Richard the Lionheart

in life and in legend

How did Richard the Lionheart, who once said he would sell London if he found a buyer, become celebrated as the ideal of English chivalry? This book examines the life of Richard I (1157-1199) through the captivating stories told about him, from accounts of his ...

Eleanor of Aquitaine

woman, queen and legend

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), the legendary queen of France and later England, has captivated historians for centuries. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine, wife to King Henry II and mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, her life was marked by power, influence and ...

Thomas Becket and his world

A life of England's most famous martyr, rooted in the currents of twelfth-century Europe. This book explores the turbulent life and violent death of Thomas Becket, one of the most controversial figures in the Middle Ages: a London merchant's son turned royal chancellor ...

Frederick Barbarossa

A fresh account of the life and legacy of the legendary Holy Roman emperor. Frederick Barbarossa-also known as Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1155-was a dominant figure in late-twelfth-century European history. He is remembered as one of the greatest German emperors, for some even ...

The Art of Medieval Falconry

A beautifully illustrated tour of the visual culture of medieval falconry in Europe and beyond. 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 ...

The Troubadours

An engaging and accessible introduction to the music, poetry, and lives of the medieval singer-songwriters. Composing songs of love and war in medieval Western and Southern Europe, troubadours spanned the social spectrum from powerful nobles to penniless minstrels. This book delves into the everyday worlds ...

Marco Polo and his world

A lavishly illustrated tour of the famed adventurer's globetrotting travels, written by a celebrated translator of Polo's writings. At the age of seventeen, Marco Polo left his Venetian home on a continent-spanning adventure that lasted for nearly a quarter century. Imprisoned in Genoa ...

The Teutonic Knights

Rise and Fall of a Religious Corporation

A gripping account of the rise and fall of the last great medieval military order. This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the knights of the Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. The book traces ...

Geoffrey Chaucer

Unveiling the Merry Bard

A new critical biography of medieval England's most famous poet. For over six centuries, Chaucer has epitomized poetic greatness, though more recent treatments of The Canterbury Tales' lively and often risqué style have made his name more synonymous with bawdy humor. But beyond his ...

Bede and the theory of everything

A wonderfully readable and comprehensive introduction to perhaps the greatest European intellectual of his era, a writer whose scholarly achievement was foundational for much of the thought of the Western Middle Ages. Michelle P. Brown succeeds in giving us a lively picture of the material ...

Francis of Assisi

his life, vision and companions

An accessible introduction to the life of this most-venerated saint. This book is an accessible biography of Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan religious order and one of the most venerated figures in Christianity. In it, Michael F. Cusato explores how Francis and his ...

The art of anatomy in medieval Europe

A new history of the medieval illustrations that birthed modern anatomy. 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 ...

Andrey Rublev

the artist and his world

A critical biography of the most celebrated religious icon painter in medieval Russia. A monk from Moscow, Andrey Rublev (c.1360-c.1430) is heralded as the greatest painter of religious icons and frescos in medieval Russia. Nevertheless, his life remains largely mysterious to historians and ...

Alle thyng hath tyme

time and medieval life

An insightful account of how medieval people experienced time. Alle Thyng Hath Tyme recreates medieval people's experience of time as continuous, discontinuous, linear, and cyclical-from creation through judgment and into eternity. Medieval people measured time by natural phenomena such as sunrise and sunset, the ...