Medieval Ages

In this account of Europe’s rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths. Myth One: that Europe’s leap forward occurred suddenly in the “Renaissance,” following centuries of medieval stagnation. Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through “Western” superiority.

Medieval England’s history starts with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. In the 11th century, the Anglo-Saxon elite was completely replaced by the invading Normans. William the Conqueror and his successors brought novelties to England such as castles and cavalry. The last phase of Medieval England started with the great Famine and Black Death in the 14th century, when millions of lives were lost, resulting in England losing half of its population. In this book, you'll get insights into all of the above events and many more.

Les Vikings déferlent sur les mers pour tout piller sur leur passage. Pictavia n'est pas épargnée. Pour sauver son royaume, le roi n'a d'autre choix que conclure un pacte avec les envahisseurs du nord. Quelques années plus tard, de grandes voiles assombrissent les côtes pour reprendre cette princesse picte qui leur a été promise. Unique héritière du trône, Nola ne sait pas encore qu'elle doit épouser un homme qu'elle ne connaît pas. Enlevée par ces barbares, elle va devoir apprendre à vivre avec ce Viking qui ne cesse de la tourmenter.

Following the fall of Rome in 476 CE, the entire dynamic of Europe underwent a complete shift in power and culture. The Dark Ages was an interesting period of about six centuries, and during it, Europe was still trying to figure out what it was and how it would survive the chaos that followed the fall of Rome.

King Arthur is probably the most famous and certainly the most legendary medieval king. From the early ninth century through the middle ages, to the Arthurian romances of Victorian times, the tales of this legendary figure have blossomed and multiplied. And in more recent times, there has been a continuous stream of books claiming to have discovered the "facts" about, or to unlock the secret or truth behind, the "once and future king". Broadly speaking, there are two Arthurs.

Though Lady Dangereuse of the Wulfriths may not have loved, she has certainly lost. Widowed young, she is devoted to managing her lands while helping her young son overcome the trauma of losing his sire. But when the injured knight who rejected her betrothal years ago falls into her hands, she turns her efforts to gaining the confession of one who may be more responsible for the violent death of her husband than she.

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.

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.

The wulfriths. It all began with a woman. A battle. A crown. The conqueror. The conquered. Medieval England - forever changed by the Battle of Hastings. And the rise of the formidable Wulfriths. Having lost all - the woman he loved, great friendship, and lands - Sir Guy wants only to end the insurrection plaguing England. But being the conqueror’s man puts him at odds with his conscience when a disastrous siege against the resistance yields only one thing of value - his capture of a Saxon rebel known as the virgin widow.

Chevalier Maël D’Argent lost more than his striking looks when he aided the Duke of Normandy in taking the English throne from King Harold. As much by his own actions at the Battle of Hastings as those of the enemy, he lost his sire and his honor in breaking faith with his family. Believing himself unworthy of forgiveness, his ruined face the least due him, Maël now serves a ruthless man bent on subduing Saxons resistant to Norman rule.

A battle. A crown. The conqueror. The conquered. Medieval England - forever changed by the Battle of Hastings. And the rise of the formidable Wulfriths. After aiding the English resistance who once more fail to reclaim their country from the invaders, Lady Marguerite returns home to Scotland in the aftermath of William the Conqueror’s harrying of the North - and does not come alone. Accompanying the Sparrow of King Malcolm’s Court is a warrior mistakenly believed her enemy, the price for which may be his irreparable loss of sight.

1399: Constance of York, Lady Despenser, proves herself more than a mere observer in the devious intrigues of her magnificently dysfunctional family, the House of York. Surrounded by power-hungry men, including her aggressively self-centred husband, Thomas, and ruthless siblings, Edward and Richard, Constance places herself at the heart of two treasonous plots against King Henry IV. Will it be possible for this Plantagenet family to safeguard its own political power by restoring either King Richard II to the throne, or the precarious Mortimer claimant?

Here, National Book Award winner Richard Winston explores life in the Middle Ages - from the fifth to the 15th centuries - beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire and ending with the dawn of the Renaissance. In both countryside and cities, from the peasants to the bourgeoisie to the nobility, no aspect of life in this era is left unexplored.

Lady Adelaide Soames of scandalous repute counts the days, months, and years until justice is served. At last, King Edward’s masked ball not only brings her face to face with the nobleman who ruined her sister, but the sheriff she deems his accomplice.

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.

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 was sometimes use to designate all Muslims. It is derived from Mauri, the Latin name for the Berbers who lived in the Roman province of Mauretania, which ranged across modern Algeria and Morocco. Saracen was another European term used to designate Muslims, though it usually referred to the Arabic peoples of the Middle East and derives from an ancient name for the Arabs, Sarakenoi.

From leftover trenchers and stinky chamber pots to barber surgeons and the black plague, life could be really miserable for people during medieval times. Get ready to explore the nasty side of life in the Middle Ages.

Modern beer has little in common with the drink that carried that name through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Looking at a time when beer was often a nutritional necessity, was sometimes used as medicine, could be flavored with everything from the bark of fir trees to thyme and fresh eggs, and was consumed by men, women, and children alike, Beer in the Middle Ages and Renaissance presents an extraordinarily detailed history of the business, art, and governance of brewing.

The great poetic tradition of pre-Christian Scandinavia is known to us almost exclusively though the Prose Edda, a collection of narrative literature, and its companion, the Poetic Edda. The poems originated in Iceland, Norway, and Greenland between the ninth and 13th centuries, when they were compiled in a unique manuscript known as the Codex Regius. The poems are primarily lyrical rather than narrative.

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.