A retelling of the medieval poem about a group of travelers on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and the tales they tell each other. With their astonishing diversity of tone and subject matter, The Canterbury Tales have become one of the touchstones of medieval literature. Translated here into modern English, these tales of a motley crowd of pilgrims drawn from all walks of life-from knight to nun, miller to monk-reveal a picture of English life in the fourteenth...

Betrayal, love, and lycanthropy in the time of the Crusades When Marie Penthièvre of Chalendrey is abducted from her Norman priory and taken to Brittany's court, she vows never to dishonor her family's ties by marrying a Breton brute. There is only one man who might change her mind: Tiarnán of Talensac, a handsome, skilled, and noble knight indeed. But Tiarnán does not love her, and when he marries a slip of a girl instead, Marie vows to become...

To Wear the White Cloak, continues the story of this most remarkable woman and her unique family. Set against the backdrop of twelfth-century France, Catherine's life is both a reflection of the bonds placed upon a woman in her society and the ways in which a strong personality could triumph and succeed in spite of those strictures. Catherine is an independent spirit, fiercely loyal to both her faith and her family, and that loyalty will be sorely...

The patron saint of animals, birds, and the environment, Francis of Assisi led the rediscovery of nature in the Christian West. This magnificent spiritual biography by the phenomenally popular G. K. Chesterton-a convert to Catholicism-chronicles the beloved saint's calling, his extraordinary life, and his influence in the Church. Its charm and wit will appeal to even the most secular-minded readers. How fitting that Francesco Bernardone was born just...

When the Black Death enters England through the port of Melcombe in Dorseteshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is or how it spreads and kills so quickly. The Church cites God as the cause, and religious fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness. But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. Educated by nuns, Anne is a rarity among women, being both literate and knowledgeable....

Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a young Frenchman in Medieval Jerusalem during the Crusades, who, having lost everything, finds redemption in a heroic fight against overwhelming forces to save his people and fulfill his destiny as a knight.

Quasimodo ventures from his tower to the joyous festival of fools, but the crowd turns cruel and rejects him because of the way he looks. The gypsy Esmeralda rescues him and he finds himself battling to save the people and the city he loves--while reminding us to see people as they are rather than how they appear.

When Ms. Frizzle and her student Arnold follow an underground passage beneath Craig's Castle Shop and find themselves in the middle of a siege of a 12th century English castle, they learn a great deal about both castles and the Middle Ages.