English Middle Ages

In Defending the Middle Ages, Jeb Smith takes the reader on an eye-opening journey through one of the most misunderstood eras in human history. His new book uncovers the crusades—what really happened, and why. We discover the real reasons behind the foundation of the knightly orders, the surprising truth behind the Inquisition, the untold facts about women and their roles, and much more. Defending the Middle Ages takes us down the path to clarity, and leaves us asking where the true chaos—the real evil—is in history. Then, or today.

Historians have only recently awakened to the importance of the family, the basic social unit throughout human history. This book traces the development of marriage and the family from the Middle Ages to the early modern era. It describes how the Roman and barbarian cultural streams merged under the influence of the Christian church to forge new concepts, customs, laws, and practices. Century by century, it follows the development—sometimes gradual, at other times revolutionary—of significant elements in the history of the family.

Our modern image of the Middle Ages—filled with vivid scenes of chivalric tournaments, epic battles, devastating plagues, revered saints, powerful kings, noble knights, and courtly ladies—was not simply uncovered through objective historical research. Rather, it was largely shaped and even invented in the 20th century. The medieval world did not emerge fully formed from the archives; it had to be imagined, interpreted, and constructed. This is the story of how that vision came to life.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Barbara Tuchman explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state - and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.

The Civilization of the Middle Ages incorporates current research, recent trends in interpretation, and novel perspectives, especially on the foundations of the Middle Ages and the Later Middle Ages of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A sharper focus on social history, Jewish history, women’s roles in society, and popular religion and heresy distinguish the book.

The most famous date in history is 1066, and with good reason, since no battle in medieval history had such a devastating effect on its losers as the Battle of Hastings, which altered the entire course of English history.

Age Level: 8 and up Grade Level: 3rd and up My name is Melissa, and I’m in the 6th grade. I’m not good at math and cheated on my homework so the other kids wouldn’t laugh at me. Now I’m in the county math competition surrounded by geniuses and they expect me to win for the team! If that wasn’t bad enough, I’ve got a fast-talking cat who’s great at math and wants to help (and also thinks he’s a Karate master). I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this mess but I’ll never cheat again! My Cat Ate My Homework is a hilarious fantasy for kids, teachers, librarians, and ...

A Halloween Ball. A missing friend. A serial killer’s return? Ellie Byrne is ready to enjoy a Halloween masquerade ball at her bed and breakfast with friends, but when her friend mysteriously disappears, Ellie’s evening takes a dark turn. Just as Mia is found, shaken but unharmed, another body is discovered, and it looks like the infamous Clue Killer may have resurfaced after 20 years of silence. With a murderer on the loose, Ellie, with the help of her snarky cat Cleo and loyal dog Lola, must dig deep into the town’s secrets.

In this indispensable volume, one of America's ranking scholars combines a life's work of research and teaching with the art of lively narration. Both authoritative and beautifully told, The Middle Ages is the full story of the thousand years between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance - a time that saw the rise of kings and emperors, the flowering of knighthood, the development of Europe, the increasing power of the Catholic Church, and the advent of the middle class.

Weird but True Stories from Medieval Europe: Bizarre, Shocking, and Unbelievable Tales from the Middle Ages Step into the shadowy, surreal, and surprisingly real world of medieval Europe like never before. Weird but True Stories from Medieval Europe takes readers on a riveting journey through the strangest corners of the Middle Ages—where pigs stood trial, bishops exploded in their coffins, and entire cities danced themselves into exhaustion. Based entirely on documented historical events, this fascinating and entertaining book reveals ten unbelievable but true stories from across Europe ...

Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings. Embark on an unforgettable journey filled with magic, adventure, and the triumph of friendship over evil! It'll be the adventure of a lifetime - if he survives! Jack Sawyer knows many things, like the names of all the state capitals and how to tell an agate from a plain old rock. But there’s much he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know how to shoot sparks by snapping his fingers or ride a galloping horse through the mud and over fences. And he really doesn’t know how to hurl a spear, wield a sword, or track mythical creatures through an enchanted ...

Age Level: 7 and up Grade Level: 2nd and up Over 2000 five-star series ratings and reviews on Amazon and Goodreads! A talking fox is so awesome! My name is Jonah Johnson, and I'm in the 6th grade -- but please call me Joe. My whole world was made better when I met a talking fox. I'm about to find out how Fox got the ability to walk and talk like humans. But before I can, we have to avoid a whole new enemy that wants to take Fox away. My Fox Ate My Alarm Clock is a entertaining fantasy for kids, teachers, and parents. It's an enjoyable story for children in elementary and middle school, and ...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first love. You knew I’d write a book about you someday. Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their...

Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this revised edition of The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages weaves world history into a story book format. Who discovered chocolate? What happened to the giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? Why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across dry land?

The 10 enlightening (and often humorous) lectures of Medieval Myths and Mysteries will show you how far from the “dark” times of legend these centuries were. Uncover the facts about the Knights Templar. Reveal the truth behind the tales of legendary creatures like the Questing Beast and the unicorn. Trace the events of the Black Death and the ways it altered the world in its wake, and much more. With Professor Armstrong, you will dig deep into the ways that later generations reshaped the narrative of the medieval years and perpetuated the myths.

A History of the Middle Ages is the amazing story of European man in transition. It is a dramatic chronicle of 1,000 years of political, social, and economic transformation beginning with the dissolution of the classical Mediterranean civilization and ending with the first flowering of the Renaissance. It is also the story of two new religions, Christianity and Islam, both of which were destined to dominate the mind of every person in those new civilizations arising in their wake.

What do you think of when you consider the Middle Ages? Knights in armor and damsels in distress? Vikings plundering monasteries? Religious dissenters burning at the stake? The dead bodies piling up as war, famine, and plague devastated Europe? Think again. While all these are part of the tapestry of the medieval era, the threads of politics, personality and war, culture, religion, education and the arts are vastly more intricate and fascinating.

It was an age of hope and possibility, of accomplishment and expansion. Europe's High Middle Ages spanned the Crusades, the building of Chartres Cathedral, Dante's Inferno, and Thomas Aquinas. Buoyant, confident, creative, the era seemed to be flowering into a true renaissance - until the disastrous 14th century rained catastrophe in the form of plagues, famine, and war. In Europe in the High Middle Ages, William Chester Jordan paints a vivid, teeming landscape that captures this lost age in all its glory and complexity.

The parish, the lowest level of hierarchy in the medieval church, was the shared responsibility of the laity and the clergy. Most Christians were baptized, went to confession, were married, and were buried in the parish church or churchyard; in addition, business, legal settlements, sociability, and entertainment brought people to the church, uniting secular and sacred concerns.

Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted.