Lexicon of the Middle Ages
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The ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' ("Lexicon of the Middle Ages", LMA, LexMA) is a
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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 ...
on the history and culture 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 ...
. Written by authors from all over the world, it comprises more than 36,000 articles in 9 volumes. Historically the works range from the
Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
to about 1500, covering the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and the
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. The first six volumes were published by
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(later Artemis & Winkler),
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and
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; volumes seven through nine by LexMA, Munich. In 2000, an electronic (standalone) edition of the ''Lexikon'' was published on
CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
by Brepols.


Praise and criticism

The first volume was widely praised upon publication; G.A. Holmes, in '' The English Historical Review'', foresaw that the entire encyclopedia would be "a valuable reference work of a kind which medievalists hitherto lacked." H. Chadwick, in ''
The Journal of Theological Studies ''The Journal of Theological Studies'' is an academic journal established in 1899 and now published by Oxford University Press in April and October each year. It publishes theological research, scholarship, and interpretation, and hitherto unpubli ...
'', called the lexicon "a necessary and valuable work of reference." Its coverage of subjects related to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
was praised, though the same reviewer called the coverage of topics related to
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
"comparatively modest." The CD-ROM edition was chosen as one of the "Selected Reference Books of 2001-2002" by '' College & Research Libraries''.


Editions

* ''Lexikon des Mittelalters''. Munich: LexMA-Verlag, 1980ff. . * ''Lexikon des Mittelalters Online''. Turnhout: Brepols, 2009. .


See also

* ''
Dictionary of the Middle Ages The ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' is a 13-volume encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between 1982 and 1989. It was first conceived and started in 1975 with American medieval historian Josep ...
'' * List of encyclopedias by branch of knowledge


References


External links

* Christian Heitzmann
Discussion
in: Information Media for Libraries (IFB) 7(1999) 1/4.


Review of the CD-ROM edition

Artikel
in GenWiki 20th-century encyclopedias German encyclopedias German-language encyclopedias Encyclopedias of history Medieval studies 1979 non-fiction books {{encyclopedia-stub