The voices of the past bring history most clearly alive, and no contemporary accounts are more vivid or compelling than the writings of the medieval chroniclers. Most have sadly been forgotten; others, such as Joinville, Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, Geoffrey le Baker, and Jean Froissart, are celebrated even today. In this extraordinary work, editor Elizabeth Hallam allows the diligent monk scribes to tell us in their own words how they witnessed the lives and deeds of kings, queens, princes and churchmen. Their world was one of brutality, intrigue, power and pestilence. Yet this same period saw the growing cult of King Arthur's Round Table and the knights of chivalry.
Over 125,000 words of the original chroniclers, translated into modern English, tell the riveting story of the English court, while the 113 mini-essays, over 235 color and b&w illustrations, detailed maps, a comprehensive bibliography and index that accompany the chroniclers' tales provide a lively picture of what was happening throughout Europe: music and medicine, Chaucer and Boccaccio, Marco Polo and Genghis Khan, the first House of Commons, the last Crusade, and much more. Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry is a stunningly illustrated and accessible look at Europe through the prism of England's Plantagenet Dynasty, from the death of King John to the Black Death (1216-1377).

ELIZABETH HALLAM, who has a Ph.D. From London University, is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquities of London. She is the author of two major books: Capetian France 987-1328 and Domesday Book through Nine Centuries. She also edited Chronicles of the Crusades, available from Welcome Rain.

HUGH TREVOR-ROPER, a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and a former professor of history at Oxford University, is the celebrated author of many books on European history in the Christian era. His best-known publications include Renaissance Essays, From Counter-Revolution to Glorious Reformation, and The Rise of Christian Europe.