Medieval Ages

It would be hard if not outright impossible to overstate the impact Roman Emperor Constantine I had on the history of Christianity, Ancient Rome, and Europe as a whole. Best known as Constantine the Great, the kind of moniker only earned by rulers who have distinguished themselves in battle and conquest, Constantine remains an influential and controversial figure to this day.

In The Role of the Scroll, Thomas Forrest Kelly brings to life the most interesting scrolls in medieval history, placing them in the context of those who made, commissioned, and used them, and reveals their remarkably varied uses. Scrolls were the best way to keep ever-expanding lists, for example, those of debtors. Kelly explores the scroll's incredible diversity. A recipe for turning everyday metal into gold offers a glimpse into medieval alchemy, and a log of gifts for Queen Elizabeth I showcases royal flattery and patronage.

Bohemia prospered in the 14th century, and the Holy Roman Empire passed to the Habsburgs in 1438. The Empire itself remained fragmented, and the real power lay with the individual principalities. Financial institutions such as the Hanseatic League held great economic and political power.

While hiking, I am daydreaming about what it would be like to live in the Middle Ages with castles, knights, queens, and kings. Suddenly, I slip into a river of icy cold water. I’m spinning around and around. What’s that ahead?

In order to become a member of the Masonic fraternity, an individual must kneel before the members of a Lodge, while professing their trust in a God of their choosing. As such, while Freemasonry itself is not a religion, it is, without a doubt, spiritually tied to all religions. And, with the building of all great cathedrals and temples to honor the Great Architect of the Universe comes the science of Geometry, which the current author uses to help trace our fraternity's roots to an age when many believe we didn't yet exist.

In the Dark Ages, traveling through haunted forests is a bad idea. Horrible abominations just may come your way.

The Teutonic Knights were established to help the sick and injured in the Holy Land in a similar vein to the Knights Hospitaller. Once they were battle-tested in war, however, they were commissioned to be full-fledged fearsome warriors, fighting for the cause of Christendom. This audiobook follows the meteoric rise, climactic fall, and many years of rebirth undergone by the Teutonic Knights. From Jerusalem to the modern-day charitable organizations headed by the order, this audiobook covers the complete history of the Teutonic Knights in full.

The Crusades are one of those dark chapters in history that we would rather forget, especially religious people. In name of the church, or other religions, like the Muslim faith, people killed, destroyed, looted, and burned cities to the ground. There is nothing “holy” about attacking and plundering, yet this is what they did. In this book, we’ll explore some of the most important crusades everyone should know about. You will learn to understand better why people started them, what drove them to continue, and what ended them.

Like the shinobi, more commonly known as the ninja, the assassin is yet another fabled figure with ancient roots that remains astonishingly relevant to this day. Assassins in the context of contemporary pop culture often conjure up images of brooding, silver-tongued individuals in peak physique, equipped with impeccable style, flawless marksmanship, and exemplary hand-to-hand combat skills.

Shortly after Emperor Hadrian came to power in the early second century CE, he decided to seal off Scotland from Roman Britain with an ambitious wall stretching from sea to sea. The sheer scale of Hadrian’s Wall still impresses people today, but as the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late fifth century, Hadrian’s Wall was abandoned and Roman control of the area broke down. Little is known of this period of British history, but soon the Anglo-Saxons showed up and began to settle the land, creating a patchwork of little kingdoms and starting a new era of British history.

During the rise of feudalism, the best weapon systems of the day had only been available to the select few, usually the lords and knights of the realm who had the income that could support them. As technology advanced, the crossbow, arbalest, and firearms were developed and a relatively untrained foot soldier could kill a knight with a single shot, canceling out a lifetime of mounted discipline.

The Republic of Genoa: The History of the Italian City that Became Influential across the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages examines the highs and lows of Genoa La Superba (“The Proud”), including its humble origins in the first century CE, its felicitous rise after the fall of the Roman Empire, its golden age as a mercantile power during the “Genoese Century,” and its demise at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797.

Who were the Cathars, and why was the Catholic Church so committed to getting rid of them? The Cathars: The History and Legacy of the Gnostic Christian Sect During the Middle Ages examines the origins of the cult, their fascinating belief system, their gradual development over the years, and the events that contributed to their epic downfall.

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.

The office of Poet Laureate goes back many centuries - informally to the time of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1389 and followed thereafter by a number of ‘volunteer laureates’. It was formally assigned to Ben Jonson in 1617 and, as a Royal office by letters patent in 1670, to John Dryden. It is a rich, rewarding history that bursts with the words, themes and visions of many great poets that has bound poetry and poets to a nation's soul.

The Moors are well-known for their presence on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages and for the conflicts they fought in Europe, but the term Moor is a historical rather than an ethnic name. It is an invention of European Christians for the Islamic inhabitants of Maghreb (North Africa), Andalusia (Spain), Sicily, and Malta, and it was sometimes used to designate all Muslims.

If your best friend is named Huckleberry Finn, and there's a girl in your life named Becky Thatcher, a villain named Injun Joe, and you and your friends get into all kinds of mischief and adventures, then you must be that ever-lovin' charmer from Missouri, Tom Sawyer!

The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague, was the worst pandemic in history. The Black Death was almost always fatal, and it took hundreds of years for populations to bounce back. It claimed millions of lives and set the stage for pandemic responses that are still in use today. This audiobook offers a compelling and comprehensive examination of this period and talks about what we’ve learned from such a horrific disease.

The story of the countess Matilda and her Lands: The History, The Canossa (origins, family, estates), The People, Matilda of Canossa, Henry IV, Gregory VII, Henry V, The Castles, The Parish Churches, The Apennine Settlements, The Landscape, Matilda's Way, Arts and Crafts: L'ars canusina, Food and Wine.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Middle Ages series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important medieval men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.