The World In The Middle Ages An Historical Geography

Author : Adolphus Louis K Ppen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330488171
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (881 download)

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Download or read book The World in the Middle Ages written by Adolphus Louis K Ppen and published by . This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The World in the Middle Ages: An Historical Geography In introducing a new Work to the Public, it is expected that some account should be given of its inception, design, scope, and prosecution. Whilst delivering a course of lectures two years since in Providence, on Mediaeval History, I found no geographical work in English Literature, illustrating that period to which I could refer. This want suggested the present work. The Geography of the Ancient World presents no such deficiency, having been elucidated since the seventeenth century by the master-minds of Cellarius, Cluverius, Danville, and still more recently by Rennel, Mannert, Heeren, Uckert, and others. Much light has also been thrown on the remote ages of civilization by the late philological discoveries in Egypt and Persia, and the excavations of Nineveh. Yet the no less important period of the Middle Ages, though so thoroughly investigated by the modern Historian, has still remained comparatively neglected by the Geographer. Mediaeval Atlases have been published by C. Kruse (translated into French by Felix Ansart) and by Charles Spruner; but these being defective in letter-press, containing only scanty notes, and mere dry, historical tables, leave the student to depend on his own resources in the explanation of the maps. Thus no general comprehensive Geography, embracing the mediaeval times down to the close of the fifteenth century, has yet appeared to supply the want which must be felt by every student of Gibbon, Hallam, Sismondi, Guizot, and the other numerous writers treating of that era. It occurred to me, therefore, that my collectanea, made during my long residence in Italy and Greece, together with my notes of travel in the East - partly embodied in my Providence Lectures - might furnish me with ample materials for the composition of a work which would supply, at least in part, the wants of the student of Mediaeval History. Having met with encouragement from my publishers, the idea has been carried out, and I now offer to the public the "World in the Middle Ages." I have attempted to present an accurate geographical description of the world during the different periods of time from the ultimate division of the Roman Empire at the death of Theodosius the Great, A.D. 395, down to the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in the East, and the discovery of America in the West. That the dry details of Geography might not become tedious, I have occasionally introduced personal sketches, and notices of mediaeval institutions, with side-glances at the religions, languages, and literatures of the different nations. I have endeavored likewise to give that prominence to the Scandinavians, the Sclavonians, Tartars, and other Eastern tribes which their important influence on history demands; but which hitherto has been denied them. In the Geography of Ecclesiastical History, I have followed Rev. John E. Wiltsch. I have entered into more than usual detail on the Byzantine Empire, Greece, and the Eastern States, both with the hope of illustrating the brilliant pages of Gibbon and the Chroniclers of the Crusades; and in view of the important part which these Countries are about to act in the present crisis that seems to threaten the entire political system of Europe. I am indebted for the selection of my maps, to Professor George W. Greene's translation of Dr. Spruner's great Historical Atlas. For my authorities, I refer the reader to the footnotes, and the list of authors on the closing page of the Work. I have also carefully compiled Historical and Geographical Indices, referring to the number of the paragraph in every instance where the name occurs. I would ask the kind forbearance of the Public with regard to some occasional foreign expressions or turns of thought, which possibly may betray the author as a Dane. If this, my first attempt in ."