検索キーワード： 中世

If ever a catharsis in Western European Civilization occurred, it had to have been the period we refer to as the Renaissance. After a thousand years of theocracy, manorialism, feudalism and narrow economic development, Europe was ripe for change. She got it with a vengeance.

Before Don Quixote rode toward the windmills, Spain itself was already changing. This book is not a retelling of Cervantes’ novel. It is a quiet journey into the world that made such a story possible. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Spain stood at the edge of transformation. The age of knights and unquestioned honor was fading. Printing presses were spreading stories into ordinary homes. Villages still woke before dawn, horses still carried dust along long roads, and faith shaped daily life—but beneath the surface, something irreversible was happening.

The Crusades are the prototype and epitome of the Holy War. The fight to take control of the city of Jerusalem, believed to be the most sacred Holy City to two distinct religions of Christianity and Islam, has lasted far longer than the two centuries of the Crusades, and its reach has extended far further than Europe and the Middle East.  

Myllärin mädäntynyt aasi virkoaa henkiin, raivopäisen mustasukkaisesta aviomiehestä sukeutuu säyseä ja rakastava puoliso ja vuolaaseen virtaan pudonnut pikkulapsi löytyy kolme päivää myöhemmin täysin vahingoittumattomana - mutta puhumaan oppineena. Hädän hetkellä keskiajan...

Huppupäiset pyövelit katkovat ihmisten kauloja, noitia poltetaan, taikausko kukoistaa. Kirkko päättää kaikesta ihmisten elämässä ja maapallon uskotaan olevan litteä. Tällaista oli elämä keskiajalla - vai oliko sittenkään? Ajatus pimeästä keskiajasta elää sitkeästi osana...

Lohikäärmeitä, jättiläisiä, seireenejä ja meripetoja - kuvastoa keskiajasta on vaikea mieltää ilman kammottavia hirviöitä. Silti todellisen keskiajan hirviöt olivat taruakin ihmeellisempiä. Sydän- ja myöhäiskeskiajan läntisessä Euroopassa hirviöt olivat olennainen osa...

Hampunkehrääjät, parturi-kirurgit, miekantakojat, kirjansitojat... Käsityöläiset olivat tyypillinen näky esiteollisen ajan eurooppalaiskaupunkien katukuvassa, ja perheenjäsenineen he muodostivat suuren osan niiden asukasluvusta. Käsityöläisammattien kirjo oli laaja. Perhe ja verstas...

Vahakynttilät palavat, suitsuke tuoksuu, pappi lausuu latinaa ja pirskottaa vihkivettä. Lähestyessään kuolemaa ihminen aloitti siirtymisen tuonpuoleiseen. Ympärille kerääntyneet osasivat tarkkailla lukuisia kuolemasta kieliviä tuntomerkkejä ja esimerkiksi odottaa kolmea viimeistä...

As Koestler points out, the Khazars were the Third World of their day. They chose a surprising method of resisting both the Western pressure to become Christian and the Eastern to adopt Islam. Rejecting both, they converted to Judaism. Mr. Koestler speculates about the ultimate faith of the Khazars and their impact on the racial composition and social heritage of modern Jewry. He produces detailed research to support a theory which could make the term 'anti-Semitism' become void of meaning.

A bold new history of Europe, from ancient Greece to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What do we talk about when we talk about Europe? Is it defined by geography? Or is it politics, or shared culture? In Europe, award-winning historian Roderick Beaton tells the story of Europe as never...

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas. 

Piers Plowman, William Langland's visionary medieval work about one man's quest for the true Christian life, is an allegorical journey through dream visions and visions within dreams. During the course of his journey, the narrator (William Langland) meets Piers Plowman, who gradually reveals himself to be the son of God. Through Piers, William learns of the virtues in poverty, the temptations of wealth, and of the perfect society that is to come under the rule of Piers Plowman.

The Anglo-Saxons: The Founders of EnglandWho were the Anglo-Saxons, and how did they create the foundations of England?Following the collapse of Roman Britain, waves of migrants from northern Europe crossed the North Sea and settled in a land undergoing dramatic change. Over the next six...

About 225 miles west of Ulaanbaatar, the present-day capital city of Mongolia, are the ruins of Karakorum, the ancient capital of the Mongol Empire. Located in the Orkhon River Valley, at the foot of the Khangai Mountain range, the city was founded by Genghis Khan in 1220 CE. Under his son and successor, Ögedei Khan, Karakorum grew into a thriving city, with high walls enclosing an urban landscape of brick-built structures and paved roads, divided into different districts with a palace, craft workshops, and marketplaces.

An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk. 

At the dawn of the thirteenth century, Constantinople stood as the bastion of Christianity in Eastern Europe. The capital city of the Byzantine Empire, it was a center of art, culture, and commerce that had commanded trading routes between Asia, Russia, and Europe for hundreds of years. But in 1204, the city suffered a devastating attack that would spell the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Historian Ernle Bradford brings to life this powerful tale of envy and greed, demonstrating the far-reaching consequences this siege would have across Europe for centuries to come.

The idea of a powerful woman in the Middle Ages seems like an oxymoron. Females in this time are imagined to be damsels in distress, trapped in a high tower, and waiting for knights to rescue them, all while wearing traffic-cones for a hat. After rescue, their lives improved little. Their career choices were to be either docile queens, housewives, or be burned at the stake for witchcraft. But what if this image of medieval women is a complete fiction? It turns out that it is. Powerful female rulers fill the Middle Ages.

Tessa MacFindlaech meets three witches on a Scottish hillside as she leaves her home to join the household of her uncle, Thane Macbeth. The weird women make predictions for her future, but Tessa sees no likelihood of truth in them. After all, the first crone claims Tessa is on her way to England, which is in the opposite direction. Surprises await that make her reconsider the prophecies.

The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late 17th century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theater, and even comedy. This book gives listeners access to the real samurai as they lived, fought, and served. Much as they capture the modern imagination, the samurai commanded influence over the politics, arts, philosophy, and religion of their own time, and controlled Japan from the 14th century until their demise in the mid-19th century.

The Byzantine Empire survived as a self-contained political entity longer than any other in the history of Christianity. This history by Charles Oman is a catalog of good, bad, and indifferent emperors who either pushed Byzantine Civilization to new heights or savagely drove it to defeat and dissolution. It is a strange tale populated by some of the most interesting men and women who have ever lived.