A Cultural History of Youth in the Middle Ages

This second volume of A Cultural History of Youth examines burgeoning global studies of the Middle Ages, which includes conceptions of the “Ages of Man” literature, travel and pilgrimage accounts, biblical drama and educational treatises, from China to the New World as well as medieval Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

Written by an expert team of scholars, this second volume of A Cultural History of Youth examines burgeoning global studies of the Middle Ages, which includes conceptions of the “Ages of Man” literature, travel and pilgrimage accounts, saints’ lives and conduct literature, canonical texts and lesser-known narratives, biblical drama and educational treatises, from China to the New World as well as medieval Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and the broader settings in which the cultural histories of youth in the Global Middle Ages played out. This volume provides a comprehensive study of youth in the Middle Ages, offering detailed analysis of the 500-1450 period, and allowing readers to trace representations and enactments of youth across time.

Richly illustrated with drawings from medieval students, panels from illuminated manuscripts, medieval architecture, and examples from medieval material culture, this volume offers a detailed study of youth in the Middle Ages, and covers its interactions with themes such as Concepts of Youth; Spaces and Places; Education and Work; Leisure and Play; Emotions; Gender, Sexuality and the Body; Belief and Ideology; Authority and Agency; War and Conflict; and Towards a Global History.