Die Franzosischen Konige des Mittelalters: Von Odo bis Karl VIII, 888-1498.

The most puzzling aspect of Die franzosischen Konige des Mittelalters. Von Odo bis Karl VIII., 888-1498, ed. Joachim Ehlers, Heribert Muller and Bernd Schneidmuller (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1996; pp. 435. DM68), a set of short biographies of all French kings from 888 to 1498, is the audience for which the book is intended: nowhere is this spelled out. Too expensive for students, not accessible enough for general readers and not scholarly enough for academic ones, it falls between three stools. Although the publishers state in their publicity that through the kings' activities the great social and political themes of the day emerge, this comes over in only a few of the accounts, …