literature, some of it translated (both off- and onsite). Justin's epithome can be found here.
http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/table.html
The Internet History Sourcebook: Very diverse selection of primary sources, including useful Medieval and Classical ones
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/
The Online Medieval and Classical Library: A bunch of Icelandic sagas and the Heimskringla too. Plus Saxo Grammaticus Danish History and the Anglo Saxon chronicle.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/
Arrian's "Array against the Alans" in Sander van Dorst's page
http://members.tripod.com/~S_van_Dor...s/ektaxis.html
And now non-primary sources:
Luke Ueda-Sarson's military history webpage. Highly recommended. Very good articles about Macedonian units, Hellenistic infantry, Alexander's tactics against the Scythians and his interest in war elephants, among other things.
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/luke/ueda-sarson/MilHist.html
Successors of Alexander: quite a comprehensive online book on the Diadochoi. Good reading and informative...
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/bobbbennett/index.htm
Hope someone finds this useful
Cheers
A.
Here's complete online book:
A History of Aragon and Catalonia by H.J. Chaytor
The main site is called The Library of Iberian Resources Online (LIBRO) and they have numerous other online books on Iberian history.
Main site for LIBRO
Great information everyone.. To bad I can't find those in my local library.
Anyone recommend any books about the Angevin Empire?
There's one on amazon.co.uk called the Angevin Empire by John Gillingham. Has anyone read that?
In honor of RTW's impending release:
1. Corruption and the Decline of Rome, by Ramsay Macmullen. Yale University Press, 1988.
After reading this book, for the first time I could understand how Rome could have more that 300,000 men under arms at the time of the barbarian invasions and still not be able to mount a useful defense.
Macmullen traces the way in which the upper classes increasingly exempted themselves from taxation and shifted the burden to the poor and increasingly managed to move government away from providing actual services, and more and more provide a source of income for themselves. The historical parallels are uncomfortable for anyone living in the U.S. today.
Here's one I've not spotted on the list:
Rubicon - The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
Tom Holland, published by Abacus books
Absolutely fascinating narrative history of the Roman Republic and it's major players. If you want background reading for RTW I can't recommend this enough.
Emperor: The Gates of Rome
by Conn Iggudlun (spelling)
A good book if you aren't a historian (most of the stuff isn't strictly historically accurate) or an editor (apparantly there were some minor errors). Otherwise I thought it was an extremely good historical fiction novel and I believe there are two more books out in this series.
I've heard good things about Colleen McCullough's series and I can't wait to get my hands on the first book.
Just finished reading this, and I agree, its absolutely riveting. It focuses mostly on the period after Marius, through Sulla's dictatorship and then on to the Civil War. Anyone know if Holland intends to do a book on the Empire? The final line in 'Rubicon' about 'new generation' and a 'new age' did leave me wondering.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoraro
On to Goldsworthy's 'In the Name of Rome' next, detailing the careers of Rome's greatest generals.
may i reccomend "The Punic Wars" by Nigel Bagnall, although i havnt finished it yet it is an excellent read covering all 3 of the punic wars in depth.
I would strongly advice everyone not to read this book! It's got to be the worst piece of trash I've ever read. (I'll apologise to all the members of this forum in advance. This is going to be a rant. You are warned.)Quote:
Emperor: The Gates of Rome
by Conn Iggudlun (spelling)
A good book if you aren't a historian (most of the stuff isn't strictly historically accurate) or an editor (apparantly there were some minor errors). Otherwise I thought it was an extremely good historical fiction novel and I believe there are two more books out in this series.
As a plus point, this book does deal with military history. It's mostly brawls, though. If you're into loads of poorly motivated, cheesy, gritty but somewhat immersive action scenes, this book may provide some light entertainment.
But do not, please, by all that's right and holy, think for one moment that anything in this book is even remotely accurate. It's nonsense. Start to finish. Conn Iggulden played cut and paste with the facts, and added a cartload of his personal nonsense to the mix. He made up nearly everything about Caesar's life in the books, and hideously distorted the rest of the period's history.
