Medieval Sources

[Mike W.]

I'm a bit new to the Medieval era of history. In college my focus was primarily 19th ce American, so I have only what I learned in high school and the two classes in college that I took. I'm trying to build up a library of medieval history books however I have run into a few problems. On the one hand, most of the general histories in bookstores are popular histories without cited primary sources. On the other hand, most histories by academic professionals tend to be quite specific and require the reader to already have a general knowledge of the medieval era. I'm basically looking for academic, cited, general histories that cover the Viking Age, the Norman Conquest, and the Crusades. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Sir James A]

If you're on the Book of Faces, a group called the Beausant Brotherhood can likely point you to a number of sources for Crusader era books. I have a variety of medieval books, but not many original sources (only one jumps to mind and it's armor-centric and much later than the period you're asking).

[Mike W.]

I'm not really looking for original sources, but rather books that actually cite original sources. S lot of popular historians have a tendency of treating the various conspiracy theories surrounding the Crusades as truth and conveniently do not cite any sources. So books by PhD holders, peer reviewed, published by academic presses, and that also happen to be general histories would be great.

[Sir Rodney]

Ah, you mean GOOD books!   

I recommend you look at the myArmoury forum and search their books section.  Many serious members have contributed quality reviews.

Two ideas off the top of my head for the Norman conquest period:
The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger
1066 The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth

[Sir Wolf]

ok some will hate me but

check out the Osprey Series of books. Warrior, Men at Arms, etc. they are like 14 bucks a book with color plates. this will help you get a start on where and when you seem to like something the best. then move on to other books on a subject from there. some Osprey's have better authors than others, and some info in them is to be taken with a grain of salt. but they are a great starting point for any new kit

[Sir James A]

Graham Turner does artwork for many of the Osprey books, and seems to be regarded as more accurate than most of the others. He's also a professional artist and does very nice medieval paintings meant to be paintings (not in books). Some of my favorite modern art paintings are his.

[Mike W.]

I have always been a fan of the Osprey books as a guiding source!

[Sir Wolf]

what 19thc groups have you worked with?

[Mike W.]

I studied 19th century American history in college. I regularly reenact with the 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in Civil War, and His Majesty's 43rd Regiment of Foot in Rev War.

[Sir Nate]

Alexandre Dumas?