"The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period--one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation. Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses...

In the year 999, when Ben Attar, a Moroccan Jewish merchant, takes a second wife, he commits an act whose unforeseen consequences will forever alter his family, his relationships, his business-his life. In an attempt to forestall conflict and advance his business interests at the same time, Ben Attar undertakes his annual journey to Europe with both his first wife and his new wife. The trip is the beginning of a profound human drama whose moral conflicts...

"A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality--a brilliant reflection of humanity itself."--Dust jacket.

A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

"In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh's most exciting leap yet. Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life's few consolations for Marek...

What exactly are the Middle Ages and who first thought to call them that? How did medieval people experience politics, religion, work, family bonds, and sexuality? Who were the great thinkers of this time, and what were their big ideas?

Sophie is trying desperately to escape her stepmother's jealousy, when a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle announcing that she is betrothed to his older brother. As Gabe, who is also betrothed, fulfills his mission to find Sophie, emotional conflict ensues as they realize that their feelings for each other have developed into romance, though they are both promised to other partners.

Roland, a scrawny, aspiring knight prone to hiccups, serving as a page in Twofold Castle, attends his first tournament, where knights from near and far take part in a full day of jousting.

Surveys the history of the Middle Ages, describes the most influential political and social forces, and looks at everyday life.