The history of the medieval world : from the conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade /
Bauer, S. Wise.
New York : W.W. Norton,
c2010.
From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled. In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and the twelfth centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action--right thus replaces might as the engine of empire. Not just Christianity and Islam but the religions of the Persians and the Germans, and even Buddhism, are pressed into the service of the state. This phenomenon--stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan--changes religion, but it also changes the state.--From publisher description.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Unity: One empire, under God ; Seeking the mandate of Heaven ; An empire of the mind ; The Persian threat ; The apostate ; Earthquake and invasion ; Refounding the Kingdom ; The Catholic church -- Fractures: Excommunicated ; Cracked in two ; The sack of Rome ; One nature versus two ; Seeking a homeland ; The Gupta decline ; Northern ambitions ; The Huns ; Attila ; Orthodoxy ; The high kings ; The end of the Roman myth -- New powers: The Ostrogoths ; Byzantium ; Aspirations ; Resentment ; Elected Kings ; Invasion and eruption ; The Americas ; Great and holy majesty ; Pestilence ; The heavenly sovereign ; Reunification ; The South Indian kings ; Two emperors ; The mayors of the palaces ; Gregory the Great ; The Persian crusade ; The prophet ; Tang dominance ; The tribe of faith ; Intersection ; The troubles of empire -- States and kingdoms: Law and language ; Creating the past ; The days of the empress ; Paths into Europe ; The Kailasa of the South ; Purifications ; The Abbasids ; Charlemagne ; The An Lushan rebellion ; Imperator et Augustus ; The new Sennacherib ; Castle lords and regents ; The triumph of the outsiders ; The third dynasty ; The Vikings ; Long-lived kings ; Foreign and domestic relations ; The second caliphate ; The great army of the Vikings ; Struggle for the iron crown ; Kampaku ; Basileus ; The creation of Normandy ; The kingdom of Germany ; The turn of the wheel ; The capture of Baghdad ; Three kingdoms ; Kings of England ; The baptism of the Rus -- Crusades: The holy Roman emperor ; The hardship of sacred war ; Basil the Bulgar-slayer ; Defending the mandate ; The new found land ; Schism ; Danish domination ; The Norman conquest ; The kings of Spain ; The arrival of the Turks ; The loss of the song ; Repentance at Canossa ; The call ; Fighting for Jerusalem ; Aftershocks.
From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled. In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and the twelfth centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action--right thus replaces might as the engine of empire. Not just Christianity and Islam but the religions of the Persians and the Germans, and even Buddhism, are pressed into the service of the state. This phenomenon--stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan--changes religion, but it also changes the state.--From publisher description.
Middle Ages.
Civilization, Medieval.