Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages

The looting by barbarians of once-powerful Rome, which lay in ruins in 410, marked the end of an old era and the beginning of a thousand-year deep transformation. In a thrilling narrative full of famous names—from Saint Augustine and Attila to the prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine—Dan Jones explores the history of the Middle Ages and accompanies readers on a journey through evolving Europe, the great capitals of the late Ancient world, and influential cities of the Islamic West. The medieval world was shaped by powerful forces that remain relevant today: climate change, pandemics, mass migration, and technological revolutions.

It was a time when great European nations were being born, key Western legal and governance systems were being codified, the Christian Church was becoming a powerful institution and regulator of Western public morality, and art, architecture, philosophical research, and scientific thought experienced periods of revolutionary change. The West rose again from the ruins of the Roman Empire and emerged from crisis, beginning to dominate the world. Every sphere of human life and activity felt the transformation.

“We will race through centuries and continents at dizzying speed. We’ll meet hundreds of men and women—from the leader of the Huns Attila to Joan of Arc. And we’ll plunge into a dozen different branches of history, from jurisprudence and war to art and literature. I’m going to ask a series of important questions—and I hope to find answers. What happened in the Middle Ages? Who ruled then? What did power look like? What great forces influenced people’s lives? How did the Middle Ages shape the world we know today—and is it even possible to ask such questions? Sometimes it may seem all of this is too complex to grasp. But I promise—it will be interesting.”