"An indispensable point of departure for anyone interested in the cult of the saints in the Middle Ages." —Eamon Duffy, The New York Review of BooksFrom its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints—the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant...

Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family - a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And w...

A wave of internal conquest, settlement and economic growth took place in Europe during the High Middle Ages, which transformed it from a world of small separate communities into a network of powerful kingdoms with distinctive cultures. In this vivid and provocative book Robert Bartlett vividly shows how Europe was itself a product of colonization, as much as it was later a colonizer, and what this did to shape the continent and the world today.

This lively and far-reaching account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest provides a vivid picture of everyday existence, and increases our understanding of all aspects of medieval society. This was a period in which the ruling dynasty and military aristocracy were deeply enmeshed with the politics and culture of France. Professor Bartlett describes their conflicts, and their preoccupations - the sense of honour, the role of ...

To what extent does our knowledge of the past rely upon written sources? And what happens when these sources are destroyed? Focusing on the manuscripts of the Middle Ages, History in Flames explores cases in which large volumes of written material were destroyed during a single day. This destruction didn't occur by accident of fire or flood but by human forces such as arson, shelling and bombing. This book examines the political and military events that preceded the moment of destruction, ...

Lonely Planet's local travel experts reveal all you need to know to plan the trip of a lifetime in this latest edition of our guide to Central America.Discover Central America's most popular experiences and best kept secrets from gazing into the magma-churning Volcán Masaya in Nicaragua; to swimming through near-transparent Caribbean waters around the teensy island of Caye Caukler in Belize; and people-watching in the Parque Central of Granada before strolling its ...

Lonely Planet's Best Bike Rides Canada reveals 35 incredible two-wheeled escapes – with maps – so you can experience even more of this extraordinary country.Get ready for an unforgettable bike ride across Canada and discover exhilarating cycling adventures that range from a couple of hours to a full day. Admire wild and rugged beaches wit...

Seven hundred years ago, executioners led a Welsh rebel named William Cragh to a wintry hill to be hanged. They placed a noose around his neck, dropped him from the gallows, and later pronounced him dead. But was he dead? While no less than nine eyewitnesses attested to his demise, Cragh later proved to be very much alive, his resurrection attributed to the saintly entreaties of the defunct Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe.The Hanged Man tells the story of this putative miracle-...

One of the central challenges to contemporary political philosophy is the apparent impossibility of arriving at any commonly agreed upon "truths." As Nietzsche observed in his Will to Power, the currents of relativism that have come to characterize modern thought can be said to have been born with ancient sophistry. If we seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses of contemporary radical relativism, we must therefore look first to the sophists of antiquity—the most famous and...

In The Middle Ages and the Movies eminent historian Robert Bartlett takes a fresh, cogent look at how our view of medieval history has been shaped by eight significant films of the twentieth century. The book ranges from the concoction of sex and nationalism in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, to Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Siegfried, the art-house classic The Seventh Seal to Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev and the epic historical drama El Cid. T...

Africa in the New Testament and early Christianity is a passion of my heart. When we read about early church and bishops, we often lose sight of where they came from or really who they are. I hope the words of African leaders will inspire the reader to research more into the subject.

Cole Murphy glides down the road on his custom chopper enjoying the cool autumn serenity of the North Carolina mountains. Harboring a terrible secret, his mind is lost in worrying about the impact that such a secret will have on his life and the lives of his family when he is caught in the maelstrom of a disastrous traffic accident. Losing control of the motorcycle amid the debris that litters the pavement, he is sent careening over the edge of an embankment, plummeting to land at the edge...