Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages (1993)

Norman F. Cantor.
The Civilization of the Middle Ages,
A Completely Revised and Expanded Edition of Medieval History, the Life and Death of a Civilization.
New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

Book information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com, hardback out-of-print; Amazon.com, paperback.

Norman Cantor, Wikipedia.

Middle Ages, Wikipedia.

Video:

• Paul Freedman, "HIST 210: The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000" (YouTube playlist), Open Yale Courses, Fall 2011.
• Waldemar Januszczak, The Dark Ages: An Age of Light, ZCZ Films and BBC, 2012.
  About the series: Wikipedia; BBC. You might find the episodes on YouTube.

Recommended Reading: A Short List (pages 569-570):
Cantor writes: "Here is a short reading program in medieval history that, if mastered, will make you well informed on the subject . . . . The order listed here approximates the chronological sequence of the subjects the books are dealing with."

• Peter Brown. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, A New Edition with an Epilogue. University of California Press, 2000.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Richard Krautheimer. Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308. Princeton University Press, 2000.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Georges Duby. The Early Growth of the European Economy: Warriors and Peasants from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century. Cornell University Press, 1978.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• John Marenbon. Early Medieval Philosophy 480-1150: An Introduction, second edition. London: Routledge, 1988.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Pierre Riche. Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Marc Bloch. Feudal Society, Volume 1: The Growth of Ties of Dependence; Volume 2: Social Classes and Political Organization. University of Chicago Press, 1964.
  [Publisher, Volume 1; Publisher, Volume 2; Google Books, Volume 1; Google Books, Volume 2; Amazon.com, Volume 1; Amazon.com, Volume 2.]
• Jonathan Riley-Smith. The Crusades: A History, second edition. Yale University Press, 2005.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• R. W. Southern. The Making of the Middle Ages. Yale University Press, 1961.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Frank Barlow. Thomas Becket. University of California Press, 1990.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• David Knowles. Evolution of Medieval Thought, second edition. London: Longman Group, 1989.
  [Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Joseph R. Strayer. On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. Princeton University Press, 1970; 2005.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Jeffrey Richards. Sex, Dissidence and Damnation: Minority Groups in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge, 1991; 1994.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error. George Braziller Inc., 2008 (first published 1975).
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Donald R. Howard. Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World. New York: Ballantine Books (Random House, Inc.), 1989.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

The Middle Ages on Film (pages 567-568):
Cantor writes:

Films are not a substitute for history books, but films can evoke the ambience and sensibility, as well as the visual locus of the Middle Ages, not only in a supplementary reinforcing and entertaining manner, but sometimes in a distinctly perceptive and persuasive way. Here are the ten best films ever made with a medieval context, ranked approximately in order of merit. The story lines of three of them occurr outside the conventional medieval era, but nevertheless describe scenes and events that are still medieval. One takes place in Japan, but in a social context directly parallels the European situation. It will be noted that among the directors of these films are some of the greatest directors of all time: Eisenstein, Bergman, Kurosawa, Olivier, Pasolini, Russell.

1. The Seventh Seal (1957) directed by Ingmar Bergman.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb; Criterion.]
2. Ran (1985) directed by Akira Kurosawa.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb; Criterion.]
3. Henry V (1944) directed by Laurence Olivier.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb; Criterion.]
   Another film version of Shakespeare's play:
   Henry V (1989) directed by Kenneth Branagh.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
4. The Name of the Rose (1986) directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
5. Alexander Nevsky (1938) directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb; Criterion.]
6. The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) directed by Daniel Vigne.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
7. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) directed by Vincent Ward.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
8. Black Robe (1991) directed by Bruce Beresford.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
9. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
   [Wikipedia; IMDb.]
10. The Devils (1971) directed by Ken Russell.
    [Wikipedia; IMDb.]

See also Middle Ages in film, Wikipedia and Medieval Studies for the Nonspecialist, ORB.

Some Websites:

• ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
• Online Textbooks at ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook, edited by Paul Halsall, hosted by the Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University.
• Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.
• The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies, Sponsored by Georgetown University.
• Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature.
• Medieval Realms (on illuminated manuscripts), British Library.
• Got Medieval, see especially the posts labeled "Mmm . . . Marginalia".
• Medieval Studies, Stanford Libraries.
• bibliotheca Augustana, litteraturae et artis collectio.
• The Latin Library.
• Medievalists.net.
• Gothic Ivories Project, The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.
• 400-1300 The Medieval & Byzantine Eras, smARThistory, Khan Academy.

Supplements to Cantor's text:

Cantor's text lacks maps so the reader should have some kind of historical atlas handy.

Cantor's Medieval Reader is now out of print, but many other readers/anthologies exist; for example: Geary; Rosenwein; Ross & McLaughlin; Slocum; University of Chicago. See also the Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Halsall editor.

• The Medieval Reader. Norman F. Cantor, editor. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994; 1995.
  [Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Colin McEvedy. The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, revised edition. Penguin Books, 1992.
  [Publisher, UK; Publisher, USA; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Andrew Jotischky & Caroline Hull. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World. Penguin Books, 2005.
  [Publisher, UK; Publisher, USA; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Periodis Web - A Historical Atlas and Gazetteer of Europe from Year 1 to 2000.