Today I got the index of The History of the Medieval World from Norton. This is usually the very last proofreading/checking/eyeballing task I have before the book goes to print; indexing can’t be done until the text is completely finalized (since even small changes can shift text from one page to the next).
Those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while will remember my adventures with the index to the tenth-anniversary edition of The Well-Trained Mind, not to mention the indices to The Art of the Public Grovel and, even further back, The History of the Ancient World.
So once again I get to read through page after gripping page of…
Abd Allah, 613, 614
Abd al-Malik, 614
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, caliph, 322, 324, 325
death of, 342
Abd al-Rahman, 614–15
Abd ar-Rahman, 365–66, 367, 369, 377
Abd ar-Rahman II, 431
Abd ar-Rahman III, 505–7
Abgar, king of Edessa, 213
Abn ‘Amir, 312
Abraha, king of Axum, 243
Abraham, 292
Abu-Bakr, 620
Abu Bakr, caliph, 278, 279, 291, 296–98, 296n–97n, 307, 313, 315
conquests of, 295
death of, 298
Abu-Ishaq, 550–51
Abu Sufian, 293, 294–95
Abu Talib, 276, 278
acid snow, 183
“Act of Grace,” 334
Acts of Saint Sylvester, 585
Aditya, Chola king, 440, 498–99, 501
Ado, 163
Adrianople, 4, 7, 402
“Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon, The,” 125–26
Aejang, king of Silla, 406–7
and
“Initiated Beginning” (Konwon), 215
interdict, 373n
Investiture Controversy, 544n
Ipiutak settlement, 577
Ireland, 44–45, 45, 46, 125–28, 127, 520
peoples of, 125
snakes in, 126–28
timelines for, 131, 139
Irene of Byzantium, 388, 389, 390, 394
support for icons of, 391
Irminsul, 376
Iron Crown of the Lombards, 376, 377, 471, 489, 542
Isaac Comnenus, emperor of Byzantium, 630
Isaurians, 143–44, 155
Isfahan, 508
Ishaq (Muhammad biographer), 276, 277, 279, 292, 294
Islam, 279, 280, 291, 297, 307–15, 342, 450–56
arguments over caliph leadership in, 451
civil war of, 313–14
converts to, 308, 357
division of, 456
empire-wide hierarchy of, 307–8
first battle of, 293–94
first naval force of, 308–9
Mecca as core of, 295
North Africa conquered by, 325
timelines for, 624, 633
Turks’ conversion to, 652
Islamic empire, 315
Ismail, Samanid ruler, 454–55
Ismailis, 456
“Isshi Incident,” 288
Italian Kingdom, 548
Italy, 255, 262, 300, 319–20, 360, 427, 428, 467, 468, 545–46, 548
Attila’s attack on, 116–17
Byzantine army in, 237, 300, 321
Charlemagne’s march into, 376–77
Huns invasion of, 132
Justinian’s invasion of, 207–8
Normans in, 591–92
Ostrogoth domination in, 238
plague in, 241–42
timelines for, 436, 441, 449, 457, 465, 471, 478, 491, 497, 549, 559, 595, 603, 612, 647, 655, 663
Ivar the Boneless, 459–61, 462
and
Theodore the Syncellus, 269–70
Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths, 115, 116, 145n
Theodoric II, king of the Visigoths, 134, 145n
murder of, 135–36
Theodosian Decrees, 68–70
Theodosian dynasty, 143, 143n
Theodosian Walls, 87
Theodosius, 263–64
Theodosius I, emperor of Rome, 46, 47, 56–59, 63, 65–66, 72–73, 268
Christianization of empire by, 68–69, 200
death of, 73
excommunication of, 69–70
Maximus defeated by, 67–68
unification of empire by, 68
Theodosius II, emperor of Rome, 81, 85, 109, 111–13
and Council of Ephesus, 88–89
death of, 113
Persian war of, 86–87
Theodosius III, 344, 344n, 346
Theodosius the Elder, 45–46, 47
Theophanes, 264, 266, 268, 269, 271, 322, 324, 346, 360, 387, 390, 391, 400, 401, 402, 403
Theophanes the Confessor, 344, 359
Theophano, 533–34, 535–36
Theophilus of Byzantium, 434n
theotokos, 88n
Thera, volcano eruption on, 359
Theravada Buddhism, 98–99, 160
Thessalonica, 443
Thessalonica, bishop of, 110
Theudebert II of Austrasia, 249, 250
Theuderic, 178
Theuderic II, 249–50
Theuderic III of Neustasia, 347, 347n
Theuderic IV, 371
Theudis, king of the Visigoths, 179
Thietmar of Merseburg, 546, 587
thing, 319
Thor, 523
Thorir Long-Chin, 523
Thorismund, king of the Visigoths, 116
looking not just for typos, but for the elusive and obscure Thing Which Is Not There: the Overlooked Name, the Forgotten Concept, or the Unindexed Phenomenon. Which in many ways is the trickiest production task of all: searching for the missing idea, the term which should be there but isn’t.
Plus I always get an anxiety attack while reading through the index: What if I suddenly realize that I’ve LEFT OUT an entire country? Or a really famous king? Or some history-changing war? I mean, it’s way too late to put it in now.
Possibly even too late to put it into the index. Production tells me that the index has to fit into thirty pages, so it’s not like I can suddenly insert a whole section on, say, “God” — a topic which got left out of the draft index of The History of the Ancient World. And, as it happens, this one too:
Glagolitic script, 444, 445
Goddess (Hindu), 304
Godfrey of Lorraine, 656, 658, 660, 662, 664
Godwin, 599, 600–601, 604–6, 606n
although we do have this, which for the medieval world is probably a more useful category:
Jesus Christ, 213, 280, 292
nature of, 8–9, 88–89, 88n, 111, 120, 122, 181n, 198, 359
although I can already see the need to insert cross references (“see also”) to:
monophysitism, 88–89, 110–11, 111n, 198–99
not to mention
Nestorianism, 88–89, 122n, 181, 181n, 193, 198
and
Incarnation, 8–9, 8n
Index is due back on Tuesday, so I’ll just disappear and read it now.
Is it normal for an author to edit the index of his or her book? Seems like that’s where an editor would prove especially useful. When I was a proofreader, indices were probably my least favorite thing to proof, for obvious reasons!
I felt as if I were having an anxiety attack just READING this post!
Do you read the manuscript again and write an index as you read, then alphabetize it? Doing it that way would almost be torture. You’d might see typos or changes you want made, and you can’t change them? What a nightmare.