A Castle with Many Rooms: The Story of the Middle Ages

by Lorene Lambert

-Walk through a thousand years of living history.
-Watch empires rise and fall.
-Meet kings both noble and dreadful, and craftsmen and artists who change the world.
-Ponder the tragedy of sickness and war.
-Rejoice in the triumphs of freedom and forgiveness.

Experience the Middle Ages with this captivating narrative from the Fall of Rome to the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution. Explore from Europe to Africa, the Americas, Middle East, and Asia.

Genres: History, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Medieval

254 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Ammie]

"Though we are leaving it now and saying farewell, remember that you can always return. The Castle stands ready to welcome you back and invites you to linger anew in the splendors of its many rooms."

Wonderful Historical spine. We started at the end of last June and have enjoyed every chapter.

[Andy]

This was our "textbook" for our homeschool year and made for such a rich and deeply meaningful school year. My boys 13 & 10 really enjoyed it!

[Sandi]

We read this book as a family aloud for homeschool. I read it to my 12, 10 and 8 year old. We all really enjoyed the book. I personally really appreciated how the author connected all of the information into a whole, as did a great job with introduction, transitions and conclusions to the chapters and sections. That really helped me, as the reader, see how all of these events over 1,000 years were connected into a whole. My boys really enjoyed the book too and gave it 4.5 stars. As a mom, this book has been one of my more favorite read alouds we have done for school together.

[Darcy Schock]

I read this aloud to my girls as we studied the middle ages! It’s a good historical read that isn’t dry but still informative!

[Dana]

Although I think the information in the book is great, I purchased it to accompany my homeschool Charlotte Mason curriculum. With that in mind, I feel it moves too fast for young minds to understand. I will definitely be breaking the chapters up for my kids. It is a lot to take in. It covers 1,000 years of history. I'm going to go back over each chapter and summarize them before I teach them. I will also keep a timeline to help us retain the information presented.

[Angela Bergeron]

What a wonderful big picture overview of the middle ages! I have yet to read a SCM history spine by Lorene Lambert that disappoints. The chapters are lengthy and it covers a lot so I would say at least ages 10 and up are a good fit. My 12 and 13 year old loved it as a read aloud. Usually in middle ages history spines, even Greek and Roman, you get a long list of people and it's hard to keep them straight. This history spine mentions people, but it's more part of the bigger ideas.

[Jacque Cialone]

This book was the spine for our homeschool history study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance this school year. I learned more from this book than I did in 12 years in public school or even my 2 history college courses. I'm grateful to have found it and been able to give my children a much more thorough picture of this time period.

[Caitlin Nikolai]

When I bought this book, I assumed it focused on actual, physical castles. But no (mostly), it is a fantastic summery of the Middle Ages from all over the world. I read of events and places in Asia, South America, Africa that I had never heard before. I learned more European history. All-in-all, a fantastic snip of history book.

[Heather Ummel]

I’m reading this as a history spine to my 5th and 6th grade students. It’s EXCELLENT!! Extremely well-written, and the chapter lengths are perfect for reading aloud in class. Then I have the kids go home and do a written narration. They are learning so much (as am I.)

[Alaina]

We read this as part of our Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum. It was good. But for my 2nd grader the chapters were a little too long. We had to break up the chapters to get through them. But we all learned a lot!

[Debra]

This living book about the Middle Ages was really interesting. I read this aloud to my 12 year old as part of our homeschool history. We really got a lot out of it. This is a great way to learn history.

[Ruth]

I hadn't heard of the name Prester John in more than three decades. Wonderfully light and comprehensive at the same time. Enjoyable read, even enlightening in details that were not previously known.

[Jess]

Micah and I LOVED this book. It was the perfect way to learn more about the Middle Ages. The style of writing was fabulous and the chapters were short. Will be looking for more books by her or history books with Charlotte Mason style. So good!

[Shinae Wyckoff]

A living book of history for children. I have thoroughly enjoyed pre-reading it for homeschool preparations . We are covering a wide time period, and this book gives many good stories from all over the world for the mother-teacher to choose from. I am enjoying reading the whole series.

[Cody]

Actually really enjoyed this. It was engaging and informative and surprised me (pleasantly). We did it for our history and the whole family really liked it.

[Meredith Hall]

(with Ben & Mabry)

[Emily]

Engaging episodic non-fiction about the middle ages. Excellent book to use for school. The 8 year old was not as engaged. . . I'd say 10 and up.

[Watermarked Pages]

I enjoyed this overview of the Middle Ages and learned quite a bit. But I’ll admit that, for a Charlotte Mason book, it’s pretty close to a textbook, rather than a living book.

[R.E.]

This book was informative and well written.

[Cara Wilhelm]

I really enjoyed this as a spine for our history studies.

[Erin B]

Such a lovely living book. I teared up a bit on the last chapter as we said farewell to the Castle.

[Lindsay]

Read this aloud this year with my kids while we studied the Middle Ages. So well written, fascinating, and engaging for all ages.

[Whitney Newby]

Our family absolutely loved traveling through the Middle Ages with this book. Our kids are currently 11, 8, 6, and 4, and all four enjoyed listening as I read each day. It included so much insight that I'd never known and really brought this period of history to life. Highly recommend for homeschool families!

[Brooke Kinabrew]

2025/2026 school year -

We loved journeying through the Middle Ages with this book. Both myself and the boys enjoyed each chapter as we delved into each “room” of the history of this world of ours. I learned so much myself. It was fascinating and engaging. Highly recommend for homeschool families!

[Tracy Reed]

This has been a very enjoyable part of our homeschool study of medieval history. It engaged all four of my kids, grades 1, 3, 6, and 9, and I enjoyed it as well! It's one of my favorite history spines we've used thus far.
Update: We are circling back to this one, now with grades 5, 7, and 10. I think it remains the favorite history cycle for all four kids, so these three are excited to be returning to it. We use the SCM program, which includes on-level books for each kiddo in addition to this family spine.

[Jennifer]

I read this with my older two for ancient medieval history and just finished it again with my youngest. It’s an excellent source of high-level history and she keeps it engaging in most sections. We are both better connected to the time period after our readings this year.

[Ella O.]

A really good history book!