To illustrate, I'll describe the one of the worse offences Iggulden commits. You all know about Marcus Brutus, right? One of Caesar's chief assassins. Well, first of all the author turned him into a foster brother of Caesar, whilst in reality he was young enough to be his son. Iggulden turns him into some kind of kick-ass fighter, too. Secondly, he then tries to hide his identity throughout the entire book by only referring to him as "Marcus" only to reveal his full name in the last sentence of the first book.
Which brings me to another incredibly stupid aspect of the book. Iggulden doesn't have the slightest idea on how Roman names work. He haphazardly refers to some character by their first name, some by their family name and some by their nickname. (cognomen.) Caius Julius Ceasar, for example, is called Julius throughout the book. Marcus Iunius Brutus is called Marcus. Really distracting, and really stupid if you know how it's supposed to be done, but possibly not a problem for readers who are unfamiliar with Roman history.
So far the historical offenses. (This is just the tip of the iceberg. You'll love his treatment of Marius and Sulla... :wall:) If one regards the book as an alternate history or fantasy novel, it doesn't become much better.
Characters are cardboard flat clichés. Caesar is the brilliant young warrior hero who appears to spend most of his time fighting with his neighbours. No insight into his motivations is given. Brutus is the kick-ass warrior with no further motivation. Next we have the beautiful slave girl who is desired by both protagonists for no apparent reason. Then there is the kick-ass gladiator who reads like a bad parody of a U.S. marine sergeant and drills the boys in combat, nearly killing them both in the process. (Yes, of course Roman nobles made their sons tough by having a gladiator run them through with a sword... :rolleyes)
The story itself is equally poor. Everything is used as a pretext for yet another cheesy action sequence. Caesar is at home? The neighbour tries to kill him for trespassing. Caesar has a girlfriend in the city? Her father and servants try to kill him in a rooftop chase. Brutus is sailing to join the army in Greece? He gets into a fight with a shipmate, and then has to prove himself by replacing said mate. I kid you not, the ship captain places this untried boy in a position of authority just because he injured the previous occupant. Of course, he nearly gets killed during this on several occasions only to save the day at the last instant. Etc, etc.
Politics do feature in the novel, once or twice, but they are hideously simplistic and completely unbelievable, nothing more than a framework for the next combat scene.
As may be gathered from this post, I hate this book with a passion. It's the only book I've ever read that I actually cursed and hurled across the room. I'm not normally inclined to writing rants like this, and no other book could've made me spend time on this. I must also add I didn't read the second part. Maybe it's not as bad as the first. Maybe.
Either as a historical novel, or just as a work of fiction, this book stinks. Read it at your peril.
These kinds of threads are really helpful. It's a jungle of literature out there, it gets all the more easier if you know what you're looking for.
Already mentioned, I second that The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is a really good read. Amin Maalouf writes this stuff with passion, his pen is virtually glowing. It's based on Arab sources, as the title implies, so expect a lot of dirt on the crusaders.
To get the opposite view, especially on Richard the Lionheart, check out
Richard the Lionheart - The Mighty Crusader by David Miller. It's a military history book, and deals with the strategy and tactics of Richards' crusade. It has some interesting information on medieval logistics, both by land and sea.
The author also tries to give a reconciling explanation of Richards' motivation for the execution of 2700 muslim hostages at Acre.
Harold and William by Benton Rain Patterson was recommended by NormanPain, it sounds like good stuff. A good supplement to this book would be The Norwegian Invasion of England in 1066 by Kelly DeVries, covers the invasion of Harold Hardraada and the battle of Stamford Bridge, wich took place only 3 weeks before the battle of Hastings. The interesting question here is wether Williams' invasion would have succeeded if Harold Hardraada had chosen not to invade, and thereby made Harold Godwinsons' life a lot easier before the Norman visit. Also has a lot of information on the two Harolds.
Moved this excellent resource from the Entrance Hall to its natural home, the Monastery, to which New (Junior) Members now have access.
"Warfare in the Classical World" by John Warry (U. Oklahoma press). See this thread for a very small summary.
I've read two books by Harold Lamb.
Charlemagne
This was the first of his books I've read and it was a very refreshing look on historical events. It's written in a style that seems as if it's a fictional account, but just happens to be in historic times. Instead, it's a factual account of even the smallest happenings of Charlemagne's rise to power and rule of the first Christian Empire. It was like I was reading a suspense story and was literally thinking "oh no! how can Charles come back from that defeat!" It draws you into the time period and gave me a new perspective on the whole situation. It also drew me to buy a few more of his books.
