Category: The Story of Mankind
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The Story of Mankind: The Crusades
During three centuries there had been