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me!
IN ASSOCIATION
WITH
3rd
Grade: the Medieval World
The Dark Ages
The time of chaos and uncertainty when Europe was finding herself after the Fall of Rome
is known as the Dark Ages. Into the void left by the Roman Empire, Christianity brightly
took the lead.
The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages were a time when Christian society reigned supreme, and yet clouds were on
the horizon: while at times true Christian love shown through, also at times everything
evil was practiced in the name of Jesus Christ.
Medieval World
Teacher’s Resources
The medieval world built upon the foundation of Western Civilization begun by Greece and
Rome, but Christianity informed its direction and philosophies to the extent that the
world as we know it today would not exist without its supremacy. These essential resources
will help the homeschool parent grasp the big picture.
The Medieval World for Older
Students
If you are beginning classical education or homeschooling with older grammar stage
students, or need resources to fill in the facts of history with dialectic and rhetoric
stage students, these will do that at a higher reading level.
The Dark Ages
Many historians do not use the term “Dark Ages” anymore,
prefering to describe the entire period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance as
the Middle Ages. However, since that era covers over 1000 years of history, I have broken
up that 1000 years into the traditional “Dark” and “Middle Ages.” As I
have used it, “Dark Ages” refers to that time of chaos and transition following
the fall of the Roman Empire when Europe was still finding herself; and when what we think
of as Medieval society was still developing. It lasted for several centuries after the
fall of Rome in 476 A.D.; the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066 is the
traditional transition date. The major players in the Dark Ages are the monks, the Franks,
the inhabitants of Britain (Britons (modern Welsh) originally, displaced by Saxons and
Angles (English) early in this period) and Ireland, the Islamic and Byzantine
civilizations, and the Vikings (Danes).
The Middle Ages: Cultural Atlas for Young People
Mike Corbishley
Beginning with a
timeline that stretches from 300 A.D. through the 15th century, this book, like the others
in the Cultural Atlas for Young People series, is lavishly illustrated with National
Geographic- quality photos and full-page maps. Part One covers a brief history of Medieval
Europe, including the Barbarian movements, the empire of Justinian, Ravenna, Carolingian
Europe, Sutton Hoo (Saxon), Viking expansion, the Byzantine empire; (Dark Ages), and the
Plantagenet empire, the Bayeaux Tapestry, the Doomsday Book, the Crusades, the German
empire, the Medieval church, education, cathedral building, stained glass, medieval arts
and crafts, and science, medicine, and printing (Middle Ages.) Part Two covers the lands
of Medieval Europe, including France, Paris, Italy, British Isles, Spain and Portugal,
Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, Bohemia, Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans,
Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, Russian village life, and Scandinavia. It also includes
short spreads on such topics as travel, trade, castles, mapmaking, and everyday life.
The Story of the Middle Ages
Christine Miller, H. A. Guerber, Charlotte M. Yonge
Far and
above all other narrative histories of the Middle Ages for children, The Story of the
Middle Ages is an excellent introduction to Western Civilization after the Fall of the
Roman Empire. Rich in detail, effortlessly weaving the Biblical worldview throughout, this
new history covers the complete scope of the medieval era from the early inhabitants of
Europe through the Hundred Years’ War and the War of the Roses in 147 lessons. We
learn of the barbarians, kings and saints that figured prominently in Christendom: Sts.
Denis, Martin, Patrick, Benedict, Louis, Francis and more; Theodoric, Justinian, Gregory,
Charles, and Otto the Great; Roland, El Cid, and Richard the Lion-Hearted; the Crusades,
and much, much more. This captivating history is a completely new narrative taken in part
from the 1895 and 1910 editions of H. A. Guerber’s The Story of the English
and The Story of Old France. Chapters 1 through 66, Europe Long Ago through The
Legend of El Cid, covers the period of the Dark Ages in detail.
And God Blessed the Irish: the Story of Patrick
Chris Driscoll
“A
children’s book with much wider appeal. Accented with charming, simple, cartoon-style
illustrations, the book tells the story of St. Patrick, including legends and folklore
about the saint along with his actual history. Although definitely geared towards
children, And God Blessed the Irish can teach even adults. And God Blessed the Irish tells
the true history of St. Patrick, detailing his incredible life in a creatively written and
exciting story. It is a captivating tale of adventure that entertains while it educates
the reader.
Dark
Ages Literature: Bulfinch’s
Mythology (especially The Legends of Charlemagne), from 3rd
Grade Literature selections
Beowulf the Warrior
Ian Serraillier
Master storyteller
and poet Ian Serraillier has rewoven in modern narrative verse the story of Beowulf, the
oldest epic in the English language. He succeeds in making this classic tale accessible to
today’s youth. His rendition is an excellent introduction to both the events of the
tale and the flow of the epic language for young readers. Beowulf was a real historical
person, as ancient records confirm; and the poem is a pre-Christian era epic of the
Saxons. The references to Old Testament persons and events are not the work of later
Christian revisionists, but handed down generation after generation from the post-flood
founders of the Saxon tribes. (See After the Flood for a
thoroughly researched account of the historicity of Beowulf.)
Nordic Gods and Heroes
Padraic Colum
Colum’s
refreshing, straightforward rendition of the Norse legends, classically illustrated with
Willy Pogany’s clean, powerful drawings, is back in print. All of the major legends
are included, without unwelcome analyzation, including the Ring saga (C.S. Lewis’
favorite tales when young).
The Viking World
Philippa Wingate, Anne Millard, and Jane Chisolm
“This book looks
at the way the Vikings lived and captures their irrepressible spirit of adventure. It
follows the voyages of such Viking explorers as Leif Ericsson, who set foot in North
America 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Packed with pictures, maps and charts, The
Viking World is both a fascinating historical chronicle and a valuable work of
reference.” -The Publisher. Irrepressible spirit of adventure? Irrepressible spirit
of pillage and destruction would be closer to the truth.
The Vikings
Elizabeth Janeway
“The story of how Eric
the Red and his son Leif sailed to the west and discovered Greenland and the continent of
North America is a true story. I have tried to write a true book about their discoveries,
but I want to tell you at once that not everything that you will read in this book is
fact. All the facts that we know about Eric and Leif and their voyages are here, but in
between the facts I have put some fiction. I did this because the fictional parts of the
book tell true things about the way people lived and acted and felt in Norway and Iceland
and Greenland a thousand years ago.” - author’s foreward. So begins the true
tale of the discoveries of Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky in Elizabeth Janeway’s The
Vikings.
The Middle
Ages
The Middle Ages: Cultural Atlas for Young People
Mike Corbishley
Beginning with a
timeline that stretches from 300 A.D. through the 15th century, this book, like the others
in the Cultural Atlas for Young People series, is lavishly illustrated with National
Geographic- quality photos and full-page maps. Part One covers a brief history of Medieval
Europe, including the Barbarian movements, the empire of Justinian, Ravenna, Carolingian
Europe, Sutton Hoo (Saxon), Viking expansion, the Byzantine empire (Dark Ages); and the
Plantagenet empire, the Bayeaux Tapestry, the Doomsday Book, the Crusades, the German
empire, the Medieval church, education, cathedral building, stained glass, medieval arts
and crafts, and science, medicine, and printing (Middle Ages.) Part Two covers the lands
of Medieval Europe, including France, Paris, Italy, British Isles, Spain and Portugal,
Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, Bohemia, Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans,
Lithuania, Poland, and Russia, Russian village life, and Scandinavia. It also includes
short spreads on such topics as travel, trade, castles, mapmaking, and everyday life.
