Age of Faith

Great Ages of Man

by Anne Jackson Fremantle

Age of Faith is one of twenty-one volumes in the Time-Life book series Great Ages of Man. Originally published in the 1960s, this series is a history of the world's cultures. This volume serves as an introduction to the Middle Ages in Western Europe.

Author Anne Fremantle has written a succinct and balanced overview of this distinctive era in world history. The first two chapters discuss feudalism and monasticism. Chapter Three describes the causes, course, and effects of the Crusades. Chapter Four examines the development of towns and the rise of the urban class. The evolution of medieval universities, literature, art, music, and architecture is the focus of Chapters Five and Six. The rise of the nation-states of England and France is the emphasis of Chapter Seven. The final chapter briefly describes the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Great Schism, and the revolts of the peasants in France and England. A chronological table of events is included in the appendix and numerous picture essays supplement the text. The influence of the Church is a common thread running throughout the narrative; the presence of the Middle Ages in the modern world is a prevalent theme as well.

This book is one of two books in this series about Western Europe during the Middle Ages (the other book is Barbarian Europe). Barbarian Europe focuses more on the Early Middle Ages; Age of Faith emphasizes the last half of this time period. In short, Age of Faith is an informative and concise introduction to the Middle Ages.

Genres: History, Religion, Reference, Art, Nonfiction, Historical

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1966

About the author

Anne-Marie Huth (Jackson) Fremantle

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, a volume of the lavishly illustrated Time-Life "Great Ages of Man" series, was given me by my paternal grandmother. She and her second husband lived walking distance from us after we moved from rural Kane County to suburban Park Ridge, Illinois. I cut their lawn, shovelled their walk and visited regularly, she being my favorite relative. On those weekend evenings when Mom and Dad would bring my brother and me over for dinner at her place she'd often have a brown cardboard mailer box for me, a box containing another Time-Life book from this or one of their other series.

I may have read all the Great Ages books and I've reviewed the series as a whole. Previously, however, I think I'd only covered the first two volumes, those on Greece and Rome, not being certain that I'd actually done more than look at the pictures of the other books. Now, having found a box of old high school (and earlier) papers in the basement, I see this text referred to in the notes for a sophomore history research paper on the middle ages.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The always fascinating and exciting story of the Middle Ages!

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

General overview of the Middle Ages (5th to 15th Centuries) with an emphasis on the religious, artistic, and social aspects. The book's primary focus is on the heart of western Europe (France, England, Germany, and Italy), though the influences of Byzantium and the Islamic world are also addressed. Given the broad time period covered, there is not a lot of political history, through Fremantle does discuss the significance of Charlemagne's empire as a driver of a cultural renaissance in the 9th Century, as well as the Crusades. She also examines the roots of the long political-administrative evolution of the nation-state, which would eventually replace feudalism. As with all Time-Life series books, the photos are lovely, especially the photo-essay on Chartres Cathedral.

[Ricardo Cifuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente libro sobre la Edad media, bien llamado La edad de la fe, porque prácticamente la iglesia dirigió esta etapa de la historia, pasa por el feudalismo, las ciudades, las universidades, el arte, la arquitectura, las catedrales, las cruzadas, mucho de esto lo había visto por primera vez en el libro "Historia Del Cristianismo de Justo González", pero es bueno verlo también desde un punto de vista más neutral.

[Jonathan Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to the Story of Civilization's volume with the same title, this covers quite a bit so you never really get a laser focus on any one particular subject. Pictures are great though, and it is a decent-enough overview.

[Allan Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro que me amplió la visión de la Edad Media. No fue una época oscura sino una época en la que los cimientos de la civilización contemporánea. Además, esta hermosamente ilustrado.

[Galicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work on the Middle Ages is rather history of the light-weight kind but the great number of photos of art of the period makes up for this deficiency. It is easy reading and hardly scholarly but does get to the main relevant concerns of these centuries: feudalism, Crusades, the Church, new urban “nouveau riche”, nation-states, cathedral building, among others. The history is most focused on France, England, and Church with an anti-Church bend, little on other Europe.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The French-born English-American Anne Fremantle’s 1965 edition of the book entitled the Age of Faith, is a history of Medieval Europe. Fremantle was an associate editor of the progressive American Roman Catholic magazine, Commonweal. A trained journalist, she held several academic positions at several universities in New York State and Connecticut. The book is for the series of Time-Life Books’ Great Ages of Man. Fremantle’s book is probably dated, but it is still worth reading if one is interested in the historiography of Medieval Europe. Age of Faith is readable. The book has a beautiful layout. A photo essay follows each chapter. At the end of the book, there is a Timeline. Age of Faith covers “The Rise of Feudalism” (11), the Medieval Roman Catholic Church, the Crusades, Medieval Urban Life, Medieval Scholarship, Medieval Literature, Medieval Religious Architecture, “The Nation-States” (141), and finally the transition era between Medieval and Renaissance Europe; along with some others topic. The book is 177 pages (not including the Timeline), so the book covers a lot of ground in 177 pages. I took some courses that covered Medieval Europe as an undergraduate student, so the Age of Faith was a nice refresher. Even though it was dated I did not regret spending time reading the book, Age of Faith.

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit I never read history books, but as an art reference I look at the pictures! This book could use more pictures, yet as a focus on a certain period it contains more than enough samples of art and architecture of the era to serve as a good reference to art the period.

[James Violand · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good synthesis of European divergence from one creed.