Series: Medieval Lives

As well as being an important medieval theologian, Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great) also made significant contributions to the study of astronomy, geography, and natural philosophy. His studies of the natural world led Pope Pius XII to declare Albertus the patron saint of the natural sciences. Dante Alighieri acknowledged a substantial debt to Albertus's work, and in The Divine Comedy...

The daughter of a court intellectual, Christine de Pizan dwelled within the heart of late-medieval Paris. In the face of personal tragedy, she learned the tools of the book trade, writing more than 40 works including poetry, historical and political treatises, and defences of women. In this new biography, the first written for a general audience, Charlotte Cooper-Davis discusses the...

Frederick Barbarossa, also known as Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1155, was a dominant figure in late 12th-century European history. He is remembered as one of the greatest medieval German emperors; some even regard him as a German hero. He brought peace to Germany, fought to maintain control over Italian cities, and engaged in a lengthy dispute with the...

A new critical biography of medieval England's most famous poet. For over six centuries, Chaucer has epitomised poetic greatness, though more recent treatments of The Canterbury Tales' lively and often risqué style have made his name more synonymous with bawdy humour. But beyond his poetic achievements, Chaucer assumed various roles including those of royal attendant, soldier, customs official, justice of...

Medieval falconry was not just about hunting; the practice also signified sovereignty, power, and diplomacy. In The Art of Medieval Falconry, Yannis Hadjinicolaou describes the visual culture that sprang up around these practices, tracking how imagery, equipment, and even the birds themselves moved through the medieval world. Indeed, Hadjinicolaou shows that falconry has been a global phenomenon since at least...

Composing songs of love and war in medieval Western and Southern Europe, troubadours spanned the social spectrum from powerful nobles to penniless minstrels. This book delves into the everyday worlds of these remarkable poet-musicians, famed for their innovative use of language and music as well as the lasting impact of their work on audiences then and now. The troubadours' songs...

Johannes Gutenberg is famous as the inventor of Europe's first typographic printing method, and his life and legacy have long fascinated a wide audience. Due to scant and vague fifteenth-century documentation, however, Gutenberg's career has long been obscured by derivative storytelling, competing agendas and scholarly guesswork. This new biography removes these barriers to retell his story directly, through his pioneering...

This book explores the turbulent life and violent death of Thomas Becket, one of the most controversial figures of the Middle Ages. From a London merchant's son to royal chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury, Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral elevated him to England's most celebrated saint. Michael Staunton looks at Becket's complex and contested legacy, drawing from his own words...

At the age of seventeen, Marco Polo left his Venetian home on a continent-spanning adventure that lasted for nearly a quarter century. Imprisoned in Genoa five years later, he collaborated with Arthurian romance writer Rustichello of Pisa on a work they called The Description of the World. That book recounted 'all the greatest marvels and great diversities of Greater Armenia,...

This book is the first history of medieval European anatomical images. Richly illustrated, The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe explores the many ways in which medieval surgeons, doctors, monks, and artists understood and depicted human anatomy. Taylor McCall refutes the common misconception that Renaissance artists and anatomists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius were the fathers of...

The Medieval Horse by Anastasija Ropa explores the role of horses across the medieval world, from the Kievan Rus' and Scandinavia to Central Europe, Byzantium, the Arab world, and Asia, including China and India. Covering the early medieval period to the late Middle Ages, it examines how horses shaped societies, warfare, and culture, and how their legacy persists in traditional...

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), the legendary queen of France and later England, has captivated historians for centuries. Heiress to the duchy of Aquitaine, wife to King Henry II, and mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, her life was marked by power, influence, and myth. This concise, accessible history sheds new light on Eleanor, cutting through the hearsay and...

This is a new account of the late 14th-century mystic and pilgrim, Margery Kempe. Kempe, who had 14 children, travelled all over Europe and recorded a series of unusual events and religious visions in her work, The Book of Margery Kempe, which is often called the first autobiography in the English language. Anthony Bale charts her life and tells her...

An overview of master medieval Russian icon painter Andrey Rublev. Born in the 1360s, Andrey Rublev was a Muscovite monk and icon painter who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is acknowledged as the supreme medieval Russian painter of icons and frescos, yet much about him remains mysterious. To date, there is no volume in English on him...

A recreation of medieval people's experience of time. Alle Thyng Hath Tyme recreates medieval people's experience of time: as continuous and discontinuous, linear and cyclical, embracing Creation and Judgement, shrinking to 'atoms' or 'droplets' and extending to the silent spaces of eternity. They might measure time by natural phenomena such as sunrise and sunset, the motion of the stars or...

This book provides a concise and incisive introduction to the Teutonic Knights, or Teutonic Order, the last of the great military orders established in the twelfth century. Evolving into a powerful religious institution, the Knights left a profound and enduring legacy. Aleksander Pluskowski traces the Order's journey from a field hospital outside the walls of Acre during the Third Crusade...