Showing titles in Medieval

Perhaps you have heard of the horrible stories of the Spanish, Portuguese, or French inquisition, the Catholic body of persecutors who would arrest the supposed “heathens” and accuse them of witchcraft, heresies, blasphemy, adultery, and a whole list of other sins or crimes. Torture, interrogations, executions, burnings, and other inhumane methods were used to then force, coerce, or kill the victims of this Catholic organization within the church at the time.

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages started with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. Population decrease, counter-urbanization, the collapse of central authority, invasions of countries, and mass movements of tribes, which had started in late antiquity, continued into the early Middle Ages. The massive movements of tribes formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. Explore more about this long time in history, a dark time when people faced countless challenges to their survival.

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.

Here we have it: We may be looking at the years 2020-2021 and think a certain virus has been bad for the world population. However, what happened in these two years is nothing, proportionally, to the hundreds of millions of people who got wiped out by rat infestations spreading insanitary bacteria, resulting in the disease and death of huge parts of the European population in the mid-centuries.

I Templari, l'ordine religioso-militare più potente del Medioevo, con tutta probabilità per un certo periodo custodirono la sindone oggi conservata a Torino. Venerato nel più rigido segreto e conosciuto nella sua reale natura solo dai maggiori dignitari dell'ordine, il telo era conservato nel tesoro centrale dei Templari, che avevano fama di essere autorità nel campo delle reliquie. In un'epoca di confusione dottrinale per la Chiesa, la sindone per i Templari poteva essere un potente antidoto contro la diffusione delle eresie.

What have a deaf nun, the mother of the first baby born to Europeans in North America, and a condemned heretic to do with one another? They are among the virtuous virgins, marvelous maidens, and fierce feminists of the Middle Ages who trail-blazed paths for women today. Focusing on women from Western Europe between c. 300 and 1500 CE in the medieval period and richly carpeted with detail, A Medieval Woman’s Companion offers a wealth of information about real medieval women who are now considered vital for understanding the Middle Ages in a full and nuanced way.

Ein Blick in die Chroniken der Kreuzzüge offenbart eine Vieldeutigkeit: Friedrich I. Barbarossa erpresst den christlichen Kaiser von Byzanz, und Sultan Saladin führt mehr Kriege gegen seine Glaubensgenossen als gegen die Christen. König Richard Löwenherz ist zwar ein heldenhafter Heerführer, aber auch ein Mann ohne Skrupel. Der Verteidiger von Jerusalem, Balian von Ibelin, erweist sich zugleich als ein Deserteur. Und ausgerechnet der vermeintliche Erzschurke Rainald von Chatillon rettet 1177 das Überleben des Königreiches Jerusalem um ein weiteres Jahrzehnt.

La millenaria storia dell'impero di Bisanzio ha avuto continui punti di contatto con quella dell'Occidente, basta pensare alla presenza dei bizantini in Italia, dove restarono come dominatori dal VI all'XI secolo. I rapporti si fecero poi conflittuali fino a giungere nel 1204 alla quarta crociata, allorché veneziani e crociati si impossessarono di Costantinopoli. Nel Trecento l'atteggiamento dell'Occidente, e soprattutto di Venezia, fu più accondiscendente nei confronti di Bisanzio, considerata un avamposto della cristianità contro la montante marea dei Turchi ottomani.

Una storia gloriosa quanto tormentata, quella dei Templari, segnata da processi, roghi, scandali, accuse di eresia: è forse per questo che intorno al potente ordine cavalleresco non hanno mai smesso di fiorire leggende e miti, destinati a suscitare un sempre rinnovato interesse. Il libro ne dipana l'intricata vicenda, dalla fondazione nel Duecento all'abolizione agli inizi del Trecento, in un racconto limpido e appassionante, basato su ricerche originali che hanno portato l'autrice a rintracciare il documento che attesta l'assoluzione papale dei cavalieri del Tempio.

Henry IV is not famous except for the plays that bear his name: He is not even a "much-maligned" king. He is normally overshadowed by his far more famous son, Henry V, despite his many achievements. Shakespeare is partly to blame for Henry's diminution and his son's exaggerated stature but not completely; we just don't know what to make of a man who took the throne from the rightful king.

It has been famously pointed out that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, but it was also not an empire in the sense people expect when hearing the term. In theory, the emperor was the highest prince in Christendom, and his dominion extended the length and breadth of Western Europe. The empire had been created by the papacy in 801 when Pope Leo III famously crowned the supposedly unwitting Charlemagne in Saint Peter’s Basilica, intending to recreate the Western Roman Empire. In truth, the imperial power did not extend beyond central Europe.

This brief and lively pamphlet on the history of the medieval church is a concise and entertaining introduction to an extremely complex subject. Covering the period between the seventh century and 1500, the author provides succinct summaries of major developments like the Crusades, the growth of scholastic and mystical theology, the removal of the Papacy to Avignon, and the great councils convened to resolve the papal schism.

Knowing everything we do about siege warfare and the medieval way of conquering and being conquered, this book sheds more light on the series of wars that formed the initiative to become independent as a Scottish nation. There is much confusion about the Scottish wars of independence, and in this book, we will clarify some of that. In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of army fights performed between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England. These are significant events in Scottish history.

Le guerre medievali sono spesso rappresentate come scontri fra cavalieri, di norma risolti tramite eroiche singolar tenzoni. In realtà, come ai giorni nostri, anche a quell'epoca, mettere in campo e approvvigionare un esercito era un'operazione complessa, che coinvolgeva truppe a cavallo e appiedate, tiratori e artiglierie, genieri e salmerie. Le battaglie e gli assedi, preparati con grande cura, potevano vedere in campo decine di migliaia di uomini.

Lucky you! You found a bundle! This is a combo book with multiple titles. Scotland is an old country with an ancient history. There is no doubt about that. Many traditions, words, symbols, and other cultural aspects we see as normal today originate from Scotland. With all of this history and more in the past few centuries, when things got really interesting, let’s take a look at some of the best-known, most important factors of Scotland’s history, and what we can learn from them. Additionally, we will discuss the ghosts of Scotland, the wars of independence, and William Wallace.

During the Spanish inquisition, being called a heretic, a witch, or a sinner meant business. It could mean the end of your life. And so, it is with a tragic view on the past that we see countless innocent victims being accused of something they never did, with no bad intentions or rebellious behavior, and nonetheless being executed in brutal manners. One of the proponents of this system, and an active executioner, was Thomas de Torquemada, a completely insane, cruel man who had become notorious for his methods of hunting down and taking out supposed anti-church offenders.

Medieval history is often written as a series of battles and territorial shifts. But the essential contributions of women during this period have been too often relegated to the dustbin of history. In Women in the Middle Ages, Frances and Joseph Gies reclaim this lost history, in a lively historical survey that charts the evolution of women’s roles throughout the period and profiles eight individual women in depth.

Nessuna città ha un nome così evocativo: appena lo pronunci l'Oriente t'assale. Samarcanda è l'estrema tra le Alessandrie fondate dal re macedone; è la città delle fortezze e dei sepolcri; è il nodo carovaniero sulla Via della Seta, il maggior raccordo commerciale di terra fra Cina ed Europa; è la sede del Gur-Amir, tempio e santuario, centro del mondo dalla cupola turchese sotto la quale il grande Tamerlano dorme per sempre.

"Den sorte vikining - en saga" begynder i Rogaland i år 846 efter Kristus. Her fødtes en dag en helt speciel kongesøn. Han skulle blive "Den sorte viking" - regnet for en af de største vikinger og den mægtigste landnamsmand i Island. Denne mørklødede høvding stod i spidsen for en international fangstøkonomi hovedsagelig baseret på hvalrosfangst. Han havde hundredvis af slaver under sig. Kristne slaver fra Skotland og Irland. Men vi ved næsten ingenting om den sorte viking, Geirmund Helskind. Der findes ingen saga om ham, og eftertiden har forsøgt at glemme ham.

This history of medieval inventions, focusing on the 11th to the 14th centuries, vividly portrays a thriving era of human ingenuity, and the results are still being felt to this day. From the mechanical clock to the first eyeglasses, both of which revolutionized society, many of the commonplace devices we now take for granted had their origin in the Middle Ages. Divided into 10 thematic chapters, the accessible audiobook allows the listener to sample areas of interest or listen to the book from beginning to end for a complete historical overview.