Edmunds, in the region of West Suffolk--affords many unique insights into the life of a medieval religious community. It depicts the daily worship in the abbey church and the beliefs and values shared by the monks, as well as the whispered conversations, rumors, and disagreements within the cloister--and the bustling life of the market-town of Bury, just outside the abbey walls. This edition offers the first modern translation from the Latin to appear since 1949.

    But, as Graham Phillips shows through a wealth of literary and scientific evidence, King Arthur was a real man, Camelot a real place, and the legendary Excalibur a real sword--and Phillips has located them all. Phillips examines the earliest stories of Arthur as well as previously unknown ancient manuscripts preserved in the vaults of the British Library in London, such as the work of the 9th-century monk Nennius, to pinpoint the exact locations of Arthur’s tomb, the ruins of Camelot, and the sword Excalibur. He reveals the mythic king as the real-life leader Owain Ddantgwyn, who united the British to repel invasion from Germany around 500 AD. Moving his quest from library vaults to the real sites of Arthur’s life, the author confirms his research through a Dark Age monument, hidden away in the mountains of western Britain, that bears an inscription about a powerful warlord who went by the battle title “Arthur.” He visits archaeological excavations at the ruins of Viroconium, near Wroxeter in Shropshire, clearly identifying the ancient city as Camelot, the fortified capital of Arthur’s Britain. Working with specialist divers and marine archaeologists, he surveys the depths of an ancient lake in the English countryside to reveal the resting place of Excalibur. Enlisting a team of scientists and sophisticated geophysics equipment, he uncovers the lost grave of the historical King Arthur, buried with his shield, just as told in legend. The culmination of 25 years of research, including new translations of primary source material, this book provides the necessary evidence to allow King Arthur to finally be accepted as the authentic British king he was.

    He was born to wealth, power, worldliness. Yet strangely enough, his features closely resembled a youth who was his total opposite-a poverty-stricken carpenter's son from Galilee. and though Nathan chose the path of physical adventure and sensual excess, his life was intertwined with that of the man called Jesus of Nazareth- until their moment of confrontation and truth in the shadow of the cross... Frank Yerby's most magnificent novel- Judas, My brother "brings alive the great, sprawling, barbaric world of the first century...a rousing novel... a great story-teller".

    This Very Short Introduction examines and untangles the various strands of anti-Semitism seen throughout history, revealing why hatred of the Jews appears to be so persistent through time. Steven Beller illuminates the history of the phenomenon: from medieval religious conflict, to the growth of anti-Semitism as a political and ideological movement in the 19th century, to the "new" anti-Semitism of the 21st century, as reflected in Holocaust denial and Islamic anti-Zionism. The author also discusses the role and attitudes of key figures such as Wagner, Nietzsche, and Marx, as well as key texts such as the forged "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." In short, this compact book offers an insightful account that underscores how anti-Semitism reached it its dark apogee in the worst genocide in modern history--the Holocaust--and how it still persists around the world today.About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, and Literary Theory to History. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given topic. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how it has developed and influenced society. Whatever the area of study, whatever the topic that fascinates the reader, the series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

    That crusade almost wiped out the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians whose beliefs threatened the authority of the Catholic Church. But decades of harrowing repression-enforced by the ruthless Pope Boniface VIII , the Machiavellian French King Philip the Fair of France, and the pitiless grand inquisitor of Toulouse, Bernard Gui (the villain in The Name of the Rose)-had bred resentment. In the city of Carcassonne, anger at the abuses of the Inquisition reached a boiling point and a great orator and fearless rebel emerged to unite the resistance among Cathar and Catholic alike. The people rose up, led by the charismatic Franciscan friar Bernard Délicieux and for a time reclaimed control of their lives and communities. Having written the acclaimed chronicle of the Cathars The Perfect Heresy , Stephen O'Shea returns to the medieval world to chronicle a rare and remarkable story of personal courage and principle standing up to power, amidst the last vestiges of the endlessly fascinating Cathar world.Praise for The Perfect Heresy :"At once a cautionary tale about the corruption of temporal power...and an accounting of the power of faith ...It is also just a darn good read."-Baltimore Sun "An accessible, readable history with lessons ...that were not learned by broad humanity until it saw 20th-century tyrants applying the goals and methods of the Inquisition on a universal scale."-New York Times

    Aneirin's poem is a universal celebration of the undying theme of the ideal hero. O'Grady's belief that what Aneirin wrote of his war is true of all wars informs the purpose of his version, which is to give a `reading' of the poem as one way in which it might have been written today. With magnificent brush drawings by Louis Le Brocquy.

    

    The Barbarians were becoming a powerful force in Europe, and the Huns, the most savage of these tribesmen, were sweeping south towards the imperial frontiers. At the same time the Empire faced growing internal social and economic problems: plague and war had diminished the agricultural population and productivity was falling; the army was under increasing strain in defending the extensive boundaries. Christianity, too, continued to prove an unsettling influence - accepted and established in Constantinople, but not in Rome. In this perceptive and stimulating book, Professor Wallace-Hadrill traces the development of Western Europe from the dissolution of the late Roman Empire to the emergence, in the tenth century, of the individual states of medieval Europe. Now in its fourth edition, The Barbarian West contains a fully revised and up-to-date bibliography.