The Story of the Middle Ages
Christine Miller, H. A. Guerber, Charlotte M. Yonge
Far and
above all other narrative histories of the Middle Ages for children, The Story of the
Middle Ages is an excellent introduction to Western Civilization after the Fall of the
Roman Empire. Rich in detail, effortlessly weaving the Biblical worldview throughout, this
new history covers the complete scope of the medieval era from the early inhabitants of
Europe through the Hundred Years’ War and the War of the Roses in 147 lessons. We
learn of the barbarians, kings and saints that figured prominently in Christendom: Sts.
Denis, Martin, Patrick, Benedict, Louis, Francis and more; Theodoric, Justinian, Gregory,
Charles, and Otto the Great; Roland, El Cid, and Richard the Lion-Hearted; the Crusades,
and much, much more. This captivating history is a completely new narrative taken in part
from the 1895 and 1910 editions of H. A. Guerber’s The Story of the English
and The Story of Old France. Chapters 67 through 147, The Battle of Hastings
through Richard’s Punishment, covers the high medieval era in detail.
The Middle Ages
Trevor Cairns
All the books in the Cambridge Introduction to
World History series are excellent for grammar stage students. Specializing in the history
of Western Civilization, they give both the big picture and depth and detail in ways that
other children’s books lamentably miss. Other excellent books in the Cambridge
Introduction to World History series on the medieval world include: Medieval Knights,
The Growth of
a Medieval Town, Medieval Castles,
and Life in a
Medieval Monastery.
Castle
David Macaulay
“Imagine yourself in
13th-century England. King Edward I has just named the fictitious Kevin le Strange to be
the Lord of Aberwyvern--‘a rich but rebellious area of Northwest Wales.’ Lord
Kevin’s first task is to oversee the construction of a strategically placed castle
and town in order to assure that England can ‘dominate the Welsh once and for
all.’ And a story is born! In the Caldecott Honor Book Castle, David
Macaulay--author, illustrator, former architect and teacher--sets his sights on the
creation and destiny of Lord Kevin’s magnificent castle perched on a bluff
overlooking the sea. Brick by brick, tool by tool, worker by worker, we witness the
methodical construction of a castle through exquisitely detailed pen-and-ink
illustrations. Children who love to know how things work especially appreciate
Macaulay’s passion for process and engineering. Moats, arrow loops, plumbing,
dungeons, and weaponry are all explained in satisfying detail.” Another excellent
Macaulay book!
Cathedral
David Macaulay
The story of Cathedral begins
in 1252, when the people of a fictitious French town named Chutreaux decide to build a
cathedral after their existing church is struck by lightning. “We first meet the
craftspeople, then examine the tools, study their cathedral plans, and watch the laying of
the foundation. Week by week we witness the construction of this glorious temple to God.
Macaulay intuitively hones in on the details about which we are the most curious: How were
those enormously high ceilings built and decorated? How were those 60-foot-high windows
made and installed in the 13th century? And how did people haul those huge, heavy bells up
into the skyscraper-high towers? Thanks to Macaulay’s thorough, thoughtful tribute to
the Gothic cathedral, not a stone, turret, or pane of stained glass is left unexamined or
unexplained.”
The Magna Charta
James Daugherty
Another excellent book
from the pen of James Daugherty, a writer and illustrator who won Newbery medals for his
biographies of famous Americans. This is a reprint of the Landmark series book of the same
name. The Magna Charta was signed by King John (Prince John of Robin Hood fame) at
sword-point on the meadow of Runnymede in England in 1215. It was a pivotal point in
history, as the Great Charter prevented the arbitrary rule of kings. With it, “the
first blow for English freedom was struck. What this blow meant and how it influenced the
entire Western World, till then crushed under the yoke of feudalism, is examined in the
sweeping pages of James Daugherty’s fine book. Here are the color and pageantry of
knight against knight, and castle against castle. Other English kings fought the
implications of the Magna Charta, but they could not supress the growth of the idea behind
it, that men were entitled to justice--and would fight to have it!”
--Publisher’s Foreward. If not
available from Amazon, for some reason, try Barnes
and Noble or Borders,
who both carry this same book.
