Medieval France History

Following the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V's second invasion of France in 1417 launched a campaign that would place the crown of France on an English head. By the time of Henry's premature death in 1422, nearly all of northern France lay in his hands and the Valois heir to the throne had been disinherited. Only Joan of Arc—a visionary peasant girl who claimed divine guidance—was able to halt the English advance, but not for long. Just six months after her death, Henry's young son was crowned in Paris as the first, and last, English king of France.

While the Moors have always been associated with Spain due to their lengthy stay on the Iberian Peninsula, the most famous battle they were involved in was actually fought in modern France. While the Franks were consolidating a kingdom there, Muslim forces were pushing out of North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula in the early eighth century, and by the dawn of the 730s, the Umayyad dynasty had expanded its territory from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees, a series of seasonally snow-capped mountains in Europe that forms a border between the nations of Spain and France.

In this book Henry Lincoln proposes that there is a huge outdoor temple in the Languadoc region of France, surrounding a "Pentacle" of Mountains and prominently featuring the hamlet of Rennes-le-Chateau. This temple, according to the author, was built using the English units of mile and rod.

Brunhild was a Visigothic princess, raised to be married off for the sake of alliance-building. Her sister-in-law, Fredegund, started out as a lowly palace slave. And yet - in sixth-century Merovingian France, where women were excluded from noble succession and royal politics was a blood sport - these two iron-willed strategists reigned over vast realms for decades, changing the face of Europe. The two queens commanded armies, developed taxation policies, established infrastructure and negotiated with emperors and popes.

In 1300, the French region of Languedoc had been cowed under the authority of both Rome and France since Pope Innocent III 's Albigensian Crusade nearly a century earlier. That crusade almost wiped out the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians whose beliefs threatened the authority of the Catholic Church. But decades of harrowing repression - enforced by the ruthless Pope Boniface VIII; the Machiavellian French King Philip the Fair, of France; and the pitiless grand inquisitor of Toulouse; Bernard Gui (the villain in The Name of the Rose) - had bred resentment.

France, 1180 to 1600. A tale of power, intrigue, and change. Kings and queens ruled with ambition. Wars raged across the land. Culture flourished. Society evolved.

England and Continental France, 1155. King Henry II of England’s empire is vast and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, unmatched. Queen Eleanor is wealthy, beautiful, intelligent and provided Henry with ample sons and daughters. Their dynastic pairing was ideal, but Henry deeply loves Lady Rosamunde Clifford, an exquisite, gentle beauty who shunned power. Henry’s lengthy absences test Rosamunde’s devotion as he deals with frequent uprisings in his far-flung domains. Once his dearest friend and now his deepest foe, Archbishop Thomas Becket constantly blocks Henry’s efforts for Church ...

Charlemagne's name means "Charles the Great", a title he earned after an impressive life filled with military conquests. His life inspired countless tales, including the legends that he was 20 feet tall, that he slept under the guard of 100 armed knights, and that he rose from the dead to aid in the Crusades. While these fantastical tales are false, the truth is equally fantastic: By the end of his life, Charlemagne had been king of the Franks, king of the Lombards, and the first emperor of the newly formed Holy Roman Empire.

I didn’t set out to write a dry history textbook. This book isn’t filled with endless dates and obscure events that leave you flipping back and forth, wondering what happened when. No, this is a collection of stories of people who lived extraordinary lives. They loved, fought, ruled, and struggled in ways that are both dramatically different and eerily similar to how we live today. My aim is to make history feel alive, to turn dusty old chronicles into vibrant tales of ambition, courage, conflict, and intrigue. For those of you already well-versed in medieval history, this book will ...

After a long period of uneventful sieges and skirmishing, lasting from the death of Edward III in 1377 until the accession of Henry V in 1413, The Hundred Years War is suddenly and dramatically fanned into full fledged war in a third and final phase. Henry V is determined to end the conflict once and for all on the field of battle. After assembling an army, he crosses to Calais in 1415 and marches toward Paris.

