THE MIDDLE AGES: A Concise Encyclopedia, ...

THE MIDDLE AGES: A Concise Encyclopedia, edited by H. R. Loyn (Thames & Hudson: $24.95, illustrated). In recent years, the image of the Middle Ages has undergone a major change: Historians no longer dismiss the period between c. 400 and c. 1500 as “The Dark Ages,” but recognize it as an era with a vital culture of its own. This handsome, well-illustrated volume offers a useful reference and a readily approachable introduction to Medieval history. The more than three dozen scholars who contributed articles focus on specific themes: towns, commerce, heresy, war, feudalism. R. Allen Brown explains how a duality of function--”both the fortified residence and the residential fortress of a lord”--made the castle a uniquely feudal structure. Michelle Brown’s article on Robin Hood reveals that although the character has been popular in fiction since at least 1377, he was not the social rebel of popular imagination: “His actions against authority are aimed at its abuse rather than its fundamental structure. He displays little affinity with peasants and no definite aims for redistribution of wealth.” (Nor does anything in her essay suggest he talked like a Van Nuys surfer.) All the articles in the encyclopedia are scrupulously documented, making it easy for the reader to pursue a subject further.