New Medieval Books: The Forsaken 14th Century
Covering every region of the world, this book introduces readers to the many states and cultures that existed through an era of sweeping change and major catastrophes.
New Medieval Books: The Florentine florin
This open-access book traces the rise of the Florentine florin, the gold coin first minted by Florence in the mid-thirteenth century. More than a merchant’s currency, it became a monetary powerhouse sought after by traders, kings, and popes alike.
New Medieval Books: Old High German Poetry
Old High German was spoken between the eighth and eleventh centuries, and a small but significant body of its literature has survived. This anthology brings together editions and translations of about a dozen poetic works, spanning subjects from religious devotion to historical narrative.
New Medieval Books: Mongol Invasion against Europe (1236-1242)
The 27 articles in this collection explore the lead-up to, course of, and aftermath of the Mongol campaigns into Rus and Eastern Europe in the mid-13th century, examining one of the period’s most consequential military and political upheavals.
New Medieval Books: The Horse in History
This collection of 11 essays focuses on the equipment used by people with their horses—from saddles to spurs—while honouring the scholarship of John Clark. Its chapters range widely in time and place, exploring not only gear but also training, folklore, and the meanings attached to horses.
New Medieval Books: Joan of Arc
Even within her short lifetime, Joan of Arc was already becoming a legend. This book traces how her story has been continually retold—casting her at different times as hero, monster, and saint—and shows why, six centuries on, she remains a powerful icon, especially in France.
New Medieval Books: Ming-Dynasty China and the World Along the Silk Road
Across sixteen essays, the author examines the Ming dynasty’s diplomatic and commercial networks, tracing how the “Silk Road” linked China with regions far beyond its borders.
New Medieval Books: Chasing the Pearl-Manuscript
A single medieval manuscript in the British Library contains the only surviving copies of several of the most important Middle English texts. This book explores how those works and the manuscript that preserves them are inseparable.
New Open-Access Book Maps a Medieval Kingdom of the Isles
A new open-access book is revealing fresh details about Finlaggan on Islay, a site long linked to the Lords of the Isles. The study argues the loch’s islands were not just symbolic, but the working centre of a medieval kingdom within Scotland.
New Medieval Books: Interconnected Traditions
This open-access book brings together more than thirty essays on languages and the ways they develop, interact, and influence one another. Its main focus is the Middle East, where Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic long existed side by side and often overlapped in everyday use, scholarship, and culture.
New Medieval Books: Impossible Recovery
The writings of Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century English mystic, have long fascinated medievalists. This book zeroes in on Julian’s illness during her visions, asking what that experience was like in human terms — as the author puts it, “What did she really experience, what did she feel, there in her sickbed in 1373?”
New Medieval Books: The Conquest of al-Andalus
We have relatively few sources for the Islamic conquest of Iberia in the early eighth century. This translation of a later account offers fresh insight into those events.
New Medieval Books: The Public House in Central Europe
Public houses—places that sold alcoholic drinks—were a central part of life in Cracow in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This book explores how these establishments worked: who owned them, who gathered inside, and how city authorities dealt with disorder when drinking turned into violence.
How the ninety percent experienced the Roman economy, with Kim Bowes
A conversation with Kim Bowes about her recent book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, which presents a brilliant new model of the Roman imperial economy, specifically for how the majority of the population experienced it.
20 New Open Access Books Medieval History Fans Can Read for Free
Medieval studies fans can download and read all of these 20 newly published open-access books.
New Medieval Books: Assassins and Templars
When it comes to the crusading era, few groups have been more mythologised than the Knights Templar and the Ismailis—often labelled the “Assassins.” This book takes a fresh look at both, showing not only how their histories have been shaped by legend, but also how—and why—they could resemble each other in surprising ways.
Medieval Mystery of Brunanburh Battle May Be Solved, New Study Argues
A long-running debate over the location of one of the most important battles fought in medieval England may finally be nearing an answer. A new study argues that the Battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937, took place at Bromborough on the Wirral, bringing fresh clarity to a question that has occupied historians for more than a century.
New Medieval Books: Approaching Pipe Rolls
This book guides historians in working with Pipe Rolls, the English government’s financial records that date back to the twelfth century. These documents reveal a great deal about how England’s administration functioned during the Middle Ages.
Forgotten Medieval Miracles of the Augustinians Revealed in New Study
New research reveals how Augustinian friars shaped medieval rural life through overlooked miracles—from healing livestock to restoring barren land—challenging long-held assumptions about the order’s history.
New Medieval Books: Motherland
A sweeping exploration of pre-modern African history, this book traces the continent’s cultures, migrations, and identities. It blends rigorous research with personal reflection to highlight Africa’s global influence and enduring legacy.
Best Medieval Books of 2025
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: time to celebrate the best medieval books of 2025. This week, Danièle speaks with Peter Konieczny, editor of Medievalists.net, about their favourite reads this year – and she announces some exciting news about the future of The Medieval Podcast.
New Medieval Books: The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry
The Très Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry: The Masterpiece of Medieval Illumination Edited by Mathieu Deldicque Rizzoli Electa ISBN: 978-0-8478-7597-9 The…
New Medieval Books: The Labyrinth of Fortune
This fifteenth-century epic, presented with both its text and translation, offers a journey akin to Dante’s Divine Comedy—yet beneath its allegory lies a pointed commentary on the turmoil gripping Castile during this period.
New Medieval Books: Behold the Bird in Flight
A coming-of-age story and a royal love triangle marked by danger and longing, based on real events in medieval France and England.
