Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a historian of medieval Europe who specializes in twelfth-century England and France. I’ve been fascinated with history since childhood and distinctly remember being obsessed with a book on English monarchs in my mom’s bookcase when I was young. In college, I took a class on Medieval England with a professor whose enthusiasm for the subject, along with the sheer strangeness of the medieval world, hooked me. I’ve been exploring medieval Europe ever since, and deepening my understanding of how our own world came into being in the process. 


I wrote

Writing History for the King: Henry II and the Politics of Vernacular Historiography

By Charity L. Urbanski,

Book cover of Writing History for the King: Henry II and the Politics of Vernacular Historiography

What is my book about?

Writing History for the King examines two dynastic histories commissioned by Henry II: Wace’s Roman de Rou and Benoît de…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The World of Orderic Vitalis

Charity L. Urbanski Why did I love this book?

Chibnall was a fantastic writer, and she was the authority on Orderic Vitalis, one of the most important historians of the early twelfth century.

I love this book because Chibnall uses Orderic’s history to explore the world he wrote in, a world in which monks mingled with knights and kings, and she examines the rapid social changes taking place in the early twelfth century. This book is at once an examination of Orderic’s work, a biography of a famous chronicler, and an exploration of Anglo-Norman society in the early twelfth century.

It’s a fantastic place to start if you’ve never read anything on Anglo-Norman England, and it’s a great way to deepen your knowledge if you’re already familiar with this corner of the past.

By Marjorie Chibnall,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The World of Orderic Vitalis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Monastic life, the royal courts and Norman nobility as depicted by Orderic's medieval chronicle.


Book cover of Serious Entertainments: The Writing of History in 12th Century England

Charity L. Urbanski Why did I love this book?

I love this book because Partner examines the works of three of my favorite medieval historians: Henry of Huntingdon, William of Newburgh, and Richard of Devizes.

In the first half of the book, she delves into each authors’s unique voice: Henry’s contempt for the world, William’s skepticism and critical eye, and Richard’s sometimes devastating tongue-in-cheek humor.

In the second half of the book, she explores many of the quirks of medieval histories that tend to confuse or disappoint modern readers: the medieval deference to authorities, the fact that medieval authors approached history writing as a literary exercise, and the fact that Biblical material is constantly popping up in historical narratives.

She argues that history served not only as a source of entertainment for the upper classes, but as a means of educating the ruling class and inculcating certain values. 

Book cover of Medieval Memories: Men, Women and the Past, 700-1300

Charity L. Urbanski Why did I love this book?

This book isn’t just about historians or history writing, but I love it because it addresses some really important questions related to history writing: why was the preservation of memory gendered labor, with different types of memorialization expected of men and women, and how was the past preserved in forms other than chronicles?

It also grapples with the fact that some events and people were purposely forgotten or intentionally left uncommemorated. This practice of collective amnesia or whitewashing the past is something I find particularly compelling. It’s a fascinating look at the gendered practices of memory, and a great reminder that chronicles were not the only means by which the past was preserved for posterity.

By Elisabeth Van Houts (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Medieval Memories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Who, exactly, was responsible for the preservation of knowledge about the past? How did people preserve their recollections and pass them on to the next generation? Did they write them down or did they hand then on orally? The book is concerned with the memories of medieval people. In the Middle Ages, as now, men and women collected stories about the past and handed them down to posterity. Many memories centre in the aristocratic family or lineage while others are focussed on institutions such as monasteries or nunneries. The family and monastic contexts clearly illustrate that remembrance of the past…


Book cover of From Memory to Written Record: England, 1066-1307

Charity L. Urbanski Why did I love this book?

This is one of those books that completely changes the way you understand a subject.

Clanchy looks at how the growth of bureaucracy in England fostered the growth of literacy and changed the world in the process. That’s an important subject in its own right, but I love this book for all of the little details it includes.

It’s full of information about how the definition of literacy has changed over time, how knights and kings were educated, how courts functioned, how oral testimony was heard, how records were kept, how books were produced, how much it cost to produce them, and how forgery developed.

This is very much an academic book, but it explores a whole range of practices and attitudes that have shaped the world we live in.

By Michael T. Clanchy,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked From Memory to Written Record as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The second edition of Michael Clanchy's widely-acclaimed study of the history of the written word in the Middle Ages is now, after a much lamented absence, republished in an entirely new and revised edition. The text of the original has been revised throughout to take account of the enormous amount of new research following publication of the first edition. The introduction discusses the history of literacy up to the present day; the guide to further reading brings together over 300 new titles up to 1992. In this second edition there are substantially new sections on bureaucracy, sacred books, writing materials,…


Book cover of Gerald of Wales: A Voice of the Middle Ages

Charity L. Urbanski Why did I love this book?

Any book by Robert Bartlett is worth reading (check out The Hanged Man and Trial by Fire and Water as well), but I love this one because it examines one of the most interesting and entertaining historians of the twelfth century, Gerald of Wales.

Gerald was famously opinionated, prejudiced (mainly against the Irish – check out his History of Ireland), and gossipy. Bartlett explores Gerald’s attitudes, experiences, and works to paint a compelling picture of the wider world around him. Much like Chibnall’s book on Orderic, this is a fascinating portrait of an important historian and the complicated world he lived in.

By Robert Bartlett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gerald of Wales as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This study of Gerald discusses the political path he had to tread and portrays him as an example of the medieval world.


Explore my book 😀

Writing History for the King: Henry II and the Politics of Vernacular Historiography

By Charity L. Urbanski,

Book cover of Writing History for the King: Henry II and the Politics of Vernacular Historiography

What is my book about?

Writing History for the King examines two dynastic histories commissioned by Henry II: Wace’s Roman de Rou and Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Chronique des ducs de Normandie. Both texts recount the history of the king’s Norman ancestors, but they do so in radically different ways. I argue that Wace used his history as a forum to criticize Henry II’s policies by criticizing his ancestors, and that he was fired for doing so, while Benoît produced a history that was much more suited to the king’s purposes by whitewashing the past and praising Henry II himself. I connect this failed experiment in controlling the meaning of the past to Henry’s efforts to curb baronial power and solidify his own authority within the Anglo-Norman realm.

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Book cover of After Me

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