Medieval History

Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to the Byzantine Empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy. For more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization.

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.

Separate countries to rule. One heart to share. Will duty or love prevail? ◆ FIRST PLACE WINNER - 2022 CHAUCER Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction ◆ WINNER of the Highly Recommended award from The Historical Fiction Company ◆ Royalty ◆ Power ◆ Politics ◆ Love ◆ Struggle The year is 1508. Louis XII, King of France, wants to stamp France’s footprint upon Italy. Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, and ruler of neighboring realm Brittany, wants to produce a son and heir for Louis and to save the independence of Brittany from France. Louise of Savoy, the mother of the ...

Brunhild was a foreign 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, changing the face of Europe.

Historian Justine Firnhaber-Baker tells the epic story of the Capetian dynasty of medieval France, showing how their ideas about power, religion, and identity continue to shape European society and politics today. Reigning from 987 to 1328, the Capetians became the most powerful monarchy of the Middle Ages. Consolidating a fragmented realm that eventually stretched from the Rhône to the Pyrenees, they were the first royal house to adopt the fleur-de-lys, displaying this lily emblem to signify their divine favor and legitimate their rule.

1399: Constance of York, Lady Despenser, proves herself more than a mere observer in the devious intrigues of her magnificently dysfunctional family, the House of York. Surrounded by power-hungry men, including her aggressively self-centred husband, Thomas, and ruthless siblings, Edward and Richard, Constance places herself at the heart of two treasonous plots against King Henry IV. Will it be possible for this Plantagenet family to safeguard its own political power by restoring either King Richard II to the throne, or the precarious Mortimer claimant?

Celebrated historian John Hirst offers a fascinating exploration of the qualities that made Europe a world-changing civilization. The Shortest History of Europe begins with a rapid overview of European civilization, describing its birth from an unlikely mixture of classical learning and Christianity and German warrior culture. Over the centuries, this unstable blend produced highly distinctive characters - pious knights and belligerent popes, and beyond - and its coming apart provided the dynamic of European history in modern times.

The quest for the old scrolls is on. The stakes are high. No one is safe. France, 1798. Cavalry Captain Pascal de Charney is summoned by his father, Roland, before leaving to Egypt with Napoleon’s army. Roland wishes Pascal to perform a task for him. Israel, 2010. Yossi Luria is an ex-cop turned private investigator, who still hurts over his dismissal from the police force. Jeanne de Charney, an enchanting Frenchwoman from Normandy, steps in to hire his services. She presents him with a batch of intriguing old letters from Pascal, which she has uncovered while searching in her family’s ...

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.

Richard of Bordeaux and Henry Bolingbroke were first cousins, born just three months apart. Their two lives were from the beginning entwined. When they were still children, Richard was crowned King Richard II with Henry at his side, carrying the sword of state: a ten-year-old lord in the service of his ten-year-old king. Helen Castor tells this story of one of the strangest and most fateful relationships in English history. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe and disintegration – and then brought back.

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 ...

Angel Book 5, Culture Shock, begins with Angel and Duke Bryan Pendle arriving at the Court of King Edward. There she meets one of Pope Alexander II's Cardinals, Giuseppe Folonari whose attitude convinces her that she needs to go to Rome to meet the Pope, Alexander II. Archbishop Halford decides to accompany her, along with the Cardinal. To avoid a lengthy sea and land journey Angel takes the two men back to her time. The two are astounded and deeply affected by seeing St Peter's Square in Rome. Transitioning to the Rome of 1062 Angel and her two companions are accosted by Count Gregory II ...

Fino all'inizio del XIV secolo il Medioevo europeo registra una crescita demografica e urbana, del commercio e della tecnica. Ma l'aumento della popolazione provoca una domanda alimentare superiore all'offerta e si avvertono i segni della crisi. Poi, a metà del secolo, un terribile flagello si abbatte sul Vecchio Continente: nel giro di pochi anni la peste riduce di un terzo circa la popolazione. È l’apice di una crisi profonda che trasforma radicalmente il paesaggio e l'economia e provoca aspri conflitti tra Stati.

The Knights Templar were the wealthiest, most powerful - and most secretive - of the military orders that flourished in the crusading era. Their story - encompassing as it does the greatest international conflict of the Middle Ages, a network of international finance, a swift rise in wealth and influence followed by a bloody and humiliating fall - has left a comet's tail of mystery that continues to fascinate and inspire historians, novelists and conspiracy theorists. Unabridged edition read by Dan Jones.

At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital.

The Greek myths are amongst the greatest stories ever told, passed down through millennia and inspiring writers and artists as varied as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, James Joyce and Walt Disney. They are embedded deeply in the traditions, tales and cultural DNA of the West. You'll fall in love with Zeus, marvel at the birth of Athena, wince at Cronus and Gaia's revenge on Ouranos, weep with King Midas and hunt with the beautiful and ferocious Artemis.

Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades - sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.

In 1886, the U.S. had no navy to speak of. But it did have Alfred T. Mahan, a captain of the U.S. Navy who had spent much of his career observing the exemplary fleets of the British Empire. At age 46, Mahan was just 10 years short of retirement age when the newly formed Naval and War College at Newport, Rhode Island, asked him to lecture on naval history and tactics. Out of these lectures grew a book that would change the world. It's no exaggeration that The Influence of Seapower Upon History affected the outcome of both great world wars. When it was first published in 1890, prime ministers, kings, admirals, and chancellors eagerly studied its strategies, which England first employed to rule the seas. Likewise, all the major powers have used it to shape imperial policies.

Drawing from both Christian and Islamic sources, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain demonstrates that the clash of arms between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula that began in the early eighth century was transformed into a crusade by the papacy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Successive popes accorded to Christian warriors willing to participate in the peninsular wars against Islam the same crusading benefits offered to those going to the Holy Land.