Covering ten centuries and crisscrossing Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa, this popular history sheds new light on the European Middle Ages, revealing a time of beauty and communion that flourished alongside dark brutality.

Describes the origins, main features, and destruction of medieval castles, and discusses the way of life of the people who lived in them, knighthood and sieges.

Be an eyewitness to what life was really like for a knight in medieval times -- from battles to banquets and from jousting to hunting. See how a knight put on his armor. Find out why knights decorated their shields. Discover deadly weapons known as caltrops.

"A vibrant and illuminating exploration of medieval thinking on women's beauty, sexuality, and behavior. What makes for the ideal woman? How should she look, love, and be? In this vibrant, high-spirited history, medievalist Eleanor Janega turns to the Middle Ages, the era that bridged the ancient world and modern society, to unfurl its suppositions about women and reveal what's shifted over time-and what hasn't. Enshrined medieval thinkers, almost...

"On their latest field trip, Fly Guy and Buzz learn all about castles: from drawbridges and dungeons to kings, queens, and knights! There are humorous illustrations and engaging photographs throughout"--Www.bibz.com.

Examines what daily life was like for ordinary citizens during the Middle Ages, describing how men and women approached agriculture, animals, the weather, the woodlands, the ocean, their medical knowledge, burial rites, and other social, cultural, and intellectual aspects of life.

"An epic reappraisal of the medieval world--and the rich and complicated legacy left to us by the rise of the West--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Templars. When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era--and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names--from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet...