Erin ’s Reviews > Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages > Status Update

From the 9th century onward founding, endowing or donating to monasteries became a popular pastime for rich men and women.

Eastern Franks are today simply called Germans

A degree of popular prejudice and suspicion of the "moro" the Moor or Spanish Muslim, whose true loyalties supposedly lie in north Africa is a continuing feature of Spain's political discourse.

By the start of the sixth century, one of the most keenly attended forms of public entertainment in Constantinople was chariot racing.

More than anything else the Arab conquests laid the foundations for Islam's rise as a major world religion. In 2015 it was reported that there were 1.8 billion Muslims in the world 80-85% Sunni and 15-20% Shia.

The plague had seldom been anything more than an intense local phenomenon until somehow between 520 and 540 the disease mutated into a super lethal strain.

In 370 when Rome's fatal malady set in, the Roman state, monarchy and empire had existed for more than a millennium.

At around the age of 40 Muhammad began experiencing dreams, visits and visions from celestial beings. One day in a cave on the outskirts of Mecca he was visited by the angel Gabriel.

In 453 Attila the Hun died, apparently choking to death on his own blood thanks to the combination of a massive drinking binge and an equally massive nosebleed.

As that other great prophet and preacher Jesus of Nazareth had demonstrated six hundred years before any charismatic and pious individual who sought to build a religious creed around themes of poverty and social inequality, Muhammad had very quickly amassed rich and powerful enemies.