The ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' is a 13-volume

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

published by the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

between 1982 and 1989. It was first conceived and started in 1975 with American medieval historian

Joseph Strayer Joseph Reese Strayer (1904–1987) was an American medievalist historian. He was a student of and mentored by Charles Homer Haskins, America's first prominent medievalist historian. Life Strayer taught at Princeton University for many decades, st ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

as editor-in-chief. A "Supplement 1" was added in 2003 under the editorship of

William Chester Jordan William Chester Jordan (born April 7, 1948) is an American medievalist, in which field he is a Haskins Medal winner. He is currently the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University. He is also a former Director of the Program i ...

. The encyclopedia covers over 112,000 persons, places, things and concepts of "legitimate scholarly interest" in 7,000 distinct articles in more than 8,000 pages written by over 1,800 contributing editors from academic institutions mainly in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

but also

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. It is the largest and most detailed modern encyclopedia of the Middle Ages in the English language, comparable to the nine volume German ''

Lexikon des Mittelalters The ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' ("Lexicon of the Middle Ages", LMA, LexMA) is a German encyclopedia on the history and culture of the Middle Ages. Written by authors from all over the world, it comprises more than 36,000 articles in 9 volumes. ...

''.Review and comparison of four dictionaries of the Middle Ages
/ref> The "upside-down-T in a circle" symbol on the spine and cover is an artistic interpretation of the

T and O map A T and O map or O–T or T–O map (''orbis terrarum'', orb or circle of the lands; with the letter T inside an O), also known as an Isidoran map, is a type of early world map that represents the physical world as first described by the 7th-ce ...

, which was first described in the ''

Etymologiae ''Etymologiae'' (Latin for "The Etymologies"), also known as the ''Origines'' ("Origins") and usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) towards the end of his life. Isidore was ...

'', the most influential encyclopedic work of the Middle Ages.

Notes

References

*Joseph Strayer, editor (1989). ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages''. Charles Scribner's Sons.

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

br>8474388
*William Chester Jordan, editor (2003). ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages: Supplement 1''. Charles Scribner's Sons. Encyclopedias of history Medieval studies literature 1982 non-fiction books American encyclopedias English-language encyclopedias {{Europe-hist-book-stub