History In Literature: Middle Ages (Grades 7 - 9) Overview - Specific Events - Biography

Middle Ages

Grades 7 - 9

Note:  It is unlikely that there will be many free books on this list.  However, this is a great list to take names and subjects, and compare with you own public library.   Many of these are books - not Kindle versions.

Overview:

          



Specific Events:

        

     April Queen: Eleanor of Aquitaine


   

     Marco Polo

     Xanadu

     A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

   

     Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc: The Complete Version

     Joan of Arc  (Free)

     Joan of Arc The Warrior Maid   (Free)

     A Heroine of France, The Story of Joan of Arc   (Free)

     The Executioner's Knife Or Joan of Arc  (Free)

     The Story of Joan of Arc

     Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc

     The Last Plantagenet: The Pageant of England, Vol. 4

     Harold, Last of the Saxon Kings (Annotated)


Biography:


    Harold Godwinsson

          

Harold Godwinson, (1022 – October 14, 1066 A.D.) also known as Harold II, is widely regarded as the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest. Harold reigned from January 5 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror.


          Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (Saint Maligned Misunderstood and Mistreated)

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a figure of towering importance on the twelfth-century monastic and theological scene. 


     St. Francis of Assisi (Annotated)

     

Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)[2] was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis.[3] St. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.



          St. Thomas Aquinas By G. K. Chesterton

   

It would be hard to overstate the influence that St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) has had on both the Catholic world and the West as a whole over the last 750 years. Even in secular circles, Aquinas is known as one of the most important medieval philosophers, and in many respects a harbinger of the Renaissance that began to flourish across Europe in the centuries that followed his life. His groundbreaking work, Summa Theologica, remains one of the most influential philosophical texts in history, earning him a place in the pantheon alongside Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. 



     Messer Marco Polo


     The Three Edwards

THE THREE EDWARDS, third in Thomas B. Costain's survey of Britain under the Plantagenets, covers the years between 1272 and 1377 when three Edwards ruled England. Edward I brought England out of the Middle Ages. Edward II had a tragic reign but gave his country Edward III, who ruled gloriously, if violently.

  St. Catherine of Siena     

Alice Curtayne St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) ranks as one of the greatest, most interesting, most influential and most popular saints in all of Church history. She was a twin, the 23rd of 25 children, a mystic, a stigmatic and a miracle-worker. Her penances were so great that she eventually ate no food-save Communion-and did not require sleep. Through her personal influence, thousands of people returned to the Faith. Her crowning achievement consisted of persuading Pope Gregory XI to return the Papacy to Rome, thus ending the "Babylonian Captivity."


     Katherine (Rediscovered Classics)

This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history—that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets—Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II—who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king’s son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.



     Sterling Point Books: Joan of Arc: Warrior Saint

Could any story be more inspiring than that of Joan of Arc, the courageous maiden who fought for the glory of France and God? Guided by what she firmly believed were visions of saints, this young Frenchwoman—still just 16 years old—led her people in battle against the British occupiers. Though she proved victorious in war, Joan ultimately became a martyr when some of her own countrymen betrayed her to the English. Jay Williams captures all the tragedy and pathos of the fearless country girl who was finally recognized as a saint herself.