History of the Renaissance World (WW Norton & Co)

Beginning in the days just after the First Crusade, this volume - the third in the series - chronicles the contradictions of a world in transition. Popes continue to preach crusade but the hope of a Christian empire comes to a bloody end on the walls of Constantinople. Aristotelian logic and Greek rationality blossom while the Inquisition gathers strength. Kings and emperors continue to insist on their divine rights but ordinary people all over the world seize power. New threats appear, new currencies are forged, new weapons invented and world-changing catastrophes alter the landscape. In the chaos of these events, our own world begins to take shape.