Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Bill Caufield
Unabridged: 4 hr 48 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 08/25/2023
Genre: History - Medieval
The gradual collapse of the Roman Empire brought monumental changes to Europe and beyond. The system that once bound both sides of the Mediterranean Basin together was gone, and with it, many of the connections people from Mesopotamia to Spain and from Gaul to Arabia once enjoyed. In its place, a period of transition began - once referred to as the “Dark Ages,” although that term has fallen out of favor with modern scholars - after the Western Roman Empire ended in 476 and a host of new, primarily Germanic people inherited Roman lands, wealth, and ideas in Western Europe. Many of these Germanic tribes established large kingdoms, such as the Vandals in Spain and North Africa, the Franks in Gaul, the Visigoths in Spain, and the Ostrogoths in Italy.
Like the other Germanic tribes, the Lombards originated in Scandinavia before migrating slowly through central Europe, and as the Western Roman Empire collapsed and the Byzantine successor state in Constantinople attempted to reestablish order, the Lombards took advantage of the chaos and planted themselves firmly on Italian soil.
As the Roman Empire in the West collapsed, the Berbers succumbed to the Vandals, a Germanic tribe from Europe, in the 5th century CE. However, the Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople rather than Rome, underwent something of a renewal, and the whole of the African coast from the Sinai Peninsula to the Straits of Gibraltar returned to Byzantine rule. With that, the Berbers were once again subject to a foreign power, but soon they would exchange their new masters for another, the Arabs, who would bring a new religion, Islam. Through Islam the Berbers would once again come into their own and influence the course of Mediterranean history as their ancient ancestors had done.
Like other secretive groups, the mystery surrounding the Teutonic Knights has helped their legacy endure. While some conspiracy theorists attempt to tie the group to other alleged secret societies like the Illuminati, other groups have tried to asse...
By 1180, Saladin had consolidated his power in both Egypt and Syria, but he still could not join his two realms because of the obstacle that had once protected his Egyptian realm as a buffer zone: the Crusader States. He now decided to root out the...
While the military orders are now often tied to religion or conspiracy theories, they did once wield great power and influence in Europe, and their actions had consequences centuries after they had reached their peak. This was made clear in the wak...
some historians have aligned the term Slav as deriving from descriptions of slaves: “The word “slave” and its cognates in most modern European languages is itself derived from “sclavus,” meaning “slav,” the...
“Let us begin this narration, brethren,from the old times of Vladimir to this present time of Igor,who strengthened his mind with courage,who quickened his heart with valorand, thus imbued with martial spirit,led his valiant regimentsagainst t...
Looking into the past, the Crusades seem incomprehensible. What combination of religious fervor, hatred of people of different faiths, and gall led Europeans of 1100 AD to make their way thousands of miles to conquer the Holy Land? Why did they cont...
The term Moor is a historical rather than an ethnic name. It is an invention of European Christians for the Islamic inhabitants of Maghreb (North Africa), Andalusia (Spain), Sicily and Malta, and was sometimes use to designate all Muslims. It is de...
While the Moors have always been associated with Spain due to their lengthy stay on the Iberian Peninsula, the most famous battle they were involved in was actually fought in modern France. While the Franks were consolidating a kingdom there, Musli...
Of all the steppe peoples in the medieval period, perhaps none were more important to European history than the Magyars. Like the Huns and Avars before them and the Cumans and Mongols after them, the Magyars burst into Europe as a destructive, unst...