This text provides an overview of the world spanning the years 1000 to 1500. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of this mercurial period, covering dynasties and empires, society, religion, war, trade and economy, technology, architecture, art, literature and legends. The dramatic background of the period is followed through the Crusades, the Black Death, the Norman Conquests, Papal Schism, pilgrimage and heresy, the Hundred Years War, Tartars and Ottomans, Aztecs and Incas, Byzantium, Islam, and the Mongol rulers.