The Middle Ages: A History From Beginning to End

by Henry Freeman

What do you think of when you consider the Middle Ages?
Knights in armor and damsels in distress?
Vikings plundering monasteries?
Religious dissenters burning at the stake?
The dead bodies piling up as war, famine, and plague devastated Europe?
Think again.

While all these are part of the tapestry of the medieval era, the threads of politics, personality and war, culture, religion, education and the arts are vastly more intricate and fascinating. Think Charlemagne, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Joan of Arc, Peter Abelard, Geoffrey Chaucer and a riveting cast of thousands. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Western Europe had to reinvent itself and redefine its philosophical parentage.


✓ The Early Middle Ages
✓ Advancing to Empire with Charlemagne
✓ The High Middle Ages
✓ The Flowering of the Church
✓ Times of Change
✓ The Late Middle Ages
✓ The End and the Beginning

As the Christian Church filled the void left by the loss of Roman authority, nations would emerge out of blurred geographical boundaries and dynastic kings would evolve from warlords. Rome gets the glory, and the Renaissance gets the glamor, but they are bookends for the dynamic centuries that are known as the Middle Ages.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Medieval, European History, Historical, Medieval History

53 pages, ebook

Published March 20, 2016

About the author

Henry Freeman is an author and archaeologist. He has a passion for history and loves to travel the world exploring various historical sites.

Henry graduated from the University of Cambridge with a double major in History and Archaeology and shortly after that started his career as an archaeologist.

After traveling the world getting first-hand experience with history, Henry was determined to take up his dream of becoming a best-selling author.

He decided to partner up with the newly formed publishing company Hourly History writing short, concise and straightforward history books that never takes more than one hour to read.

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

an excellent overview

An excellent overview that highlights the most significant events, personages, inventions, thinking and tragedies of the years between 476 and the 15th century where we see the beginnings of the Renaissance. This essay is highly readable and weaves a great deal of divergent aspects of European history together within its time frame.

[Yazir Paredes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good in covering the main points of the Middle Ages. This is a very big span of time to cover for such an intentionally short book, but the author does a good job of covering the basic topics as well as giving of insight into the people that lived it. As an hourly history books it fulfills its premise.

[Anil Swarup · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is extremely difficult to compress history of so many centuries in so few pages. Hourly History has mastered this art and it comes out so eloquently in this book that takes you through the tumultuous period of Middle Ages that was "shrouded in mystery that it's often difficult to discern where truth ends and myth begins". This Age began as the Roman Empire disintegrated. "The Romans had legions. The Middle Ages had religion" is a succinct description of the difference between the two Ages.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary of the Middle Ages. I picked this up for free for Kindle, and was unfamiliar with "Hourly History" books. As other reviewers commented, this is pretty light and not for serious students of history. It also is in dire need of editing for punctuation. I can't comment much on the accuracy of the facts as I am not a historian, but I am interested in history. I did find it interesting and it gave me an overview and tied together things that I knew with a new perspective on what it all meant. And, it was a quick read. I would probably read another Hourly History book, but as with this one, tend to take it with a grain of salt.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my fourth short history book from these guys. Once again a good introduction to the subject and great for a general overview. I feel like there is probably a bit too much to be included in this one book. So a lot is swept through quickly lacking some detail or explanations. Not sure how they can resolve that, the point of these books is that they are all of the same short length, to make it longer would make it into something else entirely.

I still recommend this book if, like me, you want to get the gist of what was going on but don’t need to be bogged down with so much information.

I like the writers, they have a nice style, relaxed and informative, like a kind uncle explaining something to you.

I was debating giving this 3*/5 but I think they’ve done marvellously given the perimeters of the book. So 4*/5 it is

[Anne Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct, informative as well as interesting read regarding the Middle Ages that appeals to the novel history buff.

I am a docent at my local art museum in Birmingham, Alabama, and in my tours I like to weave together a historical reference when discussing the art of the time. My background includes a history degree, so I am very familiar with the Middle Ages, but I’ll have to say that as a young college student, the subject material was dry and not very intriguing to me. Fast forward thirty years to a time in my life where I enjoy sharing our local art collection with the public as a volunteer docent. I can’t tell you how many Wikipedia searches I have conducted in an effort to briefly sum up how the Renaissance evolved, the impact of disease, the opening of trade routes, and the role that the church had during the Middle Ages, in order to help the patron of the museum navigate through our European galleries with a better understanding of the historical significance of the times. I wish I had discovered this little synopsis of the Middle Ages earlier because first of all, it has helped me validate my own understanding of how the renaissance evolved, and secondly it would have been so much easier than piecing together my little snippets of research that were conducted sometimes haphazardly just before a tour.
I am by no means a scholarly person, but I believe that many of us laymen appreciate having a working knowledge of history as it relates to art as well as other facets of our lives, including the understanding of the human condition as we have evolved socially and culturally throughout the past.
So thank you for sharing this publication..I would love to read similar stories summing up different eras in other cultures, perhaps Asian or African.

[〰️Beth〰️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brief summation

Well written summation of the Middle Ages. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a brief overview or recap of this time in history

[History7teacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great synopsis!

This book is handy for simply explaining the events and people of the Middle Ages. Having taught this material to middle schoolers, I enjoyed this book very much.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the publisher and asked to read The Middle Ages and post an honest review. The publisher sent me a PDF version of the book.

What makes a book a book…other than its bound? To me this was a research paper…

I am not a scholar, a doctor, a teacher, or researcher…I’m a regular reader that enjoys historical fiction and therefore, I also enjoy learning about the history embedded in the books I love. This 50-page collection of information about the years between 476 and 1450 is a hefty read. There is a lot packed into the few pages. The vocabulary is high level; I had to reread sections and entire pages along with taking time to look up various words for clarification. At times I felt as if I were studying for an exam instead of reading for fun.

But, I did appreciate the content; especially the last half. The first 20 pages caused problems for me; I was bored and frequently put it down to do other things. But the second half was much more engaging; maybe that’s because the names and situations were more familiar to me. I’m not sure.
Overall, this collection of historical facts leaves some hanging threads and left me wanting more information. For example, I’ll be reading more about the First Baron’s War (13th Century) and John Wycliffe (14th Century). One thousand years of history seems impossible to explain in 50 pages and although, technically, the task is completed with his book, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re sure to be satisfied with a bird’s eye view of the time period.

[Emely · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book about the middle ages. It's a light read, yet it takes you through the time line of the middle ages offering quite substantial knowledge and deeper understanding of the time, its rulers and people. I really like how the author Henry Freeman doesn't just fly through history dryly by just listing years and events but that he sections off and writes in much more detail about certain important events and about the historical influence of certain rulers like Charlemagne, for example. This is not your typical history book as the writing is not academic and dry, instead it's an engaging and very enlightening book not only for young students and newcomers to the topic of this part of history but also for the more advanced "scholars" like me.

[Noreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable overview of the Middle Ages in about an hour. Hits the highlights and major trends of the time. Best one line description of the difference between a standard Catholic and a Cathar. A Cathar believed god was both good and evil. A Catholic believed god was only good.

[Bobby G. Cates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good brief history

A surprisingly easy read and fairly short book. It did cover all of the important figures and events of the period however. Overall a good and educational read.

[Benjamin Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Middle aged

This is a wonderful little book about the middle ages. Quick and enlightening.pardon the pun! I read this for fee definitely worth it

[Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief but good overview of the period. Key message is that the middle ages were not unimportant. Those centuries paved the way for the Renaissance.

[Carolina Casas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good attempt at summarizing one of the most controversial eras in history. The middle ages is an era that continues to be shrouded in mystery. A lot of it is because many wish it to remain so. It makes it much more easier to see the middle ages as a time of darkness and its successor, the renaissance, as an era of enlightenment, rather than a transitional period between the fall of Rome and new religious and philosophical currents that would affect -not only Western Europe- but the entire world.
While the Renaissance was a time of discovery, where these philosophical and and religious currents took the center stage, the middle ages do not fall far behind. There was nothing darker about the middle ages than its predecessors. Religion was a key factor in people's lives, but this did not signify that human curiosity or ingenuity was hindered. Quite the contrary. The church encouraged religious inquire, as long as it did not lead to heresy.
This short introduction does a great job dispelling many other myths, such as literacy and nationhood -which had its beginnings in the middle ages and not in the renaissance as it is commonly thought.
However, the book does fall short when it comes to some dates and names, and over-simplifying important conflicts for which this period is largely known. The Crusades for example. It was not just a religious conflict where the Christians were the baddies and the Muslims were the victims. Both religious viewed each other with hostility. Ironically, the book mentions this in its first chapters but then backtracks itself, omitting that the Christian's actions were because of Muslim armies encroaching on Christian lands. Furthermore, as fascinated as I am with Marco Polo's travels, it would not have hurt the author of the book to make a short mention of the Polo's veracity and how some of his characterizations of the East were largely exaggerated.
And while I understand that this being an introductory text, it can't expand on these subjects, it seemed rushed when it came to the topic of Islam and East Asia. Some of the sects of the former are mentioned, but not covered enough, nor the conflicts that arose within them and how these impacted its leaders later on during the renaissance. And all that was mentioned of East Asia was Polo's travels and its role in the Black Plague being introduced to Europe.
Last and not least, there were two big mistakes where Henry II of England is concerned, and on the one hundred years war. The first has to do with simple wording. I could have easily overlooked that if it had not been followed by a bigger historical error on his part, confusing the first three King Edwards and the Black Prince (whom he lists as the son of Edward II, rather than Edward III).

