The later Middle Ages

The period covers the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, rich with the names of great men: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, Dante Aligheri; and great events: the Inquisition, the construction of the great Gothic cathedrals, the struggles of kings and popes, the continuing struggle between Christianity and Islam. Here too is the story of the Avignon popes, and the decline of papal authority in temporal matters; the conflict of Urban VI and Clement VII and the disorder that followed the confusion of their elections. This volume ends with the last days of the Middle Ages, which closed with divisions within the Church, plague and pestilence ravaging all of Europe, and pillage and destruction resulting from local and national wars. In brief, this volume is a complete rendering of the collapse of an era, a period which was, at its peak, one of the most splendid creations of humanity.