Review of Atlas of the Medieval World by Rosamond McKitterick

Atlas of the Medieval World by Rosamond McKitterick

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2004)
ISBN: 0195221583

With close to 100 maps, Atlas of the Medieval World provides the reader with an expansive view of medieval Europe with the occasional glimpse into Southeast Asia, Iceland/Greenland, and the Middle East. The maps are fairly detailed — some would argue not detailed enough, though I found them quite useful for my purposes– ranging from the cities and counties of medieval England and France in the 11th and 12th centuries, to the principal trade routes of Eastern Europe, to the agricultural and trade routes of England and France and Spain, and even the language groups of all of medieval Europe.

Accompanying the maps is some nice textual information covering topics such as: the judicial law and process, art and architecture including building plans of churches and monasteries, towns and urban life, and civic assemblies and representative institutions. A timeline noting signficant dates in medieval history runs along the bottom throughout a good portion of the book.

In sum, this is a good book if you’re looking for a host of maps of the medieval world. Personally, it was especially useful for location city names, duchies, and counties in England and France during the High Middle Ages. The biggest complaint from most is that the textual information does not always match the map showing on the page, though this didn’t bother me.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars