24 Lectures / 30 minutes per lecture.1. Why the Middle Ages?2. Demography and the Commercial Revolution3. Those Who Fought—The Nobles4. The Chivalric Code5. Feudalism6. Those Who Worked—The Peasants7. Those Who Worked—The Townspeople8. Women in Medieval Society9. Those Who Prayed—The Monks10. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan Movement11. Heretics and Heresy12. The Medieval Inquisitions13. Jews and Christians14. The Origins of Scholasticism15. Aquinas and the Problem of Aristotle16. The First Universities17. The People's Crusade18. The Conquest of Jerusalem19. The Norman Conquest20. Philip II of France21. Magna Carta22. Empire versus Papacy23. Emperor Frederick II24. Looking Back, Looking Forward

    It should have been a utopia yet its literature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Byock, lie in the underlying structures and cultural codes of the islands' social order. 'Viking Age Iceland' is an engaging, multi-disciplinary work bringing together findings in anthropology and ethnography interwoven with historical fact and masterful insights into the popular Icelandic sagas, this is a brilliant reconstruction of the inner workings of a unique and intriguing society.

    Organized by topic and thoroughly cross-referenced, this comprehensive volume enables the reader to explore and understand every facet of the Middle Ages, an era of breathtaking artistic achievement and religious faith in a world where life was often coarse and cruel, cut short by war, famine, and disease. Framed by chapters that bracket the beginning and the end of this misunderstood period, The Medieval World Complete covers religion and the Church, nations and laws, daily life, art and architecture, scholarship and philosophy, and the world beyond Christendom. The book is completed by biographies of key personalities, from Charlemagne to Wycliffe, as well as timelines, maps, a glossary, a gazetteer, and a bibliography.

    They race against the greed and inequity of the rich, against the very weather of Norway. They race as the only way to save a child prince and bring peace to their country. Here is a true, untold story of both bravery and tenderness. Mary Azarian’s strong, sure woodcuts capture the warmth and ruggedness of medieval life, while Lise Lunge-Larsen’s dramatic telling is direct and mesmerizing.

    This long-awaited biography, written by one of the most distinguished medievalists of his generation, offers a major reassessment of Henry’s character and reign. Challenging the dark and dated portrait of the king as brutal, greedy, and repressive, it argues instead that Henry’s rule was based on reason and order. C. Warren Hollister points out that Henry laid the foundations for judicial and financial institutions usually attributed to his grandson, Henry II. Royal government was centralized and systematized, leading to firm, stable, and peaceful rule for his subjects in both England and Normandy. By mid-reign Henry I was the most powerful king in Western Europe, and with astute diplomacy, an intelligence network, and strategic marriages of his children (legitimate and illegitimate), he was able to undermine the various coalitions mounted against him. Henry strove throughout his reign to solidify the Anglo-Norman dynasty, and his marriage linked the Normans to the Old English line.Hollister vividly describes Henry’s life and reign, places them against the political background of the time, and provides analytical studies of the king and his magnates, the royal administration, and relations between king and church. The resulting volume is one that will be welcomed by students and general readers alike.

    Illustrations.

    The general public is largely unaware of just how many castles survive today or over how wide an area of Europe and the Middle East they are to be found.Fortifications specialist J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann and technical artist Robert Jurga (authors of the acclaimed Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II ) have once again combined European sources and personal observations to present a unique portrait of military architecture. They reveal how the medieval fortress combined both Roman and barbarian features, with some influences from as far away as China. Detailed coverage is given for castles in the British Isles, France, Germany, Moorish Spain, and as far east as Poland and Russia, as well as Muslim and Crusader castles in the Middle East. The Medieval Fortress covers the origin and evolution of the castles and other walled defenses, their major components, and the reasons for their eventual decline, which was not solely due to the introduction of gunpowder. Also receiving extensive coverage are the weapons and equipment of garrisons and besieging troops. Over a hundred photographs and 150 extraordinarily detailed technical drawings accompany the main text, which also takes an in-depth look at representative castles of each major type.

    Like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta left behind an account of his own incredible journey from Morocco to China, from the steppes of Russia to the shores of Tanzania, some seventy-five thousand miles in all.James Rumford has retold Ibn Battuta's story in words and pictures, adding the element of ancient Arab maps, maps as colorful and as evocative as a Persian miniature, as intricate and mysterious as a tiled Moroccan wall.Into this arabesque of pictures and maps, James Rumford has woven the story not just of a traveler in a world long gone but of a man on his journey through life."

    Chapters cover the people, places and artifacts that are central to medieval London's history (1066 to 1600) and that can be visited by amateur historian travelers today. Each entry includes details such as open hours, telephone numbers, address, and nearest Tube station, along with historical comment and description, suggestions for other sites to visit while in the neighborhood. Entries are cross-referenced with a "people" index and sidebars testing historical knowledge.

    Told from the viewpoint of the European crusaders, it recounts the fall of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem to Saladin in 1187 and the subsequent expeditions to recover it, led by the Emperor Frederick I, King Philip II of France and King Richard I of England, the Lionheart. This is the most comprehensive account of the crusade. Much of the account is from eyewitness sources and provides vivid and colourful details of the great campaigns. The translator gives background details of the events described, comparing this account with other accounts from Europe, the Christians of the Holy Land and Muslim writers. She also sets out the evidence for the authorship and sources of the chronicle.

    From 1493Hartmann Schedel's Chronicle of the World, widely known as The Nuremberg Chronicle, after the German city in which it was created, was a groundbreaking encyclopedic work and, at the time, the most lavishly illustrated book ever printed in Europe. Both a historical reference work and a contemporary survey of urban culture at the end of the 15th century, the Chronicle had a remarkable influence on the cultural, ecclesiastical and intellectual history of the Middle Ages. In over 1,800 superb woodcut illustrations the Chronicle depicted events from the Bible, human monstrosities, portraits of kings, queens, saints and martyrs, and allegorical pictures of miracles, as well as views of a great number of "modern" cities, many of which had never before been documented. Today, copies of the Chronicle sell for up to $400,000. TASCHEN was granted rare access to an extraordinary hand-colored copy, and has created a complete facsimile of outstanding quality, true to the original in every respect. In case you don't read Old German, the comprehensive annex, with summaries of the book's main stories, provides a user-friendly way to explore this amazing historical masterpiece.

    It is surprisingly relevant today!

    Though the village where Gugu lives is dry and dusty, her house is big and sprawling and unlike any other. The courtyard and walls are decorated with beautiful paintings and clay animals, all made by Gugu herself. Best of all, when Kukamba visits, she gets to help shape and paint some of the wonderful zebras, elephants, and birds that Gugu is always adding to the house. When the heavy rains come and her grandmother's showpieces are destroyed, Kukamba is crushed. But the Gugu helps her see that an ending can also be a beginning, and art is not the only beauty the world has to offer. Set in the grassy plains of Zimbabwe and gracefully illustrated in watercolors, GUGU'S HOUSE is a unique tribute to the spirit of creativity and the immutable cycles of nature.

    The general public is largely unaware of just how many castles survive today or over how wide an area of Europe and the Middle East they are to be found.Fortifications specialist J.E. and H.W. Kaufmann and technical artist Robert Jurga (authors of the acclaimed Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II ) have once again combined European sources and personal observations to present a unique portrait of military architecture. They reveal how the medieval fortress combined both Roman and barbarian features, with some influences from as far away as China. Detailed coverage is given for castles in the British Isles, France, Germany, Moorish Spain, and as far east as Poland and Russia, as well as Muslim and Crusader castles in the Middle East. The Medieval Fortress covers the origin and evolution of the castles and other walled defenses, their major components, and the reasons for their eventual decline, which was not solely due to the introduction of gunpowder. Also receiving extensive coverage are the weapons and equipment of garrisons and besieging troops. Over a hundred photographs and 150 extraordinarily detailed technical drawings accompany the main text, which also takes an in-depth look at representative castles of each major type.

    Early Carolingian Warfare is the first book-length study of how the Frankish dynasty, beginning with Pippin II, established its power and cultivated its military expertise in order to reestablish the regnum Francorum, a geographical area of the late Roman period that includes much of present-day France and western Germany. Bernard Bachrach has thoroughly examined contemporary sources, including court chronicles, military handbooks, and late Roman histories and manuals, to establish how the early Carolingians used their legacy of political and military techniques and strategies forged in imperial Rome to regain control in the West.Pippin II and his successors were not diverted by opportunities for financial enrichment in the short term through raids and campaigns outside of the regnum Francorum; they focused on conquest with sagacious sensibilities, preferring bloodless diplomatic solutions to unnecessarily destructive warfare, and disdained military glory for its own sake. But when they had to deploy their military forces, their operations were brutal and efficient. Their training was exceptionally well developed, and their techniques included hand-to-hand combat, regimented troop movements, fighting on horseback with specialized mounted soldiers, and the execution of lengthy sieges employing artillery. In order to sustain their long-term strategy, the early Carolingians relied on a late Roman model whereby soldiers were recruited from among the militarized population who were required by law to serve outside their immediate communities. The ability to mass and train large armies from among farmers and urban-dwellers gave the Carolingians the necessary power to lay siege to the old Roman fortress cities that dominated the military topography of the West.Bachrach includes fresh accounts of Charles Martel's defeat of the Muslims at Poitiers in 732, and Pippin's successful siege of Bourges in 762, demonstrating that in the matter of warfare there never was a western European Dark Age that ultimately was enlightened by some later Renaissance. The early Carolingians built upon surviving military institutions, adopted late antique technology, and effectively utilized their classical intellectual inheritance to prepare the way militarily for Charlemagne's empire.

     Brings together specially-commissioned contributions from a team of leading European and American scholars. Embraces both the literature and the cultural background of the period. Combines the discussion of primary material and manuscript sources with critical analysis and readings. Considers the past, present and future of Anglo-Saxon studies

    The manuscripts of 35 recipes dates not later than the end of the 13th century, but clearly goes back to an original perhaps as early as the 12th. Each of the four is prese

    Although each is worthy of her own individual biography, their lives were so enmeshed by kinship, marriage and circumstances as to be well served by a book that mirrors the complex interweaving of their lives. Their story is rich enough in dramatic incident to provide a gripping narrative, but the book looks also at the wider issues: at the restrictions, particularly in the exercise of power, placed on the three women by society; at their success in ignoring or pushing back those barriers; at what they wanted or expected for their daughters; and at how they saw themselves in relation to men. The study draws largely on contemporary sources, both printed and manuscript, and presents material hitherto unknown or overlooked. It is the first study of the three women as a group, and indeed is one of the first modern, reliable studies in English or French of any one of them as an individual.

    This is a collection of essays and documents dealing with Robert the Bruce's Scottish expedition to Ireland in 1315.

    The Portfolio is published quarterly and is an ad-free subscription-based periodical for parents, grandparents, libraries and childcare providers. When consumers see Oppenheim Toy Portfolio award seals on products, they can be assured that they are "award-winning" because they were selected by a noted expert in child development, children's literature, and education, and further tested by the most objective panel of judges-kids.