Alexander of Macedon
I just finished this one. I assume that all of his books are written in a style that harkens to a suspense/documentary. Though it deals with factual events and people most of it was new to me. Through all of his books he finds little tid-bits of information that are startling and intriguing and make you want to read more about these very entertaining people. I never knew the whole Alexander story - this book preaches a much different view that I used to believe - that Alexander was a commander bent on ruling the known world. In fact it turns out that he probably was just interested in exploring, and used the army to help him do that. It's all incredibly interesting.
I have his book on Ghengis Khan and I'll be purchasing his books on the Crusades and Hannibal as soon as I can. This is truly the most interesting and thought provoking way I've ever learned history. Please, at least read one of his books.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randal
Well, I thought it was entertaining enough.
Of course you are right about the history murdered brutally, but it is kinda entertaining anyway. The kind of book you would read in the public transport.
I just finished Bernard Cornwell's new book, "The Last Kingdom". I enjoyed it. Here is a link. http://www.harpercollins.com/features/cornwellkingdom/
Online version in english of snorres Heimskringla, a must read for anyone intrested in the history of the vikings.
I didnt look into the site very carefully but seems its all there and free and available.
Heimskringla
Kalle
Bah, sorry noticed someone allready posted that link lol. Feel free to remove this post and the post i made above.
Kalle
-Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalle
Confucious says: "He who fails to follow a thread that interests him closely, has to depend on reposts not to miss valuable data."
Now, that is inacceptible! I invite thee to the proper etiquette: Gah!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalle
Thanks for the repost!
:medievalcheers:
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as you know there are gaps in the history of rome mainly because of lost books
one of the big gap is the years 71 to 117 ce that is , the reigns of vespasian , titus , domitian , nerva and trajan
the reason for the gap is tacitus lost books (histories) for the years 71 to 96 and the historia augusta lost book concerning trajan reign
where can i found a detailed information about those years ??
:book:
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Does it have to be about Medieval Europe or Rome exclusively? ~:mecry:
In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J.P. Mallory is a jewel for linguamaniacs like me, despite the ugly, barely readable and partly intelligible pseudo-Turkish translation. I borrowed it from a friend; will definitely get the original for my library.
:book:
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the medieval machine by jean gimpel
discusses what gimpel considers the first industrial revolution: the use of machines in medieval europe (france & england mostly) to revolutionize agriculture, industry, construction, and mining.
Hyland, Ann
Equus: The Horse in the Roman World, ISBN: 0300047703
Training the Roman Cavalry: From Arrian's Ars Tactica, ISBN: 1856278999
In german:
Marcus Junkelmann
Die Legionen des Augustus, ISBN: 3805308868
Die Reiter Roms, in 3 Teilen, Teil.1, Reise, Jagd, Triumph und Circusrennen ISBN: 3805310064
Die Reiter Roms, in 3 Teilen, Teil 2, Der militärische Einsatz, ISBN 3805311397
Die Reiter Roms, in 3 Teilen, Teil 3, Zubehör, Reitweise, Bewaffnung, ISBN 3805312881
All are very comprehensive books, giving a complete view of the theme. Especially the description of weapons and equipment is very detailed. The author bases his conclusions in long time tests of reconstructed roman equippment, like crossing the alps in augustean legionary gear or riding along the germanic limes.
mine will be the best LOL
my book will be the best! i hope.
Please, Clayton Ballentine -- either suggest a good book or leave this thread alone.Quote:
Originally Posted by clayton ballentine
ok, i know next to nothing about the available literature on ancient rome. all i have (that i'm aware of) is this one 2 volume set of 'selected readings' compiled by naphtali lewis and meyer reinhold called roman civilization. the book is a collection of selected writings by ~60 roman historians from cato to jerome. legal documents are also referenced. the editor's contribute to the text also, but not a great amount. is anyone else familiar with this set? is it considered to be good source on roman history?
here's what the oxford history of the classical world said about the book:
"[a] splendid collection of source materials, documentary and epigraphic as well as literary.... this collection contains hundreds of well-chosen passages and responds equally well to browsing and to systematic reading, a real education in roman history."