Outlandish Knight: The Byzantine Life of Steven Runcimanby minoo dinshawallen lane, 784 pages, £30 No events in medieval European history are more discussed today than the wars fought under the banner of the Cross of Christ known to us, but not to those who fought them, as the Crusades. Originally . . . . Continue Reading »
Istanbul is a history of the people who lived in and around the city walls. Madden’s narrative is driven by conquests and construction. It is punctuated by earthquakes, fires, and plagues, and shot through with religious fervor and political intrigue. Continue Reading »
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by judith herrin princeton university press, 440 pages, $29.95 In Handel’s opera Tamerlano , the principal characters are Tamerlane; the brutal Mongol chieftain Bajazet; an Ottoman Sultan and his daughter Asteria; and Andronico, the Byzantine . . . . Continue Reading »
There is but one answer to the victim: the cross. This is why the cross has become for us the victorious emblem of our own heroic . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
