This collection of documents in medieval history is designed to accompany the recently revised MEDIEVAL EUROPE:
A SHORT HISTORY by C. Warren Hollister and Judith Bennett. However the diverse selection of sources also makes
it a useful supplement for courses in Western Civilization. As in previous editions, this reader continues to provide
a lucid and approachable introduction to each of the documents and a special chapter devoted to visual sources
in medieval history. In addition to these hallmark features, the fourth edition includes new Internet resources,
thought questions at both the reading and chapter level, and a more geographically diverse range of readings.
New to This Edition :
NEW! A rich selection of Internet resources is now included at the end of the text.
NEW! Thought questions at the end of each reading and the end of the chapter help students to interpret individual
sources, and encourage them to consider important themes raised by the collection of readings in each chapter.
NEW! Increased coverage of social history can be found throughout the text. For example, selections on medieval
society, limited to Chapter 6 in the third edition, now appear throughout the text.
NEW! The order of readings in several chapters has been revised to improve chapter flow and chronology.
NEW! A range of new selections have been added to Chapter 5�s New Frontiers: Cities and Crusades
NEW! Greater geographical range of readings, particularly in Italian and Iberian history.
NEW! Part-opening maps set readings in geographical context.
Table of Contents
(* indicates new to this edition)
Part I The Early Middle Ages
Chapter 1 The Transformation of the Roman World
1. Lactantius, On Constantine�s Victory And Conversion, 312
2. The Edict of Milan, 313
3. The Nicene Creed, 325
4. The Theodosian Code
5. St. Jerome, Letter to Laeta*
6. St. Augustine, City of God
7. Socrates Scholasticus, The Murder of Hypatia
8. The Theodosian Code
9. Priscus, An Embassy to the Huns
10. Victor of Vita, The Vandal Persecution
11. Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters*
12. Jordanes, The History of the Goths
13. Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks
Chapter 2 The Heirs of Classical Civilization
1. Life of Daniel the Stylite
2. Institutes of Justinian
3. Procopius on Justinian and Theodora*
4. Basil II, Peasants/Lands (996)
5. Leo I on Petrine Authority
6. Gelasius I on Sacred and Profane Power
7. Boethius� Consolation of Philosophy*
8. Rule of Benedict
9. Letters of Gregory
10. Pastoral Care
11. To Maurice
12. To Augustine
13. To Brunechild
14. To Mellitus
15. Eddius on Whitby
16. Bede�s Ecclesiastical History*
17. Qu�ran
18. Constitution of Medina
19. Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, The Arab Conquest of the Middle East*
Chapter 3 Carolingian Europe
1. Gregory II to Leo II (727)
2. Willibald�s Life of St. Boniface*
3. Letters of St. Boniface
4. The Coronation of Peppin the Short, 751
5. Donation of Constantine
6. Einhard, Life of Charlemagne
7. Erigena, On the Division of Nature*
8. Documents Relating to the Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne
9. Capitulary of Missi (802)
10. Charlemagne to Baugulf
11. Letters of Alcuin of York to Charlemagne
12. Dhuoda, Handbook for William*
Chapter 4 Ordeal and Survival
1. Nithard, The History of the Sons of Louis the Pious
2. The Oaths of Strasbourg, 842
3. Select Feudal Documents
4. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
5. Foundation Charter for the Abbey of Cluny, 909
6. Widukind of Corvey, On the Battle of the Lechfeld, 955
7. Liudprand of Cremona, The Imperial Coronation of Otto I
8. Roswitha of Gandersheim, Abraham
9. The Russian Primary Chronicle
10. The Greenland Saga
Part II
Chapter 5 New Frontiers: Cities and Crusades
1. The Customs of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
2. Guibert of Nogent, On the Revolt of the Laon Commune
3. Regulations for the May fair at Provins*
4. The First Crusade
a. The Battle of Manzikert*
b. Pope Urban II, Speech at the Council of Clermont, November 27, 1095, by Robert the Monk
c. Anna Comnena, The Arrival of the Crusaders in Byzantium, 1096
d. Fulcher of Chartres, The Capture of Jerusalem, 1099
5. Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Knights Templars
Chapter 6 A Visual Portfolio
1. The Arch of Constantine
2. Gold Brooch from Childeric�s Burial
3. Outline of the Sutton Hoo Burial Ship
4. St. Luke, From the Gospels of St. Chad
5. St. Matthew, From the Ebbo Gospels
6. Otto III in Majesty, From the Acchen Gospels, C. 1000
7. St. Michaeus Abbey, Hildesheim, c. 1001-1033
8. Castle Rising, Norfolk, England
9. Cluny III, Floor Plan
