Ranging from Connacht to Constantinople and from Tynemouth to Timbuktu, the forty-four contributors to The Medieval World seek to bring the Middle Ages to life, offering definitive appraisals of the distinctive features of the period. This second edition includes six additional chapters, covering the Byzantine empire, illuminated manuscripts, the 'ésprit laïque' of the late middle ages, saints and martyrs, the papal chancery and scholastic thought. Chapters are arranged thematically within four parts:

1. Identities, Selves and Others

2. Beliefs, Social Values and Symbolic Order

3. Power and Power Structures

4. Elites, Organisations and Groups

The Medieval World presents the reader with an authoritative account of original scholarship across the medieval millennium and provides essential reading for all students of the subject.

Praise of the first edition:

'The editors should be toasted for having distilled something of the lively spirit and substance of their subject into a single, concentrated product. Those with a taste, whether refined or modest, for the Middle Ages are urged to partake.' – History Today

'A rich and exemplary picture of contemporary issues, debates and approaches ... fresh, well-written, and intelligently presented ... invaluable not only to scholars and students of history, but to anyone who has ever wondered at the Middle Ages and its continuing hold on our imagination.' – Professor Patrick Geary, University of California, USA

'The range of scholarship displayed in this volume is staggering... The Medieval World offers a feast for the beginner and some choice offerings for the seasoned historical palate.' - Professor Miri Rubin, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, UK.

Peter Linehan is a Fellow of St John’s College Cambridge and of the British Academy.

Dame Janet L. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at King’s College London and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Marios Costambeys is Reader in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool.