Showing titles in Medieval

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.

Ostensibly written by an English knight, The Book of Marvels and Travels claim to recount his experiences in Egypt, the Levant, India, and China. It describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and further into Asia, and the many weird and wonderful peoples and practices of the East. The author claims to have traveled in land populated by Amazons, dog-headed people, cannibals, one-footed tribes, and Pygmies.

Bloomsbury presents Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium by Jonathan Harris, read by Mark Elstob. Jonathan Harris’ new edition of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, Constantinople, provides an updated and extended introduction to the history of Byzantium and its capital city. Accessible...

The mystical floating city of Venice has inspired awe for generations and continues to be one of the most visited European cities for good reason. Tourists are drawn to the stunning blend of classical, Gothic, and Renaissance-inspired architecture across the picturesque towns and villages, the charming open-air markets, the mouthwatering traditional cuisine, and of course, the famous gondolas drifting down the twinkling blue waters.

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.

For nearly a thousand years following its foundation, there was only one Christian Church. Centered in the city of Rome, the Church expanded and grew until it became the dominant religion in Europe and beyond. The early growth of the Church had been suppressed by the Romans until the Emperor Constantine became the first to convert the empire to Christianity, and from that point forward, the growth of the Church was inextricably linked with the Roman Empire, the most powerful military, economic, and political force in the ancient world.

The Sagrat militiamen suspend their hunt for Alejandro and return to Valencia to discover that they have become the prey. When Rafael Perato is abducted at the Inquisitor’s funeral, he finds himself facing a new and dangerous enemy. What his captor wants with him is unclear, but as the days turn to weeks, Rafael is plunged deeper and deeper into a web of deceit and betrayal.

Il guerriero a cavallo, con il suo prestigio anche simbolico, ci perviene dal profondo della preistoria, in termini tanto di valori quanto di pratiche di vita e di combattimento. Dagli sciamani centroasiatici ai guerrieri barbari, dagli dèi nordici ai martiri cristiani, senza dimenticare l'evoluzione dell'allevamento, l'affinarsi delle tecniche metallurgiche, lo sviluppo dell'arte della guerra e le relative "visioni del mondo".

If you were to think of a group of crusading knights, some of the better-known Crusaders would likely come to mind, such as the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers, or perhaps even the Teutonic Knights. But the Order of Saint Lazarus? This group is not typically right on the tip of anyone's tongue—yet they were an essential and integral part of monastic Christendom.

Discover the leaders of the Knights Templar, the fiercest warriors of the Church during the Crusades, from beginning to end. The Knights Templar is one of history’s greatest mysteries. They began as a completely transparent, public apparatus of European Christendom in the Middle Ages but eventually transformed into what many would regard as a secret society. Leading the Knights throughout these changes were their Grand Masters. These men were military as well as spiritual masters who led by their own example.

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. Constantine remains an influential and controversial figure to this day. It was Constantine who first decided that Rome, exposed and vulnerable near the gathering masses of barbarians moving into Germania and Gaul, was a strategically unsafe base for the Empire, and thus expanded the city of New Rome on the Dardanelles straits, creating what eventually became Constantinople.

Nicht berühmte Herrscher, grausame Kriege oder denkwürdige Ereignisse sind das Thema des Historikers Ian Mortimer, sondern der Alltag der Menschen im Mittelalter: Wie feierten sie? Worüber lachten sie? Wie liebten sie? Mortimer beschreibt, wie es in den engen Gassen roch, welche Mahlzeiten sich die Bewohner zubereiteten und wie man sich auch ohne Handy und SMS in Windeseile verständigte. Endlich ein Buch, das zeigt, dass Geschichte nicht nur studiert, sondern auf einer Zeitreise erlebt werden kann!

On his deathbed, some historians claim that when he was pressed to name a successor, Alexander the Great muttered that his empire should go "to the strongest". Other sources claim that he passed his signet ring to his general Perdiccas, thereby naming him successor, but whatever his choices were or may have been, they were ignored.

About 225 miles west of Ulaanbaatar, the present-day capital city of Mongolia, are the ruins of Karakorum, the ancient capital of the Mongol Empire. Located in the Orkhon River Valley, at the foot of the Khangai Mountain range, the city was founded by Genghis Khan in 1220 CE. Under his son and successor, Ögedei Khan, Karakorum grew into a thriving city, with high walls enclosing an urban landscape of brick-built structures and paved roads, divided into different districts with a palace, craft workshops, and marketplaces.

Wie sag ich meinen Kindern, was wirklich zählt im Leben? Der Hollywoodstar und Autor Ethan Hawke hat sich dafür etwas Charmantes ausgedacht: Angeblich fand er auf seinem Dachboden den Brief eines geheimnisvollen Vorfahren, Ritter Sir Thomas Lemuel Hawke. Darin stehen alle Lebensweisheiten, die er 1483 seinen Kindern aufschrieb für den Fall, dass er aus der Schlacht nicht zurückkehrt. Er beschreibt Tugenden, die ein edler Ritter besitzen sollte: Bescheidenheit, Ehrlichkeit, Tapferkeit und Geduld.

The New York Times bestseller that tells the story of Britain’s greatest and worst dynasty—“a real-life Game of Thrones” (The Wall Street Journal)—by the author of Powers and Thrones. The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into...

In the Lasta Mountains of northern Ethiopia, high on an arid plateau in the foothills, the settlement of Lalibela slumbered for centuries as little more than a pilgrimage site at the end of a long and weary footpath. The ancient trade routes between the Eritrean coast and the central highland redoubts that would later coalesce as the imperial capital of Addis Ababa passed 50 miles to the east of Lalibela, and from the early 13th century, after the passing of Gebre Mesqel Lalibela himself, the site slipped into decline.

This book is published by University of Notre Dame Press.

The parish, the lowest level of hierarchy in the medieval church, was the shared responsibility of the laity and the clergy. Most Christians were baptized, went to confession, were married, and were buried in the parish church or churchyard; in addition, business, legal settlements, sociability, and entertainment brought people to the church, uniting secular and sacred concerns.

The deepest currents of passion seldom break the surface of literature. Romantic classics abound; but however skilled a writer may be in verbalising an emotional experience, he cannot publicly evoke the heat of blood, the yearning of soul, bared in perfect intimacy between two beings. But letters can do this, and songs never meant to be sung by any but the lover, or the beloved.