This richly illustrated book tells the story of Europe and the Mediterranean over the thousand years which saw the creation of Western Civilization. Written by expert scholars and based on the latest research, it offers a lively and authoritative account of life in medieval Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance. The story covers a time of turmoil and change, from the empires of Charlemagne and the Byzantines to the newly formed nation states which fought the Hundred Years War. Great monasteries and cathedrals, the ambitions of the crusades, chivalric knights and heroic romance, the realism of the new arts, economic and social growth, the catastrophe of plague, the growth of towns and cities, the development of commerce and banking: this remarkable period embraces them all. The six chapters of the book are divided between the Mediterranean world and northern Europe, illustrating how the centre of political and cultural life moved gradually northwards as the centuries progressed. Over 200 illustrations, 24 of them in colour, amplify the text, and comprehensive reference material is provided in maps, genealogies, a chronology, reading list, and full index. General readers; students of medieval European history and the development of western civilization.