Joan of Arc
Diane Stanley
Joan of Arc, born in France
in 1412, grew up during a time of invasion and civil war. At thirteen, she began to hear
the voices of saints. At seventeen, she rode into battle. And by nineteen, (1431) she was
burned at the stake as a heretic. Almost five hundred years later, she was declared a
saint. In the latest of her acclaimed series of picture-book biographies, Diane Stanley
tells Joan’s story with a lively, carefully researched text and sumptuous, gilded
illustrations inspired by the illuminated manuscripts of that time. In this glittering
portrait of the illiterate peasant girl who became the savior of France, an award-winning
author once again reveals to young readers the richness and excitement of history.
Medieval
Literature: Bulfinch’s Mythology
(especially The Age of Chivalry), Howard Pyle’s
medieval era legends, The Canterbury Tales,
and The Pied Piper of Hamelin from 3rd Grade Literature selections
G.
A. Henty’s Medieval era historical fiction:
The Dragon
and the Raven: or the Days of King Alfred (870) paperback
edition
Wulf the
Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest (1066) paperback
edition
Winning His
Spurs: A Tale of the Crusades (1190) paperback
edition
In
Freedom’s Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce (1314) paperback
edition
A Knight of
the White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes (1480) paperback
edition
Medieval World
Teacher’s Resources
The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History
Colin McEvedy
A broad overview of the times, especially helpful for the multitude of maps, which show
the changes during the medieval era every 40 years or so. This is especially important,
because during feudalism, the boundaries and territories changed so much as king and
knights warred against king and knights. It includes maps of the crusades. This atlas
helps you keep all the territory that changed hands straight when you read about the men
and kings in Famous Men of the Middle Ages.
After the Flood
Bill Cooper
“The author lays
out astonishing evidence showing how the earliest Europeans recorded their descent from
Noah through Japheth in meticulously kept records, knew all about Creation and the Flood,
and had encounters with creatures we would call dinosaurs [the root of medieval dragon
legends]. These records of other nations lend chapters 10 and 11 of Genesis a degree of
accuracy that sets them apart from all other historical documents of the ancient world. In
a book which is the fruit of more than 25 years of research, Cooper traces the development
of the creation/evolution controversy that raged in the ancient world, and explodes many
of the myths and errors of modernist biblical critics.” -The Publisher. Cooper also
discusses the ancient records of the Welsh, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and Danish/Norwegians,
discussing many ancient records compiled in the middle ages and discounted by secular
historians as nonsense, because they contain evidence of the nations’ descent from
the sons of Noah. Among these are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, and the histories of Nennius
and Geoffery of Monmouth. Using logic and excellent historiographic techniques, Cooper
demonstrates why these medieval histories cannot be mere fables, but exact compilations of
ancient histories. Additional attention is given to the historicity of various dragon
legends, such as Beowulf and Saint George and the Dragon. In the appendix, he also traces
the lineage of the descendants of Ham and Shem to the various nations they founded. This
book was so engrossing I finished it in a single weekend; it was that compelling and easy
to read.
A History of the Crusades
Steven Runciman
Volume 1 is
The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Originally published in
1954 to great critical acclaim, this classic work is now elegantly reissued. The events of
the Crusades can be confusing, and can be especially hard to grasp when treated in a
text-book, antiseptic sort of way. The Crusades were all about what was best and worst in
human nature: religious fervor, although woefully uninformed, greed, power, and the effect
of absolute authority over other human beings. The popes exercised it over the crusaders,
the crusaders exercised it over the conquered, and the Turks exercised it over the
Christians. It is vital to understand this pivotal era of history, as its effects are
still being felt today (anyone ever hear of Kosovo?) Runciman’s histories are so
excellent because he tells the story of the times and its people, as it should be. The
story of the Crusades is continued in Volume 2: The
Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, and in Volume 3: The
Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades.
