Inventing The Middle Ages

In this groundbreaking work, award-winning author and historian Norman F. Cantor explains how our current notion of the Middle Ages, with its vivid images of wars, tournaments, kings, knights and ladies, was a creation of the twentieth century. Focusing on the lives and works of twenty great medievalists, Inventing the Middle Ages examines the ways in which their personal philosophies and experiences influenced their interpretations of history.


This book presents an entirely new way of looking at historiography, in which readers learn not only about the time period in question, but also about its interconnection with today. Students and the general public alike will enjoy this insightful re-examination of medieval civilization.

Norman F. Cantor (1929 - 2004) was professor emeritus of history, sociology, and comparative literature at New York University. His many books include the New York Times bestseller In the Wake of the Plague, Antiquity, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, Medieval Lives, and Inventing the Middle Ages, which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

“Provocative ... Exhilarating ... A highly impassioned and personal book — and the better for it” — Washington Post Book World