Showing titles in Medieval

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. The war was transformative in many respects, and the impact it had on the geopolitical situation of Europe cannot be overstated. While some might think of the war as being a continuation of the feudal tradition of knights and peasants, the Hundred Years’ War revolutionized Western European warfare, and it truly helped to usher in the concept of nationalism on the continent.

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.

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.

Few love stories can compare to the blissful fairy tale attached to the Madinat al-Zahra, commonly known today as the Medina Azahara. This tale involved a king named Abd ar-Rahman who was so besotted with a maiden that he built an entire palace-city for her from scratch. The Medina Azahara: The History and Legacy of the Moors’ Medieval Capital in Spain looks at the origins behind the city and its importance to the Moors. You will learn about the Medina Azahara like never before.

The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. After various cultures helped develop the region, the legendary Cossacks arrived during the early modern period and dominated the region for several centuries, forming an independent republic that helped forge Ukrainian identity to this day. Even as the origins of these ferocious fighters remain murky and obscure, the Cossacks have continued their growing international appearance with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

While the bow was used throughout ancient times and the Middle Ages, on mainland Europe it was mostly replaced by the crossbow in the early 13th century. But that would change with the introduction of the longbow; a more powerful weapon than the traditional hunting bows. The original longbowmen were Welshmen recruited by King Edward I of England after he conquered Wales, and the weapon got its name from the fact that it was almost as tall as the man using it. This gave it a longer draw and therefore more force as longbows were generally made of yew, a strong and pliable wood.

The Mirror of Alchemy is a short alchemical manual, known in Latin as Speculum Alchemiae. Translated in 1597, it was only the second alchemical text printed in the English language. Long ascribed to Roger Bacon, the work is more likely the product of an anonymous author who wrote between the 13th and the 15th centuries.

La historia de la Inglaterra medieval comienza con la caída del Imperio romano en el siglo quinto. En el siglo XI, la élite anglosajona fue completamente reemplazada por los normandos invasores. Guillermo el Conquistador y sus sucesores trajeron novedades a Inglaterra, como castillos y caballería. La última fase de la Inglaterra medieval comenzó con la gran hambruna y la peste negra en el siglo XIV, cuando se perdieron millones de vidas, lo que provocó que Inglaterra perdiera la mitad de su población.

Descubra la fascinante historia de los godos (visigodos, ostrogodos, greutungos y baltos), desde sus orígenes en el mundo báltico hasta la derrota final frente a los musulmanes en el extremo sur de la península ibérica. Los godos protagonizaron medio milenio de la historia de Europa que descubrirás que en este audiolibro.

Anglo-Saxon England. Having built a rich empire and keen to win the favor of the royal court, Hilda and AEligard have little time for their daughter, Catheryn. But one man, Selwyn, is intrigued by the intelligent and high-spirited girl.

It is possible that no man has ever dominated a time as much as Charles the Great dominated the Early Middle Ages. It is true that the era had its kings, warriors, scholars, and religious leaders, but in many ways, Charlemagne was all of these things. He conquered land for the Franks and sent in missionaries to convert the pagans to Christianity.

Una dinastía que supo expandirse por el Mediterráneo y crear, a golpe de hierro, uno de los reinos más importantes de toda la Edad Media. Es un lugar común en el estudio de la historia de España, centrarse en la historia de Castilla a la hora de estudiar la Edad Media y dedicarle menos tiempo al estudio de la Corona de Aragón. David González Ruiz, en un estilo cercano a la narración -como corresponde a este periodo de batallas y traiciones pretende señalar la importancia del reino de Aragón, que fue más decisivo en el devenir de la historia....

People have historically been creatures of habit and curiosity at the same time, two parts of the human condition that constantly conflict with each other. This has always been true, but at certain moments in history it has been abundantly true, especially during the mid-14th century, when a boon in exploration and travel came up against a fear of the unknown.

Experts on ancient history consider the epic of Gilgamesh to be the oldest preserved Mesopotamian poem ever written. Archeologists say that the story was originally written on 11 clay tablets in cuneiform script. The story was about the notable exploits of a historical and legendary king of Uruk (modern-day Iraq) who lived somewhere between 2750 and 2500 BCE. His name was Gilgamesh.

Sie begannen als Pilger, kämpften als Kriegermönche, bereicherten sich als Bankiers und endeten als Häretiker auf dem Scheiterhaufen: Dan Jones hat die Quellen zu den Templern neu gelesen und bietet mit diesem Buch ein Meisterstück an historischer Erzählkunst: auf dem neuesten Forschungsstand, mit sicherem Gespür für außergewöhnliche Episoden und spannend von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite. Jerusalem 1119.

In 1938, the Soviet Union film company Mosfilm released the motion picture Alexander Nevsky, directed by Sergei Eisenstein. It is a historical drama depicting the defense of the Republic of Novgorod against an invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the mid-13th century. The eponymous hero of the story, the Prince of Novgorod, leads his troops against the German knights on a field of solid ice.

"German Kingdoms in the West" is part of Lynn Thorndike’s History of Medieval Europe. The section discusses the kingdoms that arose in Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The kingdoms were those of the Franks, Burgundians, the Visigoths in the Iberian peninsula, the Vandals in Africa and Sicily, and the Lombards in Italy.

Samarkand is one of the oldest cities of Central Asia, founded nearly 3,000 years ago. The legendary city was the capital of the Sogdians, a trading people who facilitated the spread of commodities, religions, technologies, and ideas across the Silk Road between China and the rest of Eurasia. Samarkand was a key site along the ancient Silk Road, a place where a number of world cultures from the East and the West met and assimilated.

The Templars and the Shroud of Christ is the second book in this series by Vatican historian, Barbara Frale. The Knights Templar - the most powerful religious-military order of the Middle Ages - almost certainly looked after the mysterious shroud that is now kept in Turin. Worshipped in a relentlessly secret manner, and known in its intimate nature by only a handful of the order’s officials, the swathe of fabric was kept in the central treasury of the Knights Templar, who were known for their expertise in the field of relics.

"La Breve historia del rey Arturo" analiza uno de los romances medievales más importantes de la Europa occidental: el mito del rey Arturo, que unifica los reinos de Inglaterra y hace retroceder a los invasores sajones, persiguiéndolos hasta el continente. Arturo, junto a su mujer, Ginebra, ejerce su reinado en la magnífica ciudad de Camelot, donde reúne alrededor de una inmensa mesa redonda a formidables caballeros: Gauvain, Kay, Percival, Lancelot, Tristán.