European history: medieval period, middle ages Books

The authors of The Bright Ages return with a real-life Game of Thrones—the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that would end an empire, upend a continent, and redefine...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES...

‘Impossible to summarise and delightfully absorbing, Hadley’s book is comfortably the most unexpected history book of the year’ Sunday TimesA luminous journey through a thousand years of folklore and English history. Once upon a time in a...

Prophecy, Fate and Memory in the Early and Medieval Celtic World brings together a collection of studies on Celtic inscriptions, religious travel, settlement, penance and prophecy in medieval Celtic nations. The contributors explore the themes of memory,...

The new book by Sunday Times bestselling author of Ancestors and Buried - the final instalment in Professor Alice Roberts' acclaimed trilogy.In her previous two bestsellers, Professor Alice Roberts powerfully and evocatively...

A collection of tales from the Middle Ages that reveal voyages to Heaven and Hell, the realm of the Faery, mystical lands, and encounters with mythic beasts • Shares travelers’ accounts of voyages into the afterlife, alarming creatures of unparalleled...

The history and philosophy of the mysterious Cathar religion and its lost treasure• Demonstrates that Catharism is not simply a heretical Christian cult as it is often portrayed• Examines the evidence for the existence of a lost Cathar treasure and its...

The sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps, whether swimming vigorously, gambolling amid the waves, attacking ships, or simply displaying themselves for our appreciation, are one of the most visually engaging elements on these maps, and yet they...

The ways of war in the Middle Ages never cease to fascinate. There is a glamour associated with knights in shining armour, colourful tournaments and heroic deeds which appeals to the modern imagination. Because medieval warfare had its colourful side it...

Throughout the Middle Ages, medieval manuscripts often featured dogs, from beautiful and loving depictions of man's best friend, to bloodthirsty illustrations of savage beasts, to more whimsical and humorous interpretations. Featuring stunning...

The art of predicting earthly events from the movements of stars and planets has always been a source of fascination. Medieval astrologers, though sometimes feared to be magicians in league with demons, were usually revered scholars whose ideas and...

"A trailblazer in the field of premodern global history, Andrea here guides readers through the medieval expansion of the 'first Europe' from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries. Ranging from Ireland to Ethiopia, from the Mongol Empire to the so-called...

An accessible biography of the venerable Bede, regarded as the father of English history.This book investigates the life and world of Bede (c. 673735), the foremost scholar of the early Middle Ages and the 'father of English history.'...

An examination of coined money and its significance to rulers, aristocrats and peasants in early medieval Europe.Between the end of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and the economic transformations of the twelfth, coined money in western Europe was...

Originally published in 1957, this classic work has guided generations of scholars through the arcane mysteries of medieval political theology. Throughout history, the notion of two bodies has permitted the post mortem continuity of monarch and monarchy,...

Late Medieval Christianity's encounter with miraculous materials viewed in the context of changing conceptions of matter itself.In the period between 1150 and 1550, an increasing number of Christians in western Europe made pilgrimage to places where...

Medieval falconry was not just about hunting; the practice also signified sovereignty, power, and diplomacy. In The Art of Medieval Falconry, Yannis Hadjinicolaou describes the visual culture that sprang up around these practices, tracking how imagery,...

The Annals of Fulda are the principal narrative source written from a perspective east of the Rhine for the period in which the Carolingian Empire gave way to a number of successor kingdoms, including the one which was to become Germany. Timothy Reuter's...

From the National Book Award-longlisted author of Finding Florida, a sparkling, sweeping chronicle of the author's life and discoveries in an ancient town in "Deep France," from nearby prehistoric caves to medieval dynastic struggles to the colorful...

This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the Teutonic Knights, or Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. Evolving into a powerful religious institution, the Knights left a profound and...

Griffinology is a fascinating exploration of the mythical creature's many depictions in human culture. Drawing on a wealth of historical and literary sources, this book shows how the griffin has captured the imagination of people for over 5,000...

Tales Things Tell offers new perspectives on histories of connectivity between Africa, Asia and Europe in the period before the Mongol conquests of the thirteenth century. Reflected in objects and materials whose circulation and reception defined...

Theology and the Scientific Imagination is a pioneering work of intellectual history that transformed our understanding of the relationship between Christian theology and the development of science. Distinguished scholar Amos Funkenstein explores the...

