Lexikon des Mittelalters
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
on the history of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Written by authors from all over the world, it comprises more than 36,000 articles in 9 volumes. The first six volumes were published by Artemis (later Artemis & Winkler), Munich and Zürich; volumes seven through nine by LexMA, Munich. In 2000, an electronic (standalone) edition of the Lexikon was published on CD-ROM by Brepols
Brepols
Brepols was once one of the largest printing companies of the world and one of the main employers in Turnhout . Besides its printing business, Brepols is also active as a publisher...
.
Praise and criticism
The first volume was widely praised upon publication; G.A. Holmes, in The English Historical ReviewThe English Historical Review
The English Historical Review is an academic journal founded in 1886 and published by the Oxford University Press. It publishes articles on British, European, and World history since the classical era....
, 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
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 It publishes theological research, scholarship, and interpretation, and hitherto unpublished ancient and modern texts, inscriptions, and documents...
, called the lexicon "a necessary and valuable work of reference." Its coverage of subjects related to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
was praised, though the same reviewer called the coverage of topics related to Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
"comparatively modest."
The CD-ROM edition was chosen as one of the "Selected Reference Books of 2001-2002" by College & Research Libraries
College & Research Libraries
' is a scholarly research journal published by the Association of College and Research Libraries , the largest division of the American Library Association. Created in 1938, its first issue appeared in December 1939, and it was published quarterly for its first 18 years...
.
Editions
- Lexikon des Mittelalters. Munich: LexMA-Verlag, 1980ff. ISBN 3-423-59057-2.
- Lexikon des Mittelalters Online. Turnhout: Brepols, 2009. ISBN 978-2-503-52415-3.