Church History in Plain Language
Bruce L. Shelley
This
modern classic is a clear and gracious treatment of church history by Dr. Bruce Shelley,
Senior Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Denver Theological Seminary.
“What separates Dr. Shelley’s book from others is its clarity, both of language
and of organization. [It] treats history as the story of people--their motivations, the
issues they grapple with, the decisions they make--and the result is that history reads
like a story, almost as dramatic and moving as a novel. Yet there is no fiction
here.’ For ease of learning and understanding, the book is divided into the eight
great ages of the church: The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (6 B.C. to 70 A.D.), of
Catholic Christianity (70-312 A.D.), of the Christian Roman Empire (312-590), of the
Christian Middle Ages (590-1517), of the Reformation (1517-1648), of Reason and Revival
(1648-1789), of Progress (1789-1914), and of Ideologies (1914-1996). Very helpful and
insightful.
The Medieval
World for Older Students
The dialectic and rhetoric stage history resources offered through this
catalog assume that the medieval world has already been studied in the grammar stage. If
you are beginning classical education or homeschooling with older students, these
resources will give them the necessary foundation they might have missed. The books are
listed in chronological order, more or less, and so are in the order in which they should
be read. The Cultural Atlas for Young People series can be read in their turn as part of
the study, or be used as references to fill in information about people, places, and
events encountered in the other books. Rhetoric stage students that have not previously
studied classical world history should also include the Teacher’s Resources listed
above.
Cultural
Atlas for Young People: The Middle Ages
The Story of the Middle Ages
Fire Upon the Earth
Norman F. Langford
This is a condensed
narrative of the story of the Christian Church, from the time of Jesus to the
mid-twentieth century. The author is Protestant, and before the Reformation, he relates
the story of the Roman Catholic Church simply and directly without judgment, other than
the judgment of its own times, as when various men arose to correct an extreme in the
Church. From the time of the Reformation on, he does not judge one Protestant denomination
above others, but merely relates each one’s irreconciliable difference with its
parent denomination. This is valuable because each family can then go into more detail
with their own children, as they see fit, as to why they are Presbyterian or Lutheran or
whatever. Most other church histories are so detailed (weighing in at 300 or more pages of
text) that it’s hard for our children to get the framework in their minds of
what’s happened. But not only does Fire Upon the Earth give our children that
framework, it does so in such a way that the book reads like a novel. My edition of this
book is what is pictured, and it is out of print. However, Sonlight Curriculum has
obtained the printing rights for this book and has reprinted it. You can obtain a used
copy from AddAll.com (via a title
search using ‘fire upon the earth’ and an author search using
‘langford’).
The Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne
Thomas Bulfinch
Bulfinch’s Mythology was first written in the 19th century, and was the first and so
far, the best attempt to compile in one book the myths of Greece, Rome, the Celts, the
Norse, as well as the legends of King Arthur, Charlemagne, and the knights of the Middle
Ages. This edition only contains the Age of Chivalry - the legends of King Arthur and
other English knights - and the Legends of Charlemagne. This is the companion volume to The Age of Fable recommended in the Classical World for Older Students. A one-volume complete
Bulfinch’s Mythology, containing the Age of Fable (myths of gods and heros) as well
as the Age of Chivalry and the Legends of Charlemagne, is also available in hardcover
and in paperback.
Nordic
Gods and Heroes
Dragon Slayer
Rosemary Sutcliff
I know that the cover on this book looks goofy,
but Rosemary Sutcliff has done a masterful job in writing the epic poem of Beowulf so that
it reads like a novel for young adults. Cover the book with a newsprint book jacket upon
which your classically trained children have designed beautiful art to do justice to the
fascinating story within. Rather than a word for word direct translation, Dragon Slayer is
a retelling full of the details and vibrancy for which Ms. Sutcliff is known and beloved.
The
Viking World
The Vikings
Castle
Cathedral
The Magna Charta
G. A. Henty’s Medieval era historical fiction
Return to Grammar Stage History
Return to CCH’s Online Catalog: History
