Atlas of the Medieval World

by Rosamond McKitterick

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Work details

Book details

Title	Atlas of the Medieval World
Author McKitterick, Rosamond	Rosamond McKitterick
Rating
Tags	read, history, maps
Your review	Well, I guess it's helpful as a quick guide, but their is a terrible lack of correlation between the text, the images, and the maps. In many cases, the geographical locations discussed in the text (even in the title of a section) is not indicated on the associated map! This work appears to be a collection of short pieces on various areas and times, with the associated maps being whatever Oxford University Press (OUP) had laying around for that period. Often, the main focus of the map is unrelated to the main focus of the text. Often, the spelling of a place name in the text differs from that on the map (they may both be correct, but the lack of consistency makes the use of the maps and text together more difficult, and further implies that the maps were not generated to support the text, or vice-versa). The maps alone may be useful, and the text alone may be useful, but you'll often go crazy trying to find a label on the map showing the area being discussed in the text. For example, the two maps in the section entitled "The Delhi Sultanate and the Vijayanagara India" indicate neither the location of the Delhi Sultinate or that of the Vijayanagara empire. The captions to images sometimes fail to even identify what the image is (e.g., a work of art with no reference to the artist or period or source). In one example, the page of text primarily discussing the Swiss Confederation (1300-1500) holds a figure related to Burgundy and a map (facing) of "Burgundy under Charles the Bold". Turn the page, and you find text primarily discussing Burgundy (1300-1500) with a map of "The Swiss Confederation" and a painting showing Burghers of the Swiss Confederation city of Lucerne being sworn in. On top of all this, there are far more typos that one would expect from OUP. Though many are minor (odd or missing punctuation, single letter misspellings, etc), the frequency indicates sloppy proof-reading. Bottom line - it appears that OUP rushed this one out; throwing in whatever maps covered the area and time period of the text; a quick proof read; but not much more. Even so, each individual section does contain a good textual overview, and the maps (considered as stand-alone references) can be useful for the purpose for which they were originally drafted. Os.
Other authors*
Publication	Oxford University Press, USA (2006), Hardcover
Publication date	2006
ISBN	0195221583 / 9780195221589
LC classification 1	D117.M35
Dewey 1	909.07/022/3 22
Subjects	Geography, Medieval › Maps Middle Ages › History
Primary language eng	English
Secondary language	(blank)
Original language
Date acquired
Date started
Date finished	2008-04-06
Summary 1	Atlas of the Medieval World by Rosamond McKitterick (2006)
Comments	cloth, gilt stamped
BCID	XXX-
Number of copies	1
Citation	MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, Wikipedia citation

* We recently added a more robust system for other authors, including separate standing for each author and a role (eg., Editor, Illustrator).This feature is currently available for newly-added books only, but it will be extended to all books soon.

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Atlas of the Medieval World

by Rosamond McKitterick

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