Medieval History

In May 1315 it started to rain. It didn't stop anywhere in north Europe until August. Next came the four coldest winters in a millennium. Two separate animal epidemics killed nearly 80 percent of northern Europe's livestock. Wars between Scotland and England, France and Flanders, and two rival claimants to the Holy Roman Empire destroyed all remaining farmland. After seven years, the combination of lost harvests, warfare, and pestilence would claim six million lives - one eighth of Europe's total population.

Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects.

John Lackland was born to King Henry II and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitane in December, 1166; he was the youngest of five sons. However, he unexpectedly became the favored heir to his father after a failed rebellion by his older brothers in 1173. He became king in 1199, though his reign was tumultuous and short. After a brief peace with Phillip II of France, war broke out again in 1202 and King John lost most of his holdings on the continent. This led to conflict upon his return from battle. Buffeted from all sides, King John was pushed in 1215 to sign the Magna Carta.

INSTA-LOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN . . . ANNABELLE WINTERS STYLE! She's a tribute for my King. But her voice makes my heart feel strange. Her eyes make my knees feel weak. Her scent makes my body tighten. When I close my eyes I see her face . . . When the storms winds blow they whisper her name . . . The gods and goddesses urge me on . . . She's yours, they shout from the clouds . . . She's yours, they whisper from the waves . . . She's yours to keep, Viking! So what will you do? What will you do, Viking?! If you've read my other novella series, you know how wild my stuff can get. It's not ...

José Ignacio Cellier de Martí (Barcelona 1932-2014), Captain of the Spanish Navy, professor at the Nautical Faculty of Barcelona and expert in naval history of Catalonia, follows year by year, with maps of his own elaboration, the campaigns of the legendary admiral Roger de Lauria, from 1283 to the end of his days in 1305. His speed of movement, his tactics, his energy, ardor and ferocity astonished many; By sea, and even on land, he had no enemies, and the mere presence of him surrounded by his Almogavars, Catalan crossbowmen, and Sicilian sailors, made the navies of other States ...

Duffy engages with some of the central aspects of Western religion in the thousand years between the decline of pagan Rome and the rise of the Protestant Reformation. In the process, he opens windows on the vibrant and multifaceted beliefs and practices by which medieval people made sense of their world: the fear of death and the impact of devastating pandemic, holy war against Islam and the invention of the blood libel against the Jews, provision for the afterlife and the continuing power of the dead over the living, the meaning of pilgrimage and the evolution of Christian music.

The battle of Crécy in 1346 is one of the most famous and widely studied military engagements in history. The repercussions of this battle were felt for hundreds of years, and the exploits of those fighting reached the status of legend. Yet cutting-edge research has shown that nearly everything that has been written about this dramatic event may be wrong. In this new study, Michael Livingston reveals how modern scholars have used archived manuscripts, satellite technologies and traditional fieldwork to help unlock what was arguably the battle’s greatest secret.

Making a much-anticipated return to the world of Hild, Nicola Griffith’s Menewood transports listeners back to seventh-century Britain, a land of rival kings and religions poised for epochal change. Hild is no longer the bright child who made a place in Edwin Overking’s court with her seemingly supernatural insight. She is eighteen, honed and tested, the formidable lady of Elmet, now building her personal stronghold in the valley of Menewood.

In Foundation the chronicler of London and of its river, the Thames, takes us from the primeval forests of England's prehistory to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, in 1509. He guides us from the building of Stonehenge to the founding of the two great glories of medieval England: common law and the cathedrals. He shows us glimpses of the country's most distant past - a Neolithic stirrup found in a grave, a Roman fort, a Saxon tomb, a medieval manor house.

Step into the world of a scholar whose influence spans over a millennium, shaping not just the church, but the very fabric of Western civilization. Meet the Man Behind the Knowledge Isidore of Seville was more than just a bishop; he was a visionary who saw the power of knowledge to transform society. His life and work offer a window into a time when the preservation of wisdom was nothing short of heroic. This book invites you to explore the mind of a man who became the intellectual backbone of the early Middle Ages. Unlock the Secrets of the Etymologiae Discover how Isidore’s greatest ...

This paradigm-shifting book paints a spirited portrait of a restless people that challenges our established ways of looking at Europe's past. The story is more complex than at first believed, with new evidence suggesting that the European gene pool was stirred vigorously multiple times. Genetic clues are also enhancing our understanding of European mobility in epochs with written records, including the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, the spread of the Slavs, and the adventures of the Vikings.

In a war-torn land, they fought for their powerful, turbulent love. From the moment they met their destinies were entwined - Kendra, the daughter of a once proud Saxon family and Geoffrey de Bron, a Norman cleric and friend to Thomas Becket. Kendra’s family had helplessly suffered the cruelty of their overlord, Reynard de Bron for several years. Upon the death of her sister, however, Kendra defiantly responded to the brutal Norman knight and in so doing put her own life in jeopardy. Intrigued by her bravery and beauty, Geoffrey de Bron knew he had to stand up to his brother and save the ...

In this magnificent book, distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe reframes our entire conception of early European history, from prehistory through the ancient world to the medieval Viking period. Cunliffe views Europe not in terms of states and shifting political land boundaries but as a geographical niche particularly favored in facing many seas. These seas, and Europe's great transpeninsular rivers, ensured a rich diversity of natural resources while also encouraging the dynamic interaction of peoples across networks of communication and exchange.

Strasbourg, 1518. In the midst of a blisteringly hot summer, a lone woman begins to dance in the city square. She dances for days without pause or rest, and when hundreds of other women join her, the men running the city declare a state of emergency and hire musicians to play the Devil out of the mob.

The Crusades are the prototype and epitome of the Holy War. The fight to take control of the city of Jerusalem, believed to be the most sacred Holy City to two distinct religions of Christianity and Islam, has lasted far longer than the two centuries of the Crusades, and its reach has extended far further than Europe and the Middle East.

Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab explorers journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Ibn Fadlan's chronicles of his travels are one of the most important documents from the period, and this illuminating new translation offers insight into the world of the Arab geographers and the medieval lands of the far north. Based on an expedition to the upper Volga River in 922 AD,

Generalmente se nos suele enseñar la Edad Media como una etapa de oscuridad marcada por guerras continuas entre señores feudales y por un cristianismo hermético. Un estudio a fondo nos demostrará que no es una imagen completa, ya que sólo tiene en cuenta el ojo occidental.

L'ordine dei Templari nacque a Gerusalemme come conseguenza della prima crociata del 1096 e circa venti anni dopo, nella città di Troyes, ricevette una Regola monastica. Fu solo a Roma, tuttavia, che ottenne i crismi della sanzione apostolica. Nella primavera del 1128 il fondatore dei Templari, il cavaliere Hugues de Payns, arrivò da Gerusalemme per sottoporre a Onorio II un progetto innovativo: un ordine religioso di frati abilitati a uccidere i nemici saraceni.

The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....

At the dawn of the thirteenth century, Constantinople stood as the bastion of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The capital city of the Byzantine Empire, it was a center of art, culture, and commerce that had commanded trading routes between Asia, Russia, and Europe for hundreds of years. But in 1204, the city suffered a devastating attack that would spell the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Historian Ernle Bradford brings to life this powerful tale of envy and greed, demonstrating the far-reaching consequences this siege would have across Europe for centuries to come.