Early Medieval

The book provides a detailed chronological history of early Western Europe through the lives of the nobility, their marriages, wars, rebellions, and betrayals. The book has original source documentation embedded. This book was compiled from 20-plus years of research combined with an interest in the history of western civilization. By putting all the events in chronological order, I was able to show the impact of relationships between the various factions, and how these relations helped shape Western Europe.

On Christmas Day in the year 800, a Frankish warlord knelt in a Roman church and stood up an emperor. The empire he claimed had been dead for three centuries. The idea he revived would outlive him by a thousand years. Charlemagne could barely write his own name. He spent most of his life on horseback, fighting a brutal thirty-year war against the Saxons that included the mass killing at Verden. He buried sons, watched a rearguard die at Roncesvalles, and ruled a sprawling realm with almost no bureaucracy, no standing capital, and no money economy worth the name. And yet, by the time he died...

Maximus the Confessor for Beginners: Insights into Christology and the Human Will takes you into the life and teachings of one of Christianity’s most courageous and influential thinkers. This is not just another history lesson—it’s a journey into the mind of a man whose ideas on Christ’s nature and human freedom reshaped Christian doctrine for centuries. Why does Maximus matter today? Maximus wasn’t just a theologian. He was a spiritual warrior who stood firm in the face of torture and exile, all to defend the truth. His defense of Christ’s human and divine will is more than an ...

Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. 

Step beyond the myth of the Dark Ages and discover how Rome's spectacular fall sparked a dramatic medieval rebirth. Perfect for your daily commute or a focused evening of learning, this immersive narrative history transports you to an atmospheric era of kings, monks, and colliding empires...

FAIRACRES PUBLICATIONS 135 St Dunstan lived in the tenth century, between 909 and 988. He developed the ancient church foundation at Glastonbury into the first Benedictine monastery in England, and later served as Archbishop of Canterbury for twenty-eight years. He was a scholar, artist and musician, as well as a contemplative spiritual father. Why is his life and work of interest today after one thousand years? His influence touched many areas of English life in a way that helped determine the foundations of medieval and early modern society. He was a very gifted and many-sided person, ...

Philip I of France ruled for nearly half a century. His reign should have strengthened the Capetian monarchy. Instead, it exposed its deepest weaknesses. Crowned young and inheriting a fragile kingdom, Philip presided over a France dominated by powerful regional princes, a reforming Church, and a monarchy that lacked the strength to impose itself fully across the realm. While the Capetian crown endured, it did not yet command. Authority remained thin, and unity remained incomplete. At the centre of his reign stood one defining failure. Philip’s scandalous relationship with Bertrada of ...

An evocative journey into early medieval Britain, where myth and wilderness intertwine – brought to life by Amy Jeffs’ original linocut art. Step into the wilderness of early medieval Britain with Wild, a captivating collection of myths, legends, and reimagined tales from the sixth to tenth...

What would make a sixth-century Irish monk climb into a fragile leather boat and sail beyond the known world? Saint Brendan the Navigator became one of Christianity’s most captivating figures—a monastic founder, spiritual teacher, and legendary voyager whose search for the Promised Land of the Saints inspired generations of pilgrims, sailors, mapmakers, and explorers. Saint Brendan the Navigator for Beginners brings together the history, faith, adventure, and mystery behind his remarkable story in one clear and accessible guide. Inside, you will discover: Brendan’s early life, ...

Bloomsbury presents Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, read by Candida Gubbins. The Renaissance is one of the most studied and celebrated eras of history. Spanning the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of modernity, it has come to symbolise the transformative rebirth of knowledge...

The definitive history of the Ottoman Empire “Lucid, judicious and enjoyable.” (Times Literary Supplement) The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in world history. Its reach extended to three continents and it survived for more than six centuries, but its...

Embark on an enthralling journey through the heart of Medieval England in this captivating exploration of one of history's most dynamic periods. Delve into the lives of kings and queens, knights and peasants, as the story of England unfolds against the backdrop of feudalism, chivalry, and religious upheaval. Experience the turbulence of the Magna Carta, the devastation of the Black Death, and the intrigue of the Wars of the Roses, all of which shaped the destiny of England.

This book evolves the history of early medieval England through the lives of the nobility, their marriages, wars, rebellions, and betrayals. The earliest consolidations of power are challenged by an influx of immigrants from the coastal areas of Europe. As the different cultures come together they are then challenged by the shifting power bases arising on the continent.

The History of Mental Health Treatment: From Ancient Practices to Modern Science BOOK 1: Ancient and Medieval Mental Health Treatment: How Early Civilizations, Religion, and Philosophy Shaped the First Approaches to Mental Illness explores the long and complex history of how human societies first attempted to understand psychological suffering. Long before psychiatry, therapy, or neuroscience existed, people across ancient and medieval cultures struggled to explain behaviors such as depression, anxiety, hallucinations, and emotional instability. This book traces how those early explanations...

ON THE STRONG WOMAN De muliere forti An Allegorical Exposition of Proverbs 31:10–31 What if the “strong woman” of Proverbs 31 is not merely a portrait of an ideal wife? For more than a thousand years, Christian readers have returned to one of the most enigmatic passages in the Book of Proverbs: the famous poem of the mulier fortis, the woman whose worth is “far above” precious things. She rises before dawn, feeds her household, buys a field, plants a vineyard, girds herself with strength, keeps her lamp burning through the night, opens her hand to the poor, and finally receives ...

Bloomsbury presents The Rest is History: A History of the World in 51 Heroes and Villains, written by Goalhanger Podcasts with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, with David Whitehouse, read by Dominic Sandbrook, Tom Holland, Ben Onwunkwe, Clare Corbett, Daniel York Loh, David Rintoul, Homer...

In March 1471, Edward IV returned to England with a tiny force, no secure port, no guarantee of support and a kingdom controlled by the enemies who had driven him into exile. Seven weeks later, he had recovered his crown and destroyed the direct Lancastrian challenge to his rule. Edward's return began at Ravenspurn under the deliberately limited claim that he sought only his inheritance as Duke of York. As he moved south, hesitation turned into support. Former allies returned, his brother George, Duke of Clarence, abandoned Warwick, and London opened its gates to the deposed king. The ...

Clovis was not born to rule a nation. He forged one. At the collapse of Roman authority in Gaul, power lay scattered among warlords, fading imperial officials, and rival kings. From this fractured world emerged Clovis, a Frankish ruler whose ruthless ambition, calculated conversion to Christianity, and mastery of violence reshaped Western Europe. This biography traces Clovis’s rise from tribal king to founder of the Frankish Kingdom. It examines his destruction of rival rulers, his defeat of Roman and Visigothic powers, and his decisive adoption of Catholic Christianity as a weapon of ...

Before modern science, survival was a long shot. What if the most gripping stories in European history weren’t wars or kings—but the quiet, relentless struggle of ordinary people trying to stay alive? History That Rattles tells the story of how Europeans lived, suffered, adapted, and survived from the Middle Ages to the dawn of modern medicine. It follows humanity at its most vulnerable, when climate turned hostile, disease spread without explanation, and the human body became a fragile experiment with no safety net. When winters grew longer and harvests failed, fear shaped belief. When...

Discover how ambitious military elites forged a sprawling medieval empire that forever altered South Asian history. From fractured frontiers to a centralized powerhouse, witness the dramatic rise and fall of the Turkic and Afghan dynasties that claimed North India. This epic narrative cuts...