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Great Events from History: The Middle Ages

Great Events from History: The Middle Ages
Publisher's Note

Great Events from History: The Middle Ages, 477-1453 is the second installment in the ongoing Great Events from History series, which was initiated in 2004 with the two-volume Great Events from History: The Ancient World. The series is projected to extend to the twenty-first century, with The Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 slated to follow the current volumes later in 2005 and with subsequent installments in sequential years thereafter.

Expanded Coverage
Like the rest of the series, the current volumes represent both a revision and a significant expansion of the twelve-volume Great Events from History (1972-1980), incorporating essays from the Chronology of European History: 15,000 B.C. to 1997 (3 vols., 1997), Great Events from History: North American Series, Revised Edition (4 vols., 1997), Great Events from History: Ancient and Medieval Series (3 vols., 1972) and Great Events from History: Modern European Series (3 vols., 1973).

Each installment in the new series is being enlarged with a significant amount of new material-often more than half the original contents. For The Ancient World, new essays numbered roughly two-thirds of the set's contents, and the same is true here: The current two volumes of The Middle Ages, 477-1443 add 199 new essays to the original 123, for a total of 322 events. These essays were commissioned especially for the new series and appear here for the first time. In addition, the new series features a new page design, expanded and updated bibliographies, internal and external cross-references, a section containing maps of the medieval world, new appendices and indexes, plus sidebars, tables, and numerous illustrations throughout.

Scope of Coverage
The date 477 was selected because it follows The Ancient World's end date, 476 (the fall of Rome), and 1453 was selected because it is the year in which several important developments-notably the proliferation of documents issuing from the newly invented printing press, the end of the Hundred Years' War, and the fall of Constantinople-draw a dividing line between the late Middle Ages and the early modern world. Within this period, the events are arranged strictly chronologically, essentially forming a time line without regard to region. Hence, students can trace world history comparatively, with events in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas comingled. To facilitate location of time periods within the publication, right-hand pages contain date-range tabs.

The events-which range from "5th or 6th century: Confucianism Arrives in Japan" to "1453: Fall of Constantinople"-fall into one or more of the following categories: Agriculture (9); Architecture (18); Communications (6); Cultural and Intellectual History (87); Diplomacy and International Relations (5); Economics (12); Education (10); Engineering (8); Environment (5); Expansion and Land Acquisition (66); Exploration and Discovery (5); Government and Politics (129); Health and Medicine (7); Historiography (9); Laws, Acts, and Legal History (24); Literature (28); Mathematics (2); Organization and Institutions (12); Philosophy (11); Religion (103); Science and Technology (15); Social Reform (15); Trade and Commerce (27); Transportation (4); and Wars, Uprisings, and Civil Unrest (83).

The scope of this set is equally broad geographically, with essays on events associated with one or more of the following locales: Africa (35); Albania (1); Arabia (5); Australia (1); Bohemia (2); Bulgaria (3); Byzantine Empire (17); Central America (7); Central Asia (18); China (49); Egypt (10); England (21); Europe, general (24); Flanders (3); France (31); Germany (14); Greece (1); Greenland (1); Hungary (2); India (24); Iran (10); Iraq (11); Ireland (5); Israel/Palestine (14); Italy (24); Japan (20); Korea (7); Macedonia (1); Middle East (3); Moravia (2); Netherlands (1); New Zealand (2); North America (8); Pacific Islands (1); Poland (1); Portugal (2); Romania (1); Russia (5); Scandinavia (2); Scotland (1); Serbia (3); South America (4); Southeast Asia (18); Spain (10); Switzerland (2); Syria (4); Tibet (6); Turkey (17).

Essay Length and Format
Each essay averages 1,600 words (2-3 pages) in length and follows a standard format. The top matter to every essay prominently displays the most precise available date or date range for the event, followed by the name of the event and the following ready-reference data:

   o A summary paragraph, encapsulating the event's significance.
   o Locale, or where the event occurred, including both medieval
      place-names andmodern equivalents if the locale's name has changed.
   o Categories, or the type of event covered, from "Agriculture"
      to "War and Conquest."
   o Key Figures, a list of the major individuals involved in the
      event, with birth and deathdates, a brief descriptor, and reign dates
      for rulers.

