This is a visual sourcebook and survey of the medieval world: its people, its horizons, its defining characteristics, its whole culture. Framed by chapters which outline the way the Middle Ages began and ended, and the book consists of six other sections covering religion and the Church, nations and laws, daily life, art and architecture, scholarship and philosophy, and the World beyond Christendom. The glories of medieval painting, glass, manuscripts and architecture are examined, as well as the more intimate and darker side of life: home, shops, the family, work, war, disease and death. The book has a cross-referencing system and includes a 30-page illustrated biographical dictionary including family trees.