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Books > Humanities > History > World history > 500 to 1500
A new narrative history of the Viking Age, interwoven with exploration of the physical remains and landscapes that the Vikings fashioned and walked: their rune-stones and ship burials, settlements and battlefields. To many, the word 'Viking' brings to mind red scenes of rape and pillage, of marauders from beyond the sea rampaging around the British coastline in the last gloomy centuries before the Norman Conquest. It is true that Britain in the Viking Age was a turbulent, violent place. The kings and warlords who have impressed their memories on the period revel in names that fire the blood and stir the imagination: Svein Forkbeard and Edmund Ironside, Ivar the Boneless and Alfred the Great, Erik Bloodaxe and Edgar the Pacifier amongst many others. Evidence for their brutality, their dominance, their avarice and their pride is still unearthed from British soil with stunning regularity. But this is not the whole story. In Viking Britain, Thomas Williams has drawn on his experience as project curator of the British Museum exhibition of Vikings: Life and Legend to show how the people we call Vikings came not just to raid and plunder, but to settle, to colonize and to rule. The impact on these islands was profound and enduring, shaping British social, cultural and political development for hundreds of years. Indeed, in language, literature, place-names and folklore, the presence of Scandinavian settlers can still be felt, and their memory - filtered and refashioned through the writings of people like J.R.R. Tolkien, William Morris and G.K.Chesterton - has transformed the western imagination. This remarkable book makes use of new academic research and first-hand experience, drawing deeply from the relics and landscapes that the Vikings and their contemporaries fashioned and walked: their runestones and ship burials, settlements and battlefields, poems and chronicles. The book offers a vital evocation of a forgotten world, its echoes in later history and its implications for the present.
A masterful history of the great dynasty of the Netherlands' Middle Ages. 'A sumptuous feast of a book' The Times, Books of the Year 'Thrillingly colourful and entertaining' Sunday Times 'A thrilling narrative of the brutal dazzlingly rich wildly ambitious duchy' Simon Sebag Montefiore 5 stars! Daily Telegraph 'A masterpiece' De Morgen 'A history book that reads like a thriller' Le Soir At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a compulsively readable narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury and madness. It is about the decline of knightly ideals and the awakening of individualism and of cities, the struggle for dominance in the heart of northern Europe, bloody military campaigns and fatally bad marriages. It is also a remarkable cultural history, of great art and architecture and music emerging despite the violence and the chaos of the tension between rival dynasties.
From a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" ("The New Yorker") comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the holy land Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed, Islam and Christianity fought for dominion of the Holy Land, clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars: the Crusades. Here for the first time is the story of that epic struggle told from the perspective of both Christians and Muslims. A vivid and fast-paced narrative history, it exposes the full horror, passion, and barbaric grandeur of the Crusading era, revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world and why they continue to influence events today.
A major new biography of the Black Prince. 'A clear-eyed and thrilling vision of the man behind the legend' DAN JONES. 'Pacy, vivid and extremely readable' TLS. In 1346, at the age of sixteen, he won his spurs at Crecy; nine years later he conducted a brutal raid across Languedoc; in 1356 he captured the king of France at Poitiers; as lord of Aquitaine he ruled a vast swathe of southwestern France. He was Edward of Woodstock, eldest son of Edward III, but better known to posterity as 'the Black Prince'. Michael Jones tells the remarkable story of a great warrior-prince - and paints an unforgettable portrait of warfare and chivalry in the late Middle Ages.
In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden, was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history and literature to reinvent her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown links the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines Hervor's adventures intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as the Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor's short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, the sagas, poetry and myth carry weapons. In this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
INVENTING THE MIDDLE AGES The Lives, Works, and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century In this ground-breaking work, Norman Cantor explains how our current notion of the Middle Ages-with its vivid images of wars, tournaments, plagues, saints and kings, knights and ladies-was born in the twentieth century. The medieval world was not simply excavated through systematic research. It had to be conceptually created: It had to be invented, and this is the story of that invention. Norman Cantor focuses on the lives and works of twenty of the great medievalists of this century, demonstrating how the events of their lives, and their spiritual and emotional outlooks, influenced their interpretations of the Middle Ages. Cantor makes their scholarship an intensely personal and passionate exercise, full of color and controversy, displaying the strong personalities and creative minds that brought new insights about the past. A revolution in academic method, this book is a breakthrough to a new way of teaching the humanities and historiography, to be enjoyed by student and general public alike. It takes an immense body of learning and transmits it so that readers come away fully informed of the essentials of the subject, perceiving the interconnection of medieval civilization with the culture of the twentieth century and having had a good time while doing it! This is a riveting, entertaining, humorous, and learned read, compulsory for anyone concerned about the past and future of Western civilization.
