Johannes Fried's grand history of the Middle Ages. A magnificent journey through a millennium filled with creative energies and dramatic confrontations. Johannes Fried, one of the great medievalists of our time, narrates in his book the fascinating history of those people and powers that shaped Europe into its spiritual and cultural unity, laid the foundations of modern nations, separated state and church through a persistent struggle, invented the freedom of the citizen, and ventured into new worlds in many fields, from science to the discovery of distant lands. Individual figures - sometimes a pope, sometimes a king, sometimes a scholar, missionary, or merchant - become familiar to the reader throughout the book and guide us through their time. They share their experiences and conflicts, their adventures and ideas with us. Johannes Fried's narrative is masterful.