    But the question of how we understand the British Empire - its origins, nature, purpose, and effect on the world it ruled - is far from settled. In this incisive work, David Cannadine looks at the British Empire from a new perspective - through the eyes of those who created and ruled it - and offers fresh insight into the driving forces behind the Empire.Arguing against the views of Edward Said and others, Cannadine suggests that the British were motivated not only by race, but also by class. The British wanted to domesticate the exotic world of their colonies and to reorder the societies they ruled according to an idealized image of their own class hierarchies.

    Dingz -- a bright, articulate student -- and his circle of friends like to sit around drinking and discussing AIDS, racism, history and South African politics.They also have some hair-raising adventures; like being kidnapped by taxi-drivers, contracting gonorrhea and trying to fake a death certificate. The novel's constant backdrop is the subtle but institutionalized racism at Dingz's university; which threatens to deny him financial aid. Dingz is an intelligent and likable character -- but he is certainly no saint. His anger at the racism around him is sometimes over-the-top but certainly not hard to understand, and his self-aware, cynical usage of the 'race card' is at times incredibly amusing. This is an authentic, witty, slice-of-life piece of fiction set at the time of the first South African democratic elections.

    Prata The year is A.D. 1565 and the tiny island fortress of Malta, defended by an anachronistic crusading order called the Knights of St. John Hospitallers, is all that stands between the war machine of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and the very heart of Christendom. Pitifully outmatched and against impossible odds, the indomitable Grand Master Jean Parisot de La Valette nevertheless inspires his knights to "strike a blow for Christ" and sacrifice their lives to halt the invading Turks at the gates of Europe. What follows is a desparate struggle between East and West, Cross and Koran, faith and despair. Nicholas Prata relates the actual events of the Great Siege in riveting and graphic prose which brings the extreme heroism of the knights and the unimaginable horror of combat sharply into focus. About the Author: Nicholas C. Prata resides in Bear, Delaware and is also the author of the fantasy epic Dream of Fire.

    Violence in the Middle Ages, however, functioned differently, according to David Nirenberg. In this provocative book, he focuses on specific attacks against minorities in fourteenth-century France and the Crown of Aragon (Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia). He argues that these attacks--ranging from massacres to verbal assaults against Jews, Muslims, lepers, and prostitutes--were often perpetrated not by irrational masses laboring under inherited ideologies and prejudices, but by groups that manipulated and reshaped the available discourses on minorities. Nirenberg shows that their use of violence expressed complex beliefs about topics as diverse as divine history, kinship, sex, money, and disease, and that their actions were frequently contested by competing groups within their own society.Nirenberg's readings of archival and literary sources demonstrates how violence set the terms and limits of coexistence for medieval minorities. The particular and contingent nature of this coexistence is underscored by the book's juxtapositions--some systematic (for example, that of the Crown of Aragon with France, Jew with Muslim, medieval with modern), and some suggestive (such as African ritual rebellion with Catalan riots). Throughout, the book questions the applicability of dichotomies like tolerance versus intolerance to the Middle Ages, and suggests the limitations of those analyses that look for the origins of modern European persecutory violence in the medieval past.

    We run into it every day and we all are susceptible to falling victim to its enticements. We're tempted to cheat on our taxes, milk the clock, lust after someone other than our spouse, dishonor our parents, lie to our friends, covet our neighbor's trip to Europe. But just because we must live with temptation doesn't mean we have to let it master us. In "Flirting with the Forbidden," bestselling author Steven James reminds readers that we are always just one step away from bowing to temptation, that we all share the same potential and propensity for evil. Combining powerful first-person narratives from Scripture with thought-provoking reflections on temptation, discipleship, and grace, James helps readers grow in discernment and reliance on the Holy Spirit and develop a deeper, more intimate walk with Christ.

    But when they murdered his parents and enslaved his sister and his sweetheart, they left him no choice. Brion of Wexford is the son of a crippled trapper living a quiet life on the edge of the vast and unruly heathland. But when Salassani raiders destroy his world, he must venture into the heathland to attempt the impossible task of finding the girls, rescuing them, and conveying them safely home across hundreds of miles of enemy territory. Now Brion finds himself pursued by men bent on his destruction, deprived of his protectors, and haunted by the knowledge that his murdered father has hidden a dark secret that could reshape Brion’s entire identity. Brion must find a way to stay alive long enough to get the girls safely home. This is an adventure series perfect for fans of John Flanagan’s Ranger's Apprentice, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series, and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire series.

    A creative handbook for Jewish parents explains how to build a family and a home that is imbued with the values, principles, and traditions of Judaism combining insights from the Talmud with practical advice and firsthand experience to offer guidance on synagogue membership, religious education, hol