This book is the first history of medieval European anatomical images. Richly illustrated, The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe explores the many ways in which medieval surgeons, doctors, monks, and artists understood and depicted human anatomy. Taylor...

A witty and concise look at the beginnings of English history, when the nation consolidated after clashes between the Saxons and invading Vikings.In 871, three of England's four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian...

From an acclaimed historian, a mesmerising account of how medieval European Christians envisioned the paradoxical nature of holy objects.Between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries, European Christians used in worship a plethora of objects, not only...

The archipelagic kingdoms of Man and the Isles that flourished from the last quarter of the eleventh century down to the middle of the thirteenth century represent two forgotten kingdoms of the medieval British Isles. They were ruled by powerful...

In late medieval England, ordinary people, apothecaries and physicians gathered up practical medical tips for everyday use. While some were sensible herbal cures, many were weird and wonderful. This book selects some of the most revolting or remarkable...

Early manuscripts in the English language include religious works, plays, romances, poetry and songs, as well as charms, notebooks, science and medieval medicine. How did scribes choose to arrange the words and images on the page in each manuscript? How...

Based mainly on examples in the Bodleian Library, this lavishly illustrated account tells the story of manuscript production from the early Middle Ages to the high Renaissance. Each stage of production is described, from the preparation of the parchment,...

From the author of Twitter's Medieval Death Bot comes Unfortunate Ends: On Murder and Misadventure in Medieval England, an illuminating collection of in-depth looks at the most interesting cases from medieval coroners' rolls.Thomas, son of Henry...

In The Middle Ages and the Movies, eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and...

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is a history like no other: it is a history of the imagination, presented through two celebrated groups of the period. One group consists of heroes: Charlemagne, El Cid, King Arthur, Orlando, Pope Joan, Melusine,...

Few aspects of Scottish history inspire as fervent an interest as the wars with England. The exploits of not one, but two, national heroes William Wallace and Robert Bruce have excited the attention of a host of novelists, filmmakers, artists and...

The Bruces of fourteenth-century Scotland were formidable and enthusiastic warriors. Whilst much has been written about events as they happened in Scotland during the chaotic years of the first part of the fourteenth century, England's war with...

The Goths are truly a 'lost civilization'. Sweeping down from the north, ancient Gothic tribes sacked the imperial city of Rome and set in motion the decline and fall of the western Roman Empire. Ostrogothic and Visigothic kings ruled over Italy and...

"This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand the true history of the founding of the most powerful nation on earth." -Scott Wolter, host of America Unearthed and author of Cryptic Code of the Templars in AmericaUsing archival and...

In existence for 258 years, the English East India Company ran a complex, highly integrated global trading network. Over time, the Company developed a pronounced and aggressive colonialism that laid the foundation for Britain's Eastern empire. A study of...

A man's home is his castle, or so the saying goes, but could it withstand an attack by Attila and the Huns, Ragnar and the Vikings, Alexander and the Greeks, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, or Tamerlane and the Tartars? Backyard Ballistics author William...

Some myths don't die, and lies are still being told about Christopher Columbus: that he "discovered" the Americas (not only was the land familiar to native inhabitants, but it had also been visited before by Europeans), that the land was sparsely...

An original, beautifully produced work that explores the 'star demons' and their correspondences in magic and astrology as revealed in the medieval grimoires and classical esoteric texts.Includes:A translucent, velum dust...

In early Christianity it was established that every church should have a light burning on the altar at all times. In this unique study, Eternal light and earthly concerns, looks at the material and social consequences of maintaining these 'eternal'...

This book investigates the troubled relationship between medieval studies and medievalism. Acknowledging that the medieval and medievalism are mutually constitutive, and that their texts can be read using similar strategies, it argues that medieval...

Discover the bloody battles and backstabbing royals that inspired George RR Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series and the HBO smash-hit Game of Thrones.A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father's death, the...

In this new edition of A Short History of the Middle Ages, Barbara H. Rosenwein offers a panoramic view of the medieval world. Volume II ranges from England to China and from West Africa to the Baltic, while never losing sight of the main contours of the...

Stone maps the force, vivacity, and stories within our most mundane matter, stone. For too long stone has served as an unexamined metaphor for the "really real": blunt factuality, nature's curt rebuke. Yet, medieval writers knew that stones drop with...

Monasticism in late medieval England, c.1300-1535 provides the first collection of translated sources on this subject. The volume covers both male and female houses of all orders and sizes, and offers a range of new perspectives on the character and...