culture
Fashion in Steel: The Landsknecht Armor of Wilhelm von Rogendorf
Recently conserved to its original glory, this magnificent suit of armor, made for a trusted courtier, diplomat, and commander of infantry units for the Habsburgs, deceives the eye: the steel sleeves drape in graceful folds, with cuts in the surface, suggesting the armor is made from cloth rather than metal. The author of this fascinating volume explores the question: why does the armor look this way?
A History of the Franks
Gregory's history of the Franks is valuable for having emerged when the events described were recent. As such this text, also known as Decem Libri Historiarum, has become one of the prime sources for historians of the so-called Dark Ages.
The Flight & Fall of the Eagle: A History of Medieval Germany 800–1648
In addition to tracing the political, cultural and religious history of medieval Germany, this volume examines the thought of outstanding German men and women.
The Book of Werewolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition
Not relegating the werewolf just to a secular and skeptical study, nor simply to spiritual banter, this work compresses an enormous span of historical material; a work which is no doubt of value to the academic and those involved with the occult at the same time.
Medieval Medicine: Its Mysteries and Science
This book explores the labyrinth of strange ideas and unlikely remedies that make up the weird, wonderful and occasionally beneficial world of medieval medicine.
The Age of the Vikings
The Vikings maintain their grip on our imagination, but their image is too often distorted by myth. It is true that they pillaged, looted, and enslaved. But they also settled peacefully and traveled far from their homelands in swift and sturdy ships to explore. The Age of the Vikings tells the full story of this exciting period in history.
The Prophet & the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century, 3rd Edition
The Prophet and the Age of Caliphates is an accessible history of the Near East from c.600-1050AD, the period in which Islamic society was formed. Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, Hugh Kennedy goes on to explore the great Arab conquests of the seventh century and the golden age of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates when the world of Islam was politically and culturally far more developed than the West. The arrival of the Seljuk Turks and the period of political fragmentation which followed shattered this early unity, never to be recovered.
The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings
In AD 793 Norse warriors struck the English isle of Lindisfarne and laid waste to it. Wave after wave of Norse ‘sea-wolves’ followed in search of plunder, land, or a glorious death in battle. Much of the British Isles fell before their swords, and the continental capitals of Paris and Aachen were sacked in turn. Turning east, they swept down the uncharted rivers of central Europe, captured Kiev and clashed with mighty Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
Music in the Medieval West – Western Music in Context
Margot Fassler's Music in the Medieval West imaginatively reconstructs the repertoire of the Middle Ages by drawing on a wide range of sources. In addition to highlighting the ceremonial and dramatic functions of medieval music (both sacred and secular), she pays special attention to the exchange of musical ideas, the development of musical notation and other methods of transmission, and the role of women in musical culture.
Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs
Death has never looked so beautiful. An intriguing visual history of the veneration in European churches and monasteries of bejeweled and decorated skeletons.
NOVA: Building the Great Cathedrals
Carved from a hundred million pounds of stone, soaring effortlessly atop a spider web of masonry, Gothic cathedrals are marvels of human achievement and artistry. But how did medieval builders reach such spectacular heights?
Vampires, Burial, & Death: Folklore & Reality
In this engrossing book, Paul Barber surveys centuries of folklore about vampires and offers the first scientific explanation for the origins of the vampire legends.
