This new English translation of Huizinga’s 'Autumntide of the Middle Ages' ('Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen') celebrates the centenary of a book that still ranks as one of the most perceptive and influential analyses of the late medieval period.

Johan Huizinga (1872-1945), one of the founders of cultural history, ranks among the most influential Dutch thinkers of the twentieth century. He produced a body of writing on subjects that range from medieval art to the mechanization of modern America. The publication of Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen in 1919 brought him international renown, and contributed to the multiple nominations he received later in his career for the Nobel Prize in Literature, a rare accolade for a professor of history. Among his other important works are 'Erasmus' (1924), 'In the Shadow of Tomorrow' (1935) and 'Homo Ludens' (1938). He died in internal exile, two months before the liberation of the Netherlands.

Birger Vanwesenbeeck, Los Angeles Review of Books:

“One of the great merits of Webb’s new translation is that, for the first time, English readers get to encounter this lyrical Huizinga in all his splendor.”

“Webb’s new translation is the first English rendition of Autumntide that comes equipped with a scholarly apparatus, as well as a plethora of high-quality image reproductions of the various artworks, sites, and objects relevant to Huizinga’s text.[...]these images alone make this latest translation of Huizinga’s masterpiece a must-have. Indeed, one might be tempted to call it a coffee-table book were it not for the sparkling prose of its author (and translator), which vies with the gorgeous images adorning its every page.”

Richard Rex, First Things:

"Johan Huizinga’s The Waning of the Middle Ages, as it was once known, is a hundred years old and has just been awarded the accolade of a magnificent centenary edition in a superb, fresh English translation. This lavishly illustrated volume marvelously enhances the reader’s encounter with a historical classic by presenting alongside the text a mass of the visual evidence the author discusses. Not many history books of the modern era have seen so many editions in so many different languages, and fewer still have enjoyed so long a run. How often, after all, does a book by a professional historian get a centenary edition, let alone such a luxurious one? The appearance of this latest version is a justly deserved tribute to a great work of history that is also a great work of literature."

Table of contents
Translator’s note

Autumntide of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga
Huizinga's prefaces to the first five Dutch editions
1 Life’s Fierceness
2 The Yearning for a Finer Life
3 The Hierarchical Conception of Society
4 The Notion of Knighthood
5 Dreams of Heroic Deeds and Love
6 Chivalric Orders and Knightly Vows
7 The Significance of the Chivalric Ideal in Warfare and Statecraft
8 The Stylization of Love
9 The Proprieties of Love
10 The Idyllic Image of Life
11 The Image of Death
12 The Representation of All Things Holy
13 Types of Religious Life
14 Religious Emotion and the Religious Imagination
15 Symbolism Withered
16 Realism and the Defeat of the Imagination in Mysticism
17 Forms of Thought in Practical Life
18 Art in Life
19 The Sense of Beauty
20 The Image and the Word
21 The Word and the Image
22 The Coming of the New Form
Notes
Original Citations
Genealogy
Timeline
Index

Epilogue: From Herfsttij to Autumntide by Graeme Small
Bibliography
Translated sources consulted
Illustration credits
About the translator and editors