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Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Collection of Excerpted Texts
Review: This book contains excerpts from 100+ different medieval texts on diverse subjects. The excerpts are arranged thematically, with like subjects grouped together. There is, for example, a section on monastic life and practice, with several different texts provided to illustrate monastic life both as it was supposed to be, as it actually was, and as it was seen by non-monks. The texts chosen provide accounts of various monastic orders (the Franciscans, the Cistercians, etc.)in different parts of Europe. Similar thematic sections are provided for nobles, peasants, craftsmen and merchants, and there are thematic sections on a range of more specific subjects to boot. The kinds of texts chosen range from the highly literary and erudite (poems, philosophical treatises, etc.) to the mundane and prosaic (court records, trade accounts, etc.) All in all it's an excellent compilation, although I wish more had been provided to "introduce" each selection-- with a bit more said about the author, the work the excerpt was taken from, it's specific historical context in which it was written, etc., so that the reader of "The Portable Medieval Reader" could be a bit more informed about the sources provided.
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