The second of a projected six volumes, this carries the story of the building of a Christian civilization in Europe from the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century to the end of the First Crusade. Christ and His Church remain at the center of the story and the key to judging the significance and character of the events described. However, this is more than a history of the Church; it is a political and religious history of Christendom as shaped by the Church - by lay men and women as well as Popes, bishops, priests, monks and nuns - during eight dramatic centuries when Rome fell, Muslims and barbarians attacked Christian Europe, and a new civilization was born.
This series is the only comprehensive narration of Western history written from the orthodox Catholic perspective still in print. How would a historical narrative read if the author began with these first principles: Truth exists; the Incarnation happened? This series is essential reading for those who consider the West worth defending.
The third of a projected seven volumes, this book presents the glory of the High Middle Ages; the flowering of Christian civilization which produced Saints and heroes, Popes, kings and queens, philosophers and architects whose achievements glow like beacons across the centuries. This was the age of united and triumphant Christendom - the age of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, and St. Catherine of Siena; of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Gothic cathedrals; of the crusading kings Richard the Lion-Heart and St. Louis IX.
This fourth of a projected six volumes is primarily concerned with the split in Christendom caused by the Protestant revolt caused by Martin Luther and his followers. It covers in detail the years between the emergence of Luther as a major figure and the beginning of the personal reign of Louis XIV in France in 1661, with separate discussions of the missionary efforts and accomplishments of the Church in America and the Orient during these years. It explores in depth how the great division of Christendom came about.
This final volume on the history of Christendom is concerned with the crises of the modern era, the turning points in the diseases which plagued humanity during these two centuries. The book discusses in detail Nazi and Japanese militarism and its crisis in World War II, the damage caused by the inhuman system of communism and its fall in 1989, and the origins and consequences of the denial of the dignity of the human person in the modern culture of death. As did earlier volumes in this series, the book reflects an unabashedly Christian and Catholic view of history, taking as one of its major themes the centrality of the papacy to the destiny of the West. Carroll holds that God and individual men and women, not impersonal social and economic forces, make history.--
"At the dawn of the fifteenth century, Islam invaded Europe from the East and it seemed that Christendom itself was under threat. In an attempt to save Christian world the Emperor Sigismund called the many nations of Europe together for a conference at Constance, beside the Rhine. The Conference attracted the greatest minds in the western world, as well as innumerable princes, lawyers and prostitutes. And amid the confusion hoped to put Europe's house in order." "In The Battle for Christendom, brilliant historian Frank Welsh delves into this important moment in history and shows that it is in fact one of the most central moments in European history. Schism had ravaged the Catholic Church and three Popes claimed the seat of St Peters - which, in Holmesian fashion, Welsh cals a "Three-Pope Problem". There were also dangerous stirrings of reform. Over the next months, debate raged while Sigismund attempted to find a solution. The event would be one of the major turning points in European history - the last event of the medieval world, heralding the dawn of the renaissance and the rise of humanism. Yet it would also hold a darker truth and with the burning of the Czech divine, Jan Hus, saw first moments of the Reformation. The story rises to a conclusion on the battlements of Constantinople in 1453 where, despite all of Sigismund's attempts to repel the Ottomans, the East rose up once more." "The Council of Constance was a high point for the movement that promoted the authority of councils over the authority of the pope, and with good reason - it was a moment in which a group of well-meaning people reshaped the future of their continent. In Welsh's lively retelling, The Battle for Christendom is an exciting and readable story that holds lessons for our own times of international turmoil."--BOOK JACKET.
This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power. Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity' Includes a fully updated bibliography and index
Bestselling historian and broadcaster Tom Holland gives a thrilling panoramic account of the birth of the new Western Europe in the year 1000 'An exhilarating sweep across European history either side of the year 1000; riveting' ALLAN MASSIE, SPECTATOR 'I relished the blood and thunder narrative - the work of a great storyteller at his best' DOMINIC SANDBROOK, EVENING STANDARD 'A splendid, highly coloured canvas' NORMAN STONE, GUARDIAN In AD 900, few would have guessed that the splintering kingdoms of Europe were candidates for future greatness. Hemmed in by implacable enemies and an ocean, there were many who feared that they were nearing the time when the Antichrist would appear, heralding the world's end. Instead there emerged a new civilisation. It was the age of Otto the Great and William the Conqueror, of Viking sea-kings, of hermits, monks and serfs. It witnessed the spread of castles, the invention of knighthood, and the founding of the papal monarchy. It was a momentous achievement: for this was nothing less than the founding of the modern West.
"This re-issued biography recounts [Kino's] work with loving detail and with an accuracy that has survived slight amendments. Its accompanying plates, maps, and bibliography enhance a text that should find a place in every serious library."—Religious Studies Review "This is truly an epic work, an absolute standard for any Southwestern collection."—Book Talk Select maps from the 1984 edition of Rim of Christendom are now available online through the UA Campus Repository.
Chronicles developments in Christianity and the Catholic Curch, the papacy and its place in world history from 1661 to 1815, focusing in particular on the Church in France from the French Revolution through the rule of Napoleon.
