JSF: The Illuminated World Chronicle with Nina Rowe

Nina Rowe, author of The Illuminated World Chronicle: Tales from the Late Medieval City, in a book launch conversation with Ephraim Shoham-Steiner.

Nina Rowe’s new book, The Illuminated World Chronicle: Tales from the Late Medieval City (Yale UP, 2020) is a multidisciplinary study examining a curious genre of illustrated book that gained popularity among the newly emergent middle class of late medieval cities. These illuminated World Chronicles, produced in the Bavarian and Austrian regions from around 1330 to 1430, were the popular histories of their day, telling tales from the Bible, ancient mythology, and the lives of emperors in animated, vernacular verse, enhanced by dynamic images.

Rowe explores the images and texts that recount these spirited tales in a conversation with Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, an expert on urban life in Europe in the late Middle Ages.

Nina Rowe is Professor of Art History at Fordham University. She is currently President of the International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA), 2020-23.
Ephraim Shoham-Steiner is Professor of Medieval Jewish History at the Department of Jewish History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.