The 2012 Medieval Reading Challenge — Signup Post

I thought I would try something different in the new year and really step out of my comfort zone. I’m not a history buff by any means but I’ve always had a fascination with certain parts of history. I read quite a few books on the Holocaust growing up and was very interested in learning about the Underground Railroad. My favourite book for a long time was Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker. My interest in history hasn’t gone as far back as medieval times but I’ve read quite a fair number of books set in that time and I’ve enjoyed them a lot. I just find it fascinating how life in general has changed and evolved from those times to our present day. I hope to learn a lot from completing this challenge and broaden my reading horizons.

The challenge runs from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. There are three levels to choose from and they are:

1. Inferno — at least 4 books
2. Purgatorio — a minimum of 8 books
3. Paradiso — 12 books, an average of one for each month of the year

I’m thinking I’m going to commit to Purgatorio with the hopes of completing 12 books for Paradiso. According to the rules, I can choose any books to read that fall within the categories but at least half of the books must be from the master list and I must read from at least 4 different genres. Fiction books set in the Middle Ages are not counted and neither are modern experts on the Middle Ages or biographies of major figures from the Middle Ages. Books read must be written between 400-1550 CE and can be read in translation.

The following is the master list and categories:

Allegory

• The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri
• The Romance of the Rose, by Guillaume de Lorris

Biography

• The Confessions, by St. Augustine of Hippo
• The Life of Columba, by St. Adamnan of Iona

History*

*These are books that were considered “Histories” when they were written. They may be wildly inaccurate by our standards, but they’re usually good fun to read.

• Ecclesiastical History of the English People, by the Venerable Bede
• History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours
• The Muqaddimah, by Ibn Khaldun

Literature

• Beowulf
• The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer
• The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio
• The Dream of the Rood
• History of the Kings of Britain, by Geoffrey of Monmouth (who was considered wildly inaccurate even in his OWN time!)
• The Lay of El Cid
• Mabinogion
• Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs)
• Njal’s Saga
• Piers Plowman, by William Langland
• Poetic Edda
• Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturluson
• The Song of Roland
• The Tain

Philosophy

• The City of God, by St. Augustine of Hippo
• The Consolations of Philosophy, by Boethius
• The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

Religion

• The Cloud of Unknowing
• The Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voraigne
• On Christian Doctrine, by St. Augustine of Hippo
• On the Trinity, by St. Augustine of Hippo
• Pastoral Care, by Pope St. Gregory I the Great
• Summa Theologica, by Thomas Aquinas

Romance

• The Lais of Marie de France
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, by Peter Abelard and Heloise d’Argenteuil
• Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur), by Sir Thomas Mallory
• Parzival, by Wolfram von Eschenbach
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Troilus and Cresidye, by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, by Chretien de Troyes

Science*

*Again, the use of the term is judged by the standard of that time, not this one.

• Bestiary
• The Book of Beasts
• On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, by Nicolaus Copernicus

Travel

• The Travels of Ibn Battuta
• The Travels of Marco Polo, by Rustichello da Pisa

Women

• The Alexiad of Anna Comnena
• The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan
• The Book of Margery Kempe
• Revelations of Divine Love, by Julian of Norwich
• Scivias, by Hildegard of Bingen