Now revised and expanded, this edition of the splendidly detailed and lively history of the Middle Ages contains more than 30 percent new material.

"It is a magnificent epic," said William H. Prescott after the publication of History of the Conquest of Mexico in 1843. Since then, his sweeping account of Cortés''s subjugation of the Aztec people has endured as a landmark work of scholarship and dramatic storytelling. This pioneering study presents a compelling view of the clash of civilizations that reverberates in Latin America to this day.

"Regarded simply from the standpoint of literary criticism, the Conquest of Mexico is Prescott''s masterpiece," judged his biographer Harry Thurston Peck. "More than that, it is one of the most brilliant examples which the English language possesses of literary art applied to historical narration. . . . Here, as nowhere else, has Prescott succeeded in delineating character. All the chief actors of his great historic drama not only live and breathe, but they are as distinctly differentiated as they must have been in life. Cortés and his lieutenants are persons whom we actually come to know in the pages of Pres-cott. . . . Over against these brilliant figures stands the melancholy form of Montezuma, around whom, even from the first, one feels gathering the darkness of his coming fate. He reminds one of some hero of Greek tragedy, doomed to destruction and intensely conscious of it, yet striving in vain against the decree of an inexorable destiny. . . . [Prescott] transmuted the acquisitions of laborious research into an enduring monument of pure literature."


From the eBook edition.

For students, researchers, and history lovers, a look at day-to-day life in a rarely explored era. "About life and death, midwives and funerals, business, books and authors, and town government."--Choice

Osprey''s Campaign title for one of the most important campaigns of the Hundred Years'' War (1337-1453). Agincourt is one of the most evocative names in English military history. Henry V''s forces were tired, hungry, and faced a French army three to six times more numerous. However, they possessed several advantages, and English success resulted from the combination of heavily armoured men-at-arms with troops armed with the infamous longbow - the havoc this weapon wreaked was crucial. Using original fifteenth century evidence, including the surviving French battle plan and the accounts of men present in both armies, this title discusses the lead-up to the battle, the tactical dispositions of the two forces and the reasons for the ultimate English success.

A lively, detailed picture of village life in the Middle Ages by the authors of Life in a Medieval City and Life in a Medieval Castle. "A good general introduction to the history of this period."--Los Angeles Times

Byzantine Church and Culture "One of the best sources of Eastern Christian mentality. I recommend it in my religious classes and and diaconal formation." -- Tom Stadnik

Much has been written about the crusades, but very little about the crusaders. What moved them to go? What preparations did they need to make? How did they react to their experiences? This book comes up with detailed answers to these questions, and offers the first systematic reading of a large cache of contemporary source material. The author identifies family clusters of crusaders across Europe, whose collective commitment manifested itself in support for the new settlements in the East.

The aim of this study is to provide an architectural history of the medieval fabric of Rochester Cathedral, from its Saxon origins to the time of the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. The author places the development of the building in its artistic context by using comparisons with roughly contemporary buildings in order to assess the cathedral''s significance, importance, and originality. Through an analysis of the surviving building and an examination of the documents relating to several campaigns of restoration, primarily in the nineteenth century, a new chronology for several phases of the building is proposed, significantly revising the conclusions of the standard work on the cathedral, that of W.H. St J. Hope, published in 1898/1900. The study also takes into account the extensive body of literature that has developed since Hope''s study, on the Anglo-Saxon, Romanesque, and Gothic periods in Britain.

The methodology involved may in part be described as ''above ground'' archaeology, that is, a careful examination of the building''s fabric for what it tells us about its phases, chronology, and vanished parts, allied with documentary references and comparisons with other buildings.

In the Viking world, what were things, nithings and althings? Who was the Viking king who "won for himself all Denmark and Norway, and made the Danes Christians?" Explore the world of The Vikings with the help of maps, charts, diagrams and detailed illustrations. The author, Mike Corbishley, is an experienced writer of children's books on history, and is the Head of Education and Interpretation at English Heritage. The consultant, Dr. Julian Richards, is a lecturer in archaeology at the University of York.

A glimpse into the everyday lives and concerns of thirteen medieval people from king to heretic focuses on how each person fit into the general social structure of the day and is illustrated with examples of medieval art.

"This is the revised English translation from the original work in Russian of the history of the Great Byzantine Empire.  It is the most complete and thorough work on this subject.  From it we get a wonderful panorama of the events and developments of the struggles of early Christianity, both western and eastern, with all of its remains of the wonderful productions of art, architecture, and learning."-Southwestern Journal of Theology