rom the first inhabitants of Europe through the end of the War of the Roses, The Story of the Middle Ages retells as an engaging narrative the history of medieval Europe and the stories of its famous kings, knights, and saints. In 147 lessons, we learn of the settling of Europe and its romanization, the coming and conversion of the barbarians, the Holy Roman Empire, feudalism and arms and armor, the Viking raids, the Crusades, and much, much more. We meet Christian martyrs and saints, the kings of France and England, the German Emperors, and the knights whose deeds of valor the bards made legendary. We meet the good and the just, the wicked and the proud: Saints Denis, Martin, Patrick, and Augustine, Attila the Hun, King Arthur, Charlemagne, Rollo the Viking, Otto the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Joan of Arc, to name just a few.

As the story of medieval Europe was never told in a single volume of Guerber’s histories, but rather piecemeal throughout several volumes, Christine Miller has taken those portions of The Story of Old France and The Story of the English by H. A. Guerber which do tell the story of the Middle Ages, and has woven them together into a single, seamless narrative, carefully preserving Guerber’s own style. Several chapters were also taken from Charlotte Yonge’s A Young Folk’s History of Germany, and The Story of the Christians and Moors of Spain. Where necessary, the chapters authored by C. M. Yonge were re-written in Guerber’s unique style to preserve the continuity and consistency of the narrative throughout.

As with Guerber’s The Story of the Greeks and The Story of the Romans, The Story of the Middle Ages is illustrated throughout with famous paintings of its historical subjects, and photographs of the places it describes. Not only are maps present in the beginning of the book, but throughout the text as well, which greatly aids in making clear the confusing times of the barbarian invasions along with their changing boundaries. And as with the other Guerber histories, the pronunciation of personal and place names are carefully marked in the text upon their first occurance. A complete bibliography and comprehensive index rounds out the book.

Please visit the pages at right for more detailed information about The Story of the Middle Ages by Christine Miller. There you may view 2-page spreads, read the prefaces, browse the table of contents, and read several chapters from the book.

Recommended Reading Keyed to the Chapters!

The Story of the Middle Ages now comes with a Recommended Reading supplement keyed to the chapters of the history. The Recommended Reading supplement lists additional books: non-fiction, biography, historical fiction, literature, poetry, even music, which enrich and elaborate on the topics introduced or discussed in the chapters. Usually these resources are readily available at the local library or through inter-library loan, or commonly available in homeschool catalogs.

When children are learning about Pope Gregory and his accomplishments in Chapter XXX: Gregory the Great, they can also listen to beautiful Gregorian plainsong with Gregorian Chant, sung by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos. When children are studying the Norman Invasion of England in Chapter LXVII: The Battle of Hastings, they can also read Eloise Jarvis McGraw’s exciting tale of historical fiction, Striped Ships, set against the backdrop of those times. When children are studying the struggles between England’s barons and tyrannical King John in Chapter XCIII: The Great Charter, they can also read award-winning author James Daugherty’s gripping non-fiction, Magna Charta, at the proper place in the history.

To all who have an older edition of The Story of the Middle Ages which did not include the Recommended Reading supplement: Please write to us, and we will be happy to e-mail you a .pdf file (open with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader) containing the Recommended Reading supplement.

View a larger picture of the cover

View a two-page spread
(in pdf format)

Browse the table of contents

Read the preface

Read chapter XXXIX:
Charlemagne, Emperor

Read chapter LXXXVII:
Richard and the Saracens

Read chapter CXXXVII:
Joan to the Rescue

Order The Story
of the Middle Ages

f you have purchased The Story of the Middle Ages, please send us any comments, suggestions, or questions you may have. We gratefully and humbly welcome your feedback as we strive to improve future editions of this book. Thank you for taking the time to let us know how you feel.