Throughout Europe, medieval forces were either engaged in conflict or preparing for it through training. Arising from the need to keep the skills of warriors sharp and battle-ready, medieval jousting for knights on horseback became a widespread pastime. This book details how the culture of medieval tournaments arose around jousting and other games of combat, including both for the mounted cavalry (knights) and foot soldiers (in events such as melees)...

In medieval England, after her seven brothers are falsely accused of murder and treason, eighteen-year-old Delia flees their cruel stepmother and becomes a seamstress at Westminster Palace, hoping to gain their release, with Sir Geoffrey's assistance.

A retelling of the medieval poem about a group of travelers on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and the tales they tell each other. With their astonishing diversity of tone and subject matter, The Canterbury Tales have become one of the touchstones of medieval literature. Translated here into modern English, these tales of a motley crowd of pilgrims drawn from all walks of life-from knight to nun, miller to monk-reveal a picture of English life in the fourteenth...

The lives of England's medieval queens were packed with incident--love, intrigue, betrayal, adultery, and warfare--but their stories have been largely obscured by centuries of myth and omission. Now esteemed biographer Alison Weir provides a fresh perspective and restores these women to their rightful place in history. Spanning the years from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the dawn of a new era in 1154, when Henry II succeeded to the throne and Eleanor...

A description of buildings, houses, shcools, ports, , and markets in use of quotations, case studies, and contemporary illustrations.

Incorporates current research, recent trends in interpretation, and novel perspectives, especially on the foundations of the Middle Ages to A.D. 450 and the Later Middle Ages of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as well as a sharper focus on social history, Jewish history, women's roles in society, and popular religion and heresy.

An archeobibliologist turned rare book scout must decipher the beautiful illuminations found on the pages of a rare Gutenberg Bible. If he doesn't, his eight-year-old son and ex-wife (who is also an archeobibliologist working at the Library of Congress) will die.

Learn about beautiful masterpieces from the Middle Ages and the faith that inspired them.