Medieval England

This reference work offers concise answers to questions on all aspects of life and culture in Medieval England - art, architecture, law, literature, kings, commoners, women, music, commerce, technology, warfare, religion and many others. It takes as its scope English social, cultural and political life from the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the 5th century to the turn of the 16th century. To make even more useful to information seekers, the Encyclopaedia also traces England's ties to the Celtic world of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, to the French and Anglo-Norman world of the Continent, to the Viking and Scandinavian world of the North Sea, and to the world of medieval Christendom. The result is a detailed portrait of the English Middle Ages and their key historical events, personages, and cultural contexts. More than 700 entries, by over 300 international scholars, discuss topics ranging from Sedulius to Skelton, from Wulfstan of York to Reginald Pecock, from Pictish art to Gothic sculpture, from the Vikings to the Black Death, from musical instruments to weapons, from Beowulf to The book of Margery Kempe, from comic tales to religious allegory, from saints to lawyers, from courtly love to prostitution, from mills to monasteries, from Alfred the Great to Geoffrey Chaucer.