Medieval England, 1000-1500

A Reader

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Edited by Emilie Amt

Broadview Press

Due/Published February 2001, 600 pages, paper

ISBN 1551112442

"Emilie Amt's judicious selection of sources covers the range of human experience in Medieval England, from the classic political texts of the Constitution of Clarendon and Magna Carta to the lives of ordinary people that we glimpse in coroners' rolls, chronicle accounts of the Black Death, and trials following the Peasants' Revolt. The collection also draws on visual material, such as the Bayeux Tapestry, and provides brief but useful introductory comments that set each selection in context. What lifts this collection above others, however, are the study questions that Amt appends to each document. Her imaginative questions, which ask students to compare, for example, features of different sources, or to consider the implications of gender and religious thought, or to assess the potential bias and reliability of a document's information, encourage students to be active participants in historical analysis, rather than passive readers. All teachers will be grateful! for the help this collection provides in showing students that history involves not just memorizing facts, but answering questions." -- Maryanne Kowaleski, Fordham University