Medieval History

Homer's Iliad is the famous epic poem set among the tales of Troy. Its subject is the anger of the hero Achilles and its consequences for the warring Greeks and Trojans. Unlike other books on the Iliad, this one combines the detailed expertise of a historian with the sensitivity of a teacher of it as poetry. Lane Fox goes on to consider hallmarks of the poem, its values, implicit and explicit, its characters, its women, its gods and even its horses. He argues repeatedly for its beautiful observation and addresses its parallel use of what is, to us, the natural world.

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked a number of significant historical turning points. It saw the end of the last vestige of the Roman Empire, which had been founded more than 1,400 years before, and marked the beginning of a period of dominance for the growing Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, this moment marked the end of the Middle Ages in Europe and the beginning of the Renaissance, as the fall of Constantinople was directly linked to both these events.

An upcoming book to be published by Penguin Random House.

Between the infamous Lindisfarne raid in 793 CE and the Norman conquest of 1066, the peoples we know now as the Vikings became one of the most far-ranging and influential civilizations in history. The Vikings are frequently portrayed as raiders, marauding across medieval Europe and Britain, but the culture and society of the medieval Nordic peoples was so much more diverse, multifaceted and influential than it is often depicted.

Wir neigen dazu, das Mittelalter als eine dunkle, rückständige und konstante Zeit zu sehen, die von Gewalt, Unwissenheit und Aberglaube geprägt war. Im Gegensatz dazu glauben wir, dass Fortschritt auf Wissenschaft und technischer Innovation beruht und dass uns erst die Erfindungen der letzten Jahrhunderte in die Moderne geführt haben. Ian Mortimer räumt mit diesem Narrativ auf. Er skizziert die enormen kulturellen Veränderungen, die sich im Mittelalter vollzogen, und führt uns eine revolutionäre Epoche vor Augen, die von grundlegender Bedeutung für die Entwicklung der westlichen Welt war.

In the time period between the fall of Rome and the spread of the Renaissance across the European continent, many of today's European nations were formed, the Catholic Church rose to great prominence, some of history's most famous wars occurred, and a social class system was instituted that lasted over 1,000 years.

Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England's monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII's subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.

"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.

Ireland is approximately the size of the state of Indiana, yet this small country boasts an extensive, rich, and fascinating history. Ireland's Forgotten Past is an alternative history that covers 13,000 years in 36 stories that are often left out of history books.

In 1187 Saladin's armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously annihilated Jerusalem's army at the battle of Hattin, and behind the city's high walls a last-ditch defence was being led by an unlikely trio - including Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. They could not resist Saladin, but, if they were lucky, they could negotiate terms that would save the lives of the city's inhabitants.

On a chilly November night in 1407, Louis of Orleans was murdered by a band of masked men. The crime stunned and paralyzed France since Louis had often ruled in place of his brother King Charles, who had gone mad. As panic seized Paris, an investigation began. In charge was the Provost of Paris, Guillaume de Tignonville, the city's chief law enforcement officer - and one of history's first detectives. As de Tignonville began to investigate, he realized that his hunt for the truth was much more dangerous than he ever could have imagined.

Washed up on a foreign shore, Tristan is lucky to be alive. As before, it seems to be a miracle - the Holy Grail the young Templar squire is protecting has saved his life yet again. But now he is lost in a strange land, and he doesn't know if his friends, the fiery archer Robard Hode and the Saracen assassin maid Maryam, still survive. Tristan's knack for getting into trouble is alive and well, though.

Le due date hanno segnato la caduta dell'impero romano d'Occidente e la scoperta dell'America, eventi tradizionalmente intesi come l'inizio e la fine del Medioevo. Un'era che già nel nome sconta una sorta di peccato originario: essere una cesura tra la gloria dell'Antichità e lo sfavillio speranzoso del Rinascimento. Non fu così. Questo saggio si concentra sulla penisola italiana, il fulcro di gran parte delle vicende di quel millennio. L'Italia fu infatti la culla del papato, e al contempo zona di conquiste e cadute di grandi condottieri e imperatori.

In this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give a compelling account of a battle upon which so many legends have been built. But she also looks behind the action on the field to paint a portrait of the age. A mad king, murderous dukes, scheming bishops, knightly heroes, surgeons, heralds, spies, and pirates: the story of Agincourt has them all.

Young Duncan M'Kethe finds himself caught in the web of Sir James Turner, the former Covenanter turned military leader of the persecutors. Duncan is torn by his hatred of Turner's dragoons, who have treated his friends cruelly, and his father's instructions to love them. He must be true to Jesus Christ while attempting to rescue his father from enemy hands.

Hoy en día, Rusia es el país más grande y uno de los más poblados del mundo. Desde las primeras y primitivas formaciones estatales del siglo IX hasta la creación del primer verdadero zarato de Rusia en 1547, la historia de la Rusia medieval está llena de constantes luchas por el poder, rivalidades personales entre varios príncipes, guerras sangrientas y búsqueda de identidad.

The Book of Margery Kempe is the extraordinary account of a medieval wife, mother, and mystic from Norfolk. Having married in c. 1393, given birth to 14 children, and pursued unsuccessful ventures in brewing and milling, Kempe made a vow of chastity and embarked on a life of prayer, penance, and pilgrimage.

The medieval humoral system of medicine suggested that it was possible to die from having too much - or too little - sex, while the Roman Catholic Church taught that virginity was the ideal state. Holy men and women committed themselves to lifelong abstinence in the name of religion. Everyone was forced to conform to restrictive rules about who they could have sex with, in what way, how often, and even when, and could be harshly punished for getting it wrong.

16 years of peace and prosperity have passed since Lord Otori Takeo united the Three Countries. Takeo and his beloved consort, Kaede, have three daughters and a happy family life. Their success has attracted the attention of the distant Emperor and his general, the warlord Saga Hideki, who covet the wealth of the Countries. Meanwhile, the violent acts and betrayals of the past will not lie buried, and other secrets will not stay hidden. Everything that Takeo and Kaede have achieved is threatened.

The year is 1453, and all signs point to it being the end of the world. Accused of heresy and expelled from his monastery, handsome seventeen-year-old Luca Vero is recruited by a mysterious stranger to record the end of times across Europe. Commanded by sealed orders, Luca is sent to map the fears of Christendom and travel to the very frontier of good and evil.