Discover all the foul facts about the history of fortresses with history's most horrible headlines: Crackin' Castles edition. The master of making history fun, Terry Deary, turns his attention to 50 foul castles across history. From which is the most haunted castle in Britain and why an army disguised themselves as cows to which castle defender used a frying pan as a shield. It's all in Horrible Histories: Crackin' Castles: fully illustrated throughout and packed with hair-raising stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans. Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!
Hyam Maccoby's now classic study focuses on the major Jewish-Christian disputations of medieval Europe: those of Paris (1240), Barcelona (1263), and Tortosa (1413-14). It examines the content of these theological confrontations with a sense of present-day relevance, while also discussing the use made of scriptural proof-texts. Part I provides a general thematic consideration of the three disputations and their social and historical background. Part II is a complete translation of the account of the Barcelona Disputation written by Nahmanides, one of the greatest figures in the history of Jewish learning, and was Jewish spokesman at the disputation. Part III contains Jewish and Christian accounts of the Paris and Tortosa disputations. A new introduction reviews the relevant literature that has been published since the original edition appeared.
Transform your view of history with this groundbreaking visual encyclopedia of the events of the past. From the disciplined armies of ancient Rome and the lives of ferocious samurai warriors to World War II and today's eco-friendly innovations, historical events are visualized in incredible detail, providing a fascinating introduction to the world through time. You'll find yourself transported into the past through engaging explanations, incredible illustrations, phenomenal photographs, and jaw-dropping computer-generated images. This new book in the Knowledge Encyclopedia series will inspire young readers with its vivid depictions of history and its comprehensive and authoritative information on a huge range of topics. Highly detailed CGI images bring subjects to life, allowing readers to peer inside ancient buildings, marvel at elaborate outfits, and become transported into the battles of history. Journey through history from our earliest ancestors right up to the world we live in today.
Discover all the foul facts about the history of Old Blighty with history's most horrible headlines: English edition. The master of making history fun, Terry Deary, turns his attention to England. From which monk tried to pinch the devil's nose with a pair of tongs and why some people in the Middle Ages ate dove droppings to which English King was accused of being a werewolf. It's all in Horrible Histories: England: fully illustrated throughout and packed with hair-raising stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans. Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!
Discover all the foul facts about the Measly Middle Ages with history's most horrible headlines. All the foul facts about the Measly Middle Ages are ready to uncover, including: why chickens had their bottoms shaved a genuine jester's joke and what ten-year-old treacle was used for * fully illustrated throughout and packed with horrible stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included * with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new * the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read * Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans. Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!
What is the origin of the stories of the Round Table, of Excalibur and the Holy Grail, of Sir Launcelot and Guinevere? And where was Camelot?King Arthur's name has echoed down the centuries, conjuring up rich images of mystery and power, chivalry and romance. But did he exist at all? There is no evidence to prove he reigned in the fifth and sixth centuries; no eye-witness accounts of his coronation and no reliable manuscripts outlining his deeds. This full-colour guide examines the facts of the legends in the tantalising puzzle of King Arthur and his knights. Learn about the origins of the Round Table, the cult of chivalry and conflict between knights, and Arthur's shape-shifting half-sister Moran le Fay. From the origins of Arthurian legend to the new phase in the Arthurian cyce in the romantic revival of the early nineteenth century, read about the tantalizing puzzle that is King Arthur.Look out for more Pitkin guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel.
This book offers an introduction to medieval English book-history through a sequence of exemplary analyses of commonplace book-historical problems. Rather than focus on bibliographical particulars, the volume considers a variety of ways in which scholars use manuscripts to discuss book culture, and it provides a wide-ranging introductory bibliography to aid in the study. All the essays try to suggest how the study of surviving medieval books might be useful in considering medieval literary culture more generally. Subjects covered include authorship, genre, discontinuous production, scribal individuality and community, the history of libraries and the history of book provenance.