10. St.-Genis-des-Fontaines, Carved Lintel, c. 1040
11. Autun, Carved Capital of Judas�s Suicide, Gislebertus
12. St.-Jouin-de-Marnes, Romanesque Façade
13. Laon Cathedral, Façade
14. Laon Cathedral, Nave Elevation
15. Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, The St. Anne Portal
16. Prague Cathedral, Late Gothic Vaulting, 1344-1385
17. Florence, Italy*
18. Peñafiel Castle, Spain
19. Peñafiel Castle, Ground Plan
20. Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi, Pope Innocent III�s Dream
21. A Lady and her Lover, The Minnesanger Manuscript, Heidelburg
22. A Woman Artist at Work
23. Month of March from a book of Hourse*
Chapter 7 New Paths to God: Monks and Philosophers
1. The Cistercians
a. William of St. Thierry, A Description of Clairvaux
b. Bernard of Clairvaux to the Abbot of Troyes*
2. Hildegard of Bingen, Letter to Bernard of Clairvaux, with Reply
a. Hildegard to Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
b. Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to Hildegard
3. St. Francis, The Rule, 1223
4. Humbert of Romans, On the Formation of Preachers*
5. The Albigensian Heresy
6. The Waldensian Heresy
7. A Canon from the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215
8. St. Anselm, The Ontological Argument
9. al-Ghazali, Deliverance from Error
10. Peter Abelard, Sic Et Non
11. St. Thomas Aquinas, The Existence of God
12. Etienne Tempier, The Condemnations of 1277
13. William of Ockham, Universals
Chapter 8 Worlds in Collision: Papacy and Empire
1. Documents of the Investiture Controversy, 1059-1122
a. The Papal Election Decree of 1059
b. Gregory VII, Dictatus Papae
c. Gregory VII, Decree Against Lay Investiture
d. Henry IV, Deposition of Gregory VII
e. Gregory VII, Deposition of Henry IV
f. Matilda of Tuscany, Grant to the Papacy, 1102
g. Calixtus II and Henry V, The Concordat of Worms, 1122
2. Otto of Freising, The Incident at Besançon
3. Two Letters of Pope Innocent III
4. Salimbene, On the Emporer Frederick II
5. Dante, De Monarchia
Chapter 9 New States: England and France
1. William the Conqueror Subdues Northern England
2. Fourt Writs of Henry II
a. Assize of Mort D�ancestor
b. Assize of Novel Disseisin
c. Writ of Right
d. Writ to the Bishops of England*
3. Magna Carta, 1215
4. Statutes of Edward I
a. Quo Warranto (Statute of Gloucester of 1278)
b. Walter of Guisborough, Baronial Response to the Statute of Gloucester
c. Quia Emptores, 1290
5. Suger, Life of Louis IX
6. Documents Relating to Louis IX
a. Matthew Paris, Louis IX Receives Certain Relics
b. John of Joinville, Lousi IX subdues a Rebellion*
7. Philip the Fair and Boniface VIII
a. Unam Sanctam, 1302
b. The Incident at Anagni, 1303
Chapter 10 Constitutional Europe
1. Documents Relating to Crown and Parliament in England
a. The Parliament of 1348
b. The �Good� Parliament of 1376
c. The Parliament of 1401
d. The Parliament of 1407
e. The Parliament of 1414
2. Adam Usk, The Deposition of King Richard II, 1399*
3. Jean Froissart, The Rise and Fall of Ètienne Marcel
4. Jean de Waurin, Joan of Arc
5. Jean Chartier, Chronique du Roi Charles VII
6. John Fortescue, On the English and French Monarchies
7. Philippe de Commynes, The French Monarchy
8. Charles IV, The Golden Bull, 1356
9. Petrarch, The Papal Court at Avignon
10. William of Ockham, On Imperial and Papal Power
11. The Declaration of the Cardinals on the Election of Urban VI, 1378
12. Catherine of Siena, Letter to Italian Cardinals*
13. Decrees of the Conciliar Movement
a. The Council of Pisa, Conciliar Jurisdiction, 1409
b. The Council of Pisa, Oath of Reform, 1409
c. The Council of Constance, Haec Sancta, 1415
d. The Council of Constance, A Program of Reform, 1417
e. The Council of Constance, Frequens, 1417
f. Pius II, Execrabilis, 1460
Chapter 11 An Age of Contradictions
1. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Black Death in Florence, 1348
2. Wage and Price Laws After the Plague
a. The Corn Statute of Florence, 1348
b. The Ordinance of Laborers, 1349
3. Jean Froissart, The Jacquerie*
4. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Ciompi*
5. The English Peasants� Revolt, 1381
6. The Lollard Conclusions, 1395*
7. Charges of Heresy Against Jan Hus
8. Doña Leonor López de Cordoba, Memories
9. Christine de Pisan, The Book of the City of Ladies
10. Coluccio Salutati, On the Active Life
11. Giorgio Vasari, Life of Leon Battista Alberti*
12. Savonarola in Florence
a. Girolamo Savonarola, Compendium Revelationum, 1497
b. Francesco Guicciardini, Savonarola and Florence, 1561
13. The Capture of Constantinople
14. The Motives of Prince Henry the Navigator
15. Paolo de Toscanelli, Sailing West to Go East
16. Gil Vicente, Dicen Que Me Case Yo*