The text of each essay is divided into standard sections:

   o Summary of Event, devoted to a chronological description of the
      facts of the event.
   o Significance, assessing the event's historical impact.
   o Further Reading, an annotated list of sources for further study.
   o See also, cross-references to other essays within the set.
   o Related articles, which lists essays of interest in Salem's
      companion publication,Great Lives from History: The Middle Ages,
      477-1453 (2 vols., 2005).

Special Features
Eleven maps depicting portions of the medieval world appear grouped together in the front of each volume for easy reference. Accompanying the essays are 66 additional sidebars--regnal tables, lists, and quotations from primary source documents--as well as more than 40 internal maps and more than 200 illustrations-renderings of artworks, battles, busts, sculptures, coins, paintings, etchings, and woodcuts.

A Keyword List of Contents appears in the front matter to both volumes and alphabetically lists all essays, permuted by all keywords in the essay's title, to assist students in locating events by name.

In addition, several research aids appear as appendices at the end of Volume 2:

   o The Time Line lists major events in the Middle Ages; unlike the
      Chronological List of Entries (see below), the Time Line is a
      chronological listing of events by subject area; it contains both those
      events covered by the entries and also a substantial number of
      other events and developments during the Middle Ages.
   o The Glossary defines medieval terms and concepts.
   o The Bibliography cites major sources on the Middle Ages.
   o Web Sites provides URLs and descriptions of Internet sites
      devoted to medieval studies.
   o The Chronological List of Entries organizes the contents
      chronologically ione place for ease of reference. (Because this is the same
      order in which the contents appear, this is essentially a full table
      of contents for ease of reference across volumes.)

Finally, four indexes round out the set:

   o Category Index lists essays by type of event (Agriculture,
      Architecture, Arts, and so on).
   o Geographical Index lists essays by region or country.
   o Personages Index lists major personages discussed throughout.
   o Subject Index lists persons, concepts, terms, events, organizations,
      artworks, and many other topics of discussion, with cross-references
      to the Categorized and Geographical indexes.

Usage Notes
The worldwide scope of Great Events from History resulted in the inclusion of many names and words that must be transliterated from languages that do not use the Roman alphabet, and in some cases, more than one transliterated system exists. In many cases, transliterated words in this set follow the American Library Association and Library of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration format for that language. However, if another form of a name or word was judged to be more familiar to the general audience, it was used instead. The variants for names of essay subjects are listed in ready-reference top matter and are cross-referenced in the subject and personages indexes. The Pinyin transliteration is used for Chinese topics, with Wade-Giles variants provided for major names and dynasties; in a few cases, a common name that is not Pinyin has been used. Sanskrit and other South Asian names generally follow the ALA-LC transliteration rules, although again, the more familiar form of a word is used when deemed appropriate for the general reader.

Titles of books and other literature appear, upon first mention in the essay, with their full publication and translation data as known: an indication of the first date of publication or appearance, followed by the English title in translation and its first date of appearance in English; if no translation has been published in English, and if the context of the discussion does not make the meaning of the title obvious, a "literal translation" appears in roman type.

In the listing of Key Figures and in parenthetical material within the text, the editors have used these abbreviations: "r." for "reigned," "b." for "born," "d." for "died," and "fl." for flourished. Where a date range appears appended to a name without one of these designators, the reader may assume it signifies birth and death dates.

The Editors and Contributors
In compiling the table of contents, Salem enlisted a group of scholars who provided their knowledge on different areas of the medieval world: Brian A. Pavlac (general editor) Department of History, King's College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Byron Cannon (Middle East), Department of History, University of Utah; David A. Crain (The Americas), Department of History, South Dakota State University; Jeffrey W. Dippmann (China), Department of Philosophy, Central Washington University; Catherine Cymone Fourshey (Africa), Department of History, Susquehanna University; Richard N. Frye (Central Asia), Emeritus Professor of Iranian, Harvard University; Katherine Anne Harper (India), Art and Art History Department, Loyola Marymount University; Franklin Ng (East Asia), Coordinator, Asian Studies, California State University, Fresno; John A. Nichols (Europe), History Department, Slippery Rock University; and Herbert Plutschow, Department of History, University of California at Los Angeles.

Salem Press would like to extend its appreciation to these editors and to all who have been involved in the development and production of this work. Each essay was written by an academician who specializes in the area of discussion, and without their expert contribution, a project of this nature would not be possible. A full list of contributors and their affiliations appears in the front matter of this volume.