whatsnew

What's New in Medieval Studies IX (Oct. 2026)

Giovanni Battista Bracelli, Bizzarie di varie figure (1624). National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Public Domain.

Welcome back to my monthly installment of new releases in medieval studies. Medieval is being used very expansively here, so expect some books dealing with Late Rome or the Renaissance if they look particularly interesting. Now, I don't have the time or resources to read all of these books, so inclusion here doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be amazing. But I have largely tried to steer towards major academic presses (i.e. not popular histories). If you want my reasons for why you should read academic books even if you aren't an academic, you can find my piece here. I will offer some light editorializing but it is by no means comprehensive. I also will note Open Access volumes, so even if you don't have access to an academic library you can still benefit. For each work I also provide the URL to the work, so you can purchase/download/whatever.

This list cannot be comprehensive, and I have occasionally omitted certain books such as source editions that are meant for more specialized audiences. This information was derived from the individual academic presses themselves, my own Bluesky feed, and pages such as "Medieval Updates" which share newly published works.

Here are the 3 journals and 30 books for October 2026:

Journals

Anglo-Norman Studies 48 (2026)
Frühmittelalterliche Studien 60, no. 1 (2026). Open Access
Speculum 101, no. 4 (2026)

Crusades

Gaposchkin, M. Cecilia, Andrew Jotischky, Thomas Madden and Jonathan Philips (eds), The Cambridge History of the Crusades, vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press)
Kleiman, Irit, The Hell of Holy War: Reading Joinville's Crusade Memoir (Cornell University Press)

Early Medieval

Becher, Matthias and Philipp Merkel (eds), Herrschaft kommunizieren: Versammlung und Beratung im Früh- und Hochmittelalter (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage) Really excited for this! Also has some English articles in it.
Eiden, Fabian, Macht und Geschlecht: Bedeutung und Entwicklung des Königinnentums in Wessex und Merzien (Thorbecke)
Esders, Stefan and Gerda Heydemann (eds), The Oath in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Brepols)
Gasparri, Stefano and Sauro Gelichi, Early Medieval Venice: the Islands of Refuge, 500-1000 (Oxford University Press)
Palmer, James T., Charlemagne's Dream: the Rise and Fall of the Carolingian Empire (Basic Books)
Payen, Nicolas, Early Arabic Conceptions of Animals: 6th-10th Centuries (Brill)

Non-European

Acri, Andrea and Peter D. Sharrock (eds), From Periphery to Centre: Buddhist Innovations and Networks across Medieaval Maritime Asia (Brill) Open Access
Hautala, Roman, Masters of the Earth: a History of the Golden Horde, 1219-1502 (Reaktion Books)
Schmidtke, Sabine and Joseph Witztum (eds), Medieval and Premodern Muslim Scholars at Work (Brill)

Material Culture

Geary, Patrick J., Resequencing the Middle Ages through Archaeogentics (Bloomsbury)
Golan, Tamara, Unnatural Evidence: Artifice and Expertise in Pre-Reformation Painting (University of Chicago Press)
Stewart, Zachary, Building the Parish Church in Late Medieval England (Cambridge University Press)

Literature/Manuscripts

Castro Correa, Ainoa, The Secret Life of Writing: People, Script, and Ideas in the Iberian Penninsula (900-1200) (Routledge) Open Access
Dupont, Anthony, Marina Giani, and Gert Partoens (eds), Augustine's De civitate Dei: Text, Context, and Reception (Brill)
Iglesias-Zoido, Juan Carlos (ed.), The Narrative Setting of Historiographical Speeches: Classical Antiquity and the Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World (Brill)
Mazanasky, Cyril, The Biographies of Illuminated Mauscript Haggadot: from the Medieval Period to the Modern Era (Academic Studies Press)
Noone, Timothy and Mark Clark, Orality and Scribal Culture in the High Middle Ages: Understanding Scholastic Texts as the Product of Teaching and Copying (Leuven University Press)

Religion

Cholewicki, Paweł, The Vicariate of Bosnia within the Late Medieval Franciscan Observance: Expansion, Crisis, and Disintegration (1339-1469) (Brepols) Open Access
Cusato, Michael and Jens Röhrkasten (eds), Franciscan History, Mission and Ministry: Essays in Honour of Michael J.P. Robson on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday (Brill)
McDonnell, Liam, The Salvation of the Involuntarily Ignorant in Medieval Theology (Oxford University Press)
Testa, Rita Lizzi (ed.), Holy Virgins and Blessed Rulers: Eastern and Western Perspectives (4th-6th Centuries) (Brepols)

Medievalism

Heß, Cordelia, Christoph Dartmann, Lukas Rösli, and Sita Steckel (eds), Political Medievalism: Gebrauch und Missbrauch des Mittelalters bei der extremen Rechten (De Gruyter) Open Access
Truitt, E.R. Necessary Inventions: Roger Bacon, the Middle Ages, and the Making of Modern Science (University of Pennsylvania Press)

Eastern Europe

Font, Márta, The Making of East Central Europe between the Tenth and Twelfth Centuries: from the Influences of Empires to New Christian Monarchies, translated by Mária Thoroczkay-Szabó (Brill)
Ryier, Yanina, Constructing the Pagan Other: Lithuanians in Christian Narratives (13th to Early 15th Century) (Brill)

Italy

Caferro, William and Robert Fredona (eds), Law as Life in Italy, 1200-1800: Essays on Property, Gender, and Legal Practice in Honour of Thomas Kuehn (Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies)
Titone, Fabrizio, The Church, Marriage, and Sex in Late Medieval Sicily, translated by Anna C. Forster (Oxford University Press)