In 451 CE the Council of Chalcedon was called to assert the his translation of the main Irish annalistic text up to 911 is designed to make early Irish history more accessible to students of Irish history. The contents of the text constitutes the principal narrative source for carly Irish history, providing a fascinating insight into the religious, social and political evolution of Ireland and its people during this period. From 431 to 740 this vital source of early Irish history was written on the small island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. From then it was contained at monastery in the Irish midlands (most probably in Brega). This new two-volume translation is accompanied by a thorough introduction that places the annals of Ireland within a larger historical context. The Chronicle of Ireland is an informative and accessible introduction to the history of ancient Ireland for both students and scholars of Irish history. Built up from various individual writings, The Chronicle of Ireland is a truly unique book and is as important to the history of Ireland as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles is to the history of Britain.
This is a Syriac text written, in all probability, by an inhabitant of Edessa almost immediately after the conclusion of the war between Rome and Persia in 502-506 AD. Although that conflict is treated in other ancient texts, none of them can match "Joshua" in his wealth of detail, his familiarity with the region where the hostilities occurred, and his proximity in time to the events. The Chronicle also vividly describes the famine and plague that swept through Edessa in the years immediately before the war. The work is a document of great importance for both the social and military history of late antiquity, remarkable for the information it provides on Roman and Persian empires alike.
An engaging, richly illustrated account of parish churches and churchgoers in England, from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-sixteenth century Parish churches were at the heart of English religious and social life in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. In this comprehensive study, Nicholas Orme shows how they came into existence, who staffed them, and how their buildings were used. He explains who went to church, who did not attend, how people behaved there, and how they-not merely the clergy-affected how worship was staged. The book provides an accessible account of what happened in the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and summer. It describes how they celebrated the great events of life: birth, coming of age, and marriage, and gave comfort in sickness and death. A final chapter covers the English Reformation in the sixteenth century and shows how, alongside its changes, much that went on in parish churches remained as before.
THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2022 Eleven years when Britain had no king. In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution. On a raw January afternoon, the Stuart king, Charles I, was executed for treason. Within weeks the English monarchy had been abolished and the 'useless and dangerous' House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. What this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew. The Restless Republic is the story of the extraordinary decade that followed. It takes as its guides the people who lived through those years. Among them is Anna Trapnel, the daughter of a Deptford shipwright whose visions transfixed the nation. John Bradshaw, the Cheshire lawyer who found himself trying the King. Marchamont Nedham, the irrepressible newspaper man and puppet master of propaganda. Gerrard Winstanley, who strove for a Utopia of common ownership where no one went hungry. William Petty, the precocious scientist whose mapping of Ireland prefaced the dispossession of tens of thousands. And the indomitable Countess of Derby who defended to the last the final Royalist stronghold on the Isle of Man. The Restless Republic ranges from London to Leith, Cornwall to Connacht, from the corridors of power to the common fields and hillsides. Gathering her cast of trembling visionaries and banished royalists, dextrous mandarins and bewildered bystanders, Anna Keay brings to vivid life the most extraordinary and experimental decade in Britain's history. It is the story of how these tempestuous years set the British Isles on a new course, and of what happened when a conservative people tried revolution.
The hidden story of a little-known but transformative period in the formation of England as a nation. The Viking Great Army that swept through England between AD 865 and 878 altered the course of British history. Since the late 8th century, Viking raids on the British Isles had been a regular feature of life, but the winter of 865 saw a fundamental shift that would change the political, economic and social landscape forever. Instead of making quick smash-and-grab summer raids for silver and slaves, Vikings now remained in England for the winter and became immersed in its communities. Some settled permanently, acquiring land and forming a new hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture. The Viking army was here to stay. Its presence was a catalyst for new towns and new industries, while transformations in power politics would ultimately see the rise of King Alfred the Great and make Wessex the pre-eminent kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England. Drawing on the most up-to-date discoveries and the latest scientific techniques, the authors' recent research at the Viking Great Army's winter camp at Torksey in Lincolnshire has revolutionized what we know about its size, activities and social makeup, as has the wealth of newly recovered evidence from metal-detectorists. Unfolding like a great detective story, this account traces the movements of the Great Army across the country, piecing together a new picture of Viking Age England in unprecedented detail, from swords, coins, jewelry and the burials of great warriors to the everyday objects that ordinary farmers and craftsmen discarded. It is the definitive story of a vital period in British history.
Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen(2009), Margaret Beaufort, The Red Queen(2010), and Jacquetta, Lady Rivers, The Lady of the Rivers (2011) are the subjects of the first three novels in Philippa Gregory's Cousins' War series, and of the three biographical essays in this book. Philippa Gregory and two historians, leading experts in their field who helped Philippa to research the novels, tell the extraordinary 'true' stories of the life of these women who until now have been largely forgotten by history, their background and times, highlighting questions which are raised in the fiction and illuminating the novels. With a foreword by Philippa Gregory - in which Philippa writes revealingly about the differences between history and fiction and examines the gaps in the historical record - and beautifully illustrated with rare portraits, The Women of the Cousins' Waris an exciting addition to the Philippa Gregory oeuvre.
