The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a major new reference resource for all key aspects of European history, society, religion, and culture from circa 500 CE to circa 1500 CE. During this time, neighbouring areas of Asia and North Africa greatly influenced and helped shape the civilization of the West. Relevant aspects of the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic dynasties, and Asiatic peoples such as the Avars and the Mongols are also included in this comprehensive work. Coverage spanning the whole geographical extent of the European Middle Ages and balanced treatments of sixteen topics centrally important to the study of the period distinguish The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages from all other resources on the subject. Over 800 scholars, guided by a five-member international advisory board and an international editorial board of twenty-six, have written the over 5,000 entries that make up this extraordinary four-volume set. These entries have been lavishly supplemented by more than 500 illustrations and 40 maps. This dictionary will appeal to both medievalists needing a detailed and reliable reference tool for their own research and teaching, and non-specialists needing an accessible guide to the study of the Middle Ages.

Robert E. Bjork is Foundation Professor of English and Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) at Arizona State University. He was General Editor of Modern Scandinavian Literature in Translation from 1984 to 1994; Co-Editor of Studies in Scandinavian Literature and Culture from 1992 to 2001, and has been Director and General Editor of Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (ACMRS) and General Editor of Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and Renaissance since 1996. He's been a Visiting Fellow at St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge, and a Visiting Professor of English at UCLA. His published work includes translations of five books on Old English Poetry and seven modern Swedish novels. He was President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxons 2002-3, and is a Corresponding Fellow of the English Association and Chair of the Medieval Academy of America's standing committee on Centres and Regional Associations.