Overall, it was hit and miss. I would still recommend it, if you are someone who is looking to get some of your students or friends interested in this era but I would advise you that you'd tell them to follow it up with another book that expands on this period such as that of by Norman F. Cantor.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Middle Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE) and ended around the 14th-century (at 'the outbreak of intellectual inspiration'), better known as the Renaissance.  The Middle Ages were often referred to as the Dark Ages.  This is a well-written overview of approximately 1000 years.  Because so much happened during these years, scholars divided those 1000 years into Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

This book from Hourly History follows their usual path of high quality, interesting, and concise explanations of the subject under scrutiny. Most of their books can be read in an hour or less.  The Early Middle Ages was spent trying to create new national borders without the Romans to provide roads, trade, and governmental structures.  I was not aware (before reading this book) that the western countries all used Latin for official documents and the eastern countries of Europe used Greek.

The author makes an important point that when the Romans disappeared, the Church took over many aspects of governance and daily life.  The monasteries became centers of learning for the children, monks distilled herbal remedies for medical treatment and developed liquor/spirits for sale.

The Late Middle Ages saw about 100 million people in Europe.  I was surprised to read that between 1347 and 1350, between 25% to 45% of that population died.  There weren't enough people left alive to keep up with the burials.  The Plague would return from time-to-time, but the devastation must have been terrifying for everyone, but particularly the peasants.

With so few people left, wages rose for those remaining and life became easier.  With trade, people prospered and began to look around their world.  The tight hold of the Church started to lessen, printing became common, more people could read, people wanted to interpret the Bible for themselves and study ancient books and manuscripts.  Learning was valued, while intellectual and artistic skills became more important.  The world was ready for the Rennaissance.  

This is a fine book to add to my library of historical studies.  It is well worth my time.

[Gian Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being stuck in between the Classic Era, from splendors to the fall of the Roman Empire, and the period later known as Renaissance and the discovery of the New World, The Middle Ages always suffered from a bad reputation. However, lots has happened during that time,not merely politically or artistically, and the Dark Ages, as it's often refereed to, was a period of great changes and innovations on many levels.
the book is just too short to make it justice, still it's a very interesting and quick read.

[Boar's Head Eastcheap · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short overview of the period.

It is easily and quickly read, but by its nature very light on all but the most important details. Suitable for older children and anyone who has no real knowledge of the era. You will find it disappointing if you are looking for anything more detailed than a primer, but it achieves what sets out to do well enough.

[Callum Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book. I appreciated the authors decision to include characters and events that have been taught time and time again but also ones that have rarely been mentioned in documentaries, books or schools. Thank you for providing me with a journey into the past.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. The information was well structured, easy to understand, and interesting enough to hold my attention. I read a lot of history, and, let’s be honest, some presentations are quite dry. This one, however, was not. It took me about 40 minutes to completely read the text. I look forward to reading more from this series.

[Paul Cavanaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to follow

I really enjoy hourly history overall, but this was tough to follow. It could be that I didn't have enough background knowledge, but there was a lot of jumping around and it was challenging to distinguish all the different names. It probably would have been to break this up into three separate books.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freebie from Kindle that I used to understand the fit of the Reformation into Western European history. I was well aware that the Romans had conquered and then later the Roman Catholic Church filled in the void, almost by default. But this short account filled in a few facts. Unfortunately it’s poor editing is distracting.

[Donadee's Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading the history of all kinds (people, places, and things) well now I have found another outlet to get my fill! It is so nice to quickly read about times and people and have all of the important bits right at my fingertips. My thanks to Charles River...

[wendie toohey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to know history

I didn't know about some of the times or events that happened in the middle ages.I vaguely remember some of the names but nothing else.This reading helped clear up some of my misunderstanding.

[Ed Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

This is one of the better Hourly History books. Covering almost 900 years in 50 pages, key people, trends and events of the Middle Ages come to life. An easy read, the book provides breadcrumbs for further reading and exploring.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Covered MOST of the main points of the middle ages...TOTALLY BLEW the discussion of the Crusades and the principle causes mainly the invasions of Europe and the Moslem disruption of trade routes as well as the Reconquista....(liberal mistake I assume) Otherwise it was an OK read.

[Matt Capelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great summary

A very concise and well-written synopsis of the almost thousand years of the Middle Ages. Easy to follow and understand. An overall excellent introduction to the subject matter.

[Alan Berthelot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick interesting read

This is a quick overview of the Middle Ages of Europe. If you are more incline for a detailed narrative, it can give you some jumping off points to do other research.

[Christopher]

Good overview,quick read

Reminded me of the pieces I had forgotten since school. A fast and entertaining read that will give many a start for further reading or research. Well worth the minimal effort to engage one into the Middle Ages.

[Michael Morales · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer

A brief and succinct summary of all the major highlights of the period. It's a good primer and introduction to absorb and help you decide if you would like to know more.