Its emperors in exile recovered Constantinople in 1261 and this book narrates their empire's struggles for survival from that date until its final conquest by Ottoman Turks in 1453. First published in 1972, the book has been completely revised to take account of recent scholarship. It remains the best synthesis of the political, ecclesiastical and historical events of the period.

    A major player in European diplomacy and war, he acted as peacemaker during the 1280s but became involved in a bitter war with Philip IV a decade later. This book is the definitive account of a remarkable king and his long and significant reign. Widely praised when it was first published in 1988, it is now reissued with a new introduction and updated bibliographic guide.Praise for the earlier edition:"A masterly achievement. . . . A work of enduring value and one certain to remain the standard life for many years."—Times Literary Supplement"A fine book: learned, judicious, carefully thought out and skillfully presented. It is as near comprehensive as any single volume could be."—History Today"To have died more revered than any other English monarch was an outstanding achievement; and it is worthily commemorated by this outstanding addition to the . . . corpus of royal biographies."—Times Education Supplement

    A Greek slave, his dancing bear, and an old holy man journey from Byzantium to rescue the slave's young mistress from the Huns.

    In The Mending of Life, Rolle tells the story of his life and his miracles, from the pain of his conversion as a young man to his settling after a period of wandering with the Cistercian nuns in the tiny hamlet of Hampole, near Doncaster in England. In The Fire of Love, Rolle extols an exquisite love of God through poetry and prose, discussing the importance of the love of God in a life of faith, and also relates his disagreements with the Church of his time. Those interested in the medieval literature, the history of mysticism, and in unique perspectives on the faith should take a look at these important works by the writer generally considered the father of English mysticism.

    A new year in a new world with new nations, new continents, new knowledge, and new rulers. Never before had so much power been gathered in such young hands. The tenth Sultan, the twenty-six-year-old Suleiman, ascends to his father's throne in one of the world's most powerful empires. The rest of the world hopes that the eastern threat has faded. Rhodes is Christendom's closest and most defiant outpost against the East. There the Knights of St. John's Grand Master has died. Strife and treachery await his successor. Some hundred knights have the task to defend the outpost. Their Grand Master's motto is ""Victory or Death."" Endorsements: ""Bishop Bo Giertz knew that faith itself is adventure into unknown territories and on paths uncharted. This novel, set in the turbulence of an emerging new world in the sixteenth century, is a saga about the resilience of faith, a faith that ""overcomes destiny."" It is a potent story unadorned by shallow sentimentalities that invites readers to ponder the goodness of a God who engages human beings with all of their frailties and foibles as instruments of His service."" --John T. Pless Concordia Theological Seminary ""This little known work of Bo Giertz (elegantly translated by Bror Erickson) is remarkable. Not only does it recount a pivotal yet long forgotten conflict between Islam and Christendom; its gripping narrative is sure to draw its readers into the convictions and passions that surrounded the Ottoman assault on the island of Rhodes in 1521."" --Adam S. Francisco Concordia Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): Bo Giertz, the late, beloved Bishop of Gothenburg and author of The Hammer of God, shows in The Knights of Rhodes his wonderful ability to blend history, theology, and a strong narrative.

      The Heresy of the Free Spirit is often considered to have been the most important continental European heresy of the fourteenth century. Many historians have described its membership as a league of anarchistic deviants who fomented sexual license and subversion of authority. Free Spirits are supposed to have justified nihilism and megalomania and to have been remote precursors of Bakunin and Nietzsche and twentieth-century bohemians and hippies. This volume examines the Free-Spirit movement as it appeared in its own age, and concludes that it was not a tightly-organized sect but rather a spectrum of belief that emphasized voluntary poverty and quietistic mysticism. Overall, the movement was far more typical of the late-medieval search for God and godliness than is commonly supposed.

    Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.In the area which is now France and was then Gaul, military institutions fundamentally influenced the successes and failures of the Merovingian dynasty, from 481 to 751. Professor Bachrach examines this period in detail, studying the forms of military organization and their relation to political power. Various aspects of the subject are controversial among scholars specializing in early medieval history, yet this is the first book-length study on the subject to be published. For a hundred years scholars have equated the military institutions of Merovingian Gaul with the customs of the Franks, a minority of the population who were rapidly acculturated. Professor Bachrach's study shows the heterogeneous nature of Merovingian military organization, composed of many institutions drawn from non-Frankish people especially from the remains of the Roman Empire. By dealing with all of the significant sources he demonstrates that there was frequent change in the military institutions rather than revolutionary change. The fluid nature of the military organization also is seen to have had profound effects upon the exercise of political power. Probably the most significant finding of the study is that Merovingian military organization, like much else in Merovingian Gaul, resembled Romania far more than Germania.

    It is the true story of Princess Nest and the Lord Owain ap Cadwgan, Prince of Powys in the years after the Norman invasion, based on the 'Chronicles of the Princes'. Nest was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, ruler of South Wales, and became known as Helen of Wales, not only because of her beauty, but also for the passions she aroused in so many men, which led to wars and vendetta. When her father was slain by the Normans, she became ward, then mistress of King Henry I of England, who gave her in marriage to Gerald of Windsor, castellan of Pembroke. At Christmas 1109, she was abducted, albeit willingly, from Cilgerran Castle by her cousin Owain, her husband having ot escape through the privy shaft. This lead to years of unrest and warfare, both between various Welsh factions and between them and the Normans, culminating in her husband's revenge. Nest had a least nine children by five different fathers, including Owain and King Henry. From these liaisons came a remarkable progeny, including the Fitzgeralds, from whom JFK could trace his ancestry. One son was Bishop of St Davids, another two conquerors of Ireland, one of whom took his father's flag there which later became St Patrick's Cross, now part of the Union Jack. Her grandson was Giraldus Cambrensis, the famous priest and chronicler - and her nephew was The Lord Rhys, instigator of the first Eisteddfod in 1176. This fast-moving tale of love and lust, tenderness and treachery, its historical accuracy brings the atmosphere of twelfth century Wales to life with vibrant authenticity.

    

    La Barge, Journal of the American Academy of Religions, 1974. 'It is the thesis of this book that papal infallibility is basically a medieval creation...Professor Tierney's treatment of the twelfth-century canonists and the Franciscan theologians of the following century is admirable, almost impeccable...an important contribution to historical theology.' Journal of Ecumenical Studies.