It was with horror and sadness that the people of the world opened their social media or switched on their televisions on April 15th, 2019, only to see terrifying pictures of smoke and flames roaring around one of the most iconic outlines in France: That of Notre-Dame de Paris. There is more to Notre-Dame, however than just a tragic fire. Almost nine centuries of history lie behind its weathered towers, and its history is closely interlinked with that of France and its people. Its story has rung out through the ages as one of hope and survival.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes' personal account of the Battle of Agincourt gives a unique view of one of the most significant turning points in English history. Six hundred years after the Battle of Agincourt, Sir Ranulph Fiennes casts new light on this epic event that has resonated throughout British and French history. On 25th October 1415, on a French hillside near the village of Agincourt, four men sheltered from the rain and prepared for battle.

Born of his admiration for an an iconic cathedral and how it has influenced his own work, this short book about Notre Dame’s history is Ken Follett’s contribution to the fund created to help rebuild it, a fund that will increase with every sale that is made of the book. Ken Follett will be donating 100 percent of his royalties to the charity La Fondation du Patrimoine.

It is possible that no man has ever dominated a time as much as Charles the Great dominated the Early Middle Ages. It is true that the era had its kings, warriors, scholars, and religious leaders, but in many ways, Charlemagne was all of these things. He conquered land for the Franks and sent in missionaries to convert the pagans to Christianity.

Carcassonne today is the capital of the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France, about 58 miles from Toulouse. It lies by the eastward bend of the glittering cobalt waters of the River Aude, which serves as a barrier between the two towns of the city: the Cité and the Ville Basse. It is the old Cité that attracts most of Carcassonne's visitors (three million of them each year), for it houses the historic fortress that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale. This audiobook examines the origins of the site and its sweeping history.

Somewhat ironically, the one aspect of the Middle Ages that has been romanticized is medieval warfare. What is generally forgotten is that medieval warfare was constantly adapting to the times as leaders adopted new techniques and technology, and common infantry became increasingly important throughout the period. The changes became most evident at the beginning of the 14th century, when the French army fought rebellious forces from Flanders in the Battle of the Golden Spurs on July 11, 1302.

Although it ended over 550 years ago, the Hundred Years' War still looms large in the historical consciousness of England and France, even if the name of the famous war is a misnomer. Actually a series of separate conflicts between the English and French monarchies, interspersed with periods of peace, its historical image is an odd one, in part because its origins were based on royal claims that dated back centuries.

Exploring the successful Norman invasion of England in 1066, this concise and listenable book focuses especially on the often dramatic and enduring changes wrought by William the Conqueror and his followers. Hugh M. Thomas considers the conquest's wide-ranging impact by taking a fresh look at such traditional themes as the influence of battles and great men on history and by assessing how far the shift in ruling dynasty and noble elites affected broader aspects of English history.

"L'Histoire de France" de Jules Michelet est un monument. Littéraire, d'abord, par le style envolé de ce digne héritier de Dumas et par sa puissance d'évocation : Michelet s'était donné pour mission de ressusciter le passé, de faire revivre personnages et coups d'éclat qui ont construit l'identité de la France pour mettre en évidence ce qui fait l'âme d'une nation. Historique dans tous les sens du terme, ensuite : ses dix-sept tomes publiés entre 1833 et 1867 constituent la première histoire exhaustive consacrée à la France, qui avant lui n'était décrite que par une "suite d'annales" sans qu'un sens global en ait jamais été dégagé.

2020, centenaire de la canonisation de Jeanne d'Arc. Ce livre audio se propose, en quelques chapitres très clairs, de couper court aux pires bêtises qui circulent encore sur Jeanne. Car depuis plusieures années, les recherches ont permis d'établir de façon scientifique et incontestable la vie de la "Pucelle d'Orléans". Face aux hypothèses sensationnalistes que l'on peut lire ou entendre encore, Colette Beaune, avec la rigueur et l'exigence d'une grande historienne, rétablit ici la vérité : Jeanne fut-elle bergère ou fille d'un roi caché?