The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are an amazing page in the history of Western Europe.
Generosity and cruelty, luxury and poverty, nobility and betrayal were so vivid and contrasting in this world, and the heroes of this era were so legendary that this period often seems like a fairy tale to us. But this was a real historical epoch in human life, lasting more than 1000 years—from the middle of the 5th century to the end of the 15th.
In your hands, listener, is a collection of radio broadcasts from the series "The Middle Ages" about outstanding figures of the Middle Ages.
Renowned historian Natalya Basovskaya and host Aleksey Venediktov discuss famous Central Asian philosopher and physician Avicenna; the most influential woman of Late Medieval Europe, an extraordinary beauty, Queen of France and England Eleanor of Aquitaine; her son, the legendary knight and King of England Richard the Lionheart; King Louis IX the Saint of France, during whose reign three lily flowers appear on the white banners of France—signifying three of the most important virtues: compassion, justice, and mercy that a monarch should possess; and finally, the hero of English ballads, the noble outlaw Robin Hood. This is a story… a story in faces and colors.