These five seventh-century religious texts cast light not only on the development of the church in Visigothic Spain and its internal politics, but also on its, at times troubled, relationship with the Visigothic state and the history of that state itself, particularly in the period when the Visigoths changed their adherence from Arian to Trinitarian Christianity.
An accurate translation into English of a 5th-century Latin text for which there is only an Italina translation currently in print. The text is a lay source for the history of the Vandals, barbarian people who adhered to Asian Christianity and occupied Roman Africa, unleashing a persecution of Catholic Christians which has led to them generally being seen as the most vicious of the barbarian peoples who settled on roman territory. An introduction and footnote commentary discusses issues raised by the text. As so often, the History of Victor of vita casts light not just on its topic but the attitudes of its author, and properly understood it is revelatory of the attitudes of Catholic Africans. Their traditions had been ones of combat from the time of the pagan Roman Empire, and the book suggests that bad relations between the Vandals and Catholics may have been caused by the unyielding traditions of the latter as well as the nefarious nature of the former.
Caesarius was born in 469/70 and served as Bishop of Arles from 502
until his death in 542. Originally trained as a monk at Lerins, he
devoted himself as Bishop to an ambitious programme of church
reform and Christianization inspired by strict monastic standards
of piety. Best known as a preacher, with a corpus of over 250
sermons, Caesarius also founded a monastery whose rule he composed
and presided over several important church councils whose canons
still survive. The documents included in this volume - most never
before translated into English - vividly illustrate Caesarius's
career and the social and religious history of Provence at a time
of far-reaching political change, during which the region was ruled
by a series of Visigothic, Burgundian, Ostrogothic and, ultimately,
Frankish kings. The 'Life of Caesarius', written shortly after his
death by five clerics of his acquaintance, provides a first-hand
record of the Bishop's achievements as pastor, politician and
wonderworker. The 'Testament' demonstrates Caesarius's efforts to
endow and protect his monastery and in the process furnishes
valuable information about diocesan landholdings. The collection of
twenty-four 'Letters' sent and received by Caesarius chronicles his
relations with fellow aristocrats and bishops and illuminates a
wide variety of topics, from penalties for incest to political
intrigue among rival bishops. Taken together, these texts shed
light on a region and period in which the Christian church, with
its leaders, rituals and doctrines, was coming to play an
increasingly important role in the daily lives not only of
aristocrats and clerics, but also of ordinary men and women.
"Not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-'new' present . . . All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated . . . The vision takes in whole imperial landscapes but also makes room for intimate portraits of key individuals, and even some poems."-Wall Street Journal "A lively history . . . [Jones] has managed to touch every major topic. As each piece of the puzzle is placed into position, the modern world gradually comes into view . . . Powers and Thrones provides the reader with a framework for understanding a complicated subject, and it tells the story of an essential era of world history with skill and style."-The New York Times The New York Times bestselling author returns with an epic history of the medieval world-a rich and complicated reappraisal of an era whose legacy and lessons we are still living with today. When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era--and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names-from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine-Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration, and technological revolutions. This was the time when the great European nationalities were formed; when the basic Western systems of law and governance were codified; when the Christian Churches matured as both powerful institutions and the regulators of Western public morality; and when art, architecture, philosophical inquiry and scientific invention went through periods of massive, revolutionary change. The West was rebuilt on the ruins of an empire and emerged from a state of crisis and collapse to dominate the world. Every sphere of human life and activity was transformed in the thousand years covered by Powers and Thrones. As we face a critical turning point in our own millennium, Dan Jones shows that how we got here matters more than ever.
This collection of books encompasses Scottish identity and cultural heritage, historical geography, health and social issues, industrial, economic, religious and political history. Originally published between 1935 and 1990, many of these titles were written at the height of discussions concerning the viability of an independent Scotland, an issue that has renewed relevance today. They include some of the notable volumes from the Routledge The Voice of Scotland series, as well as other books by leading authors. The empirical content of many of the books reissued here ensures they retain their relevance in informing studies of trends since the time they were first completed and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the ongoing debate about Scotland's role within the UK and Europe and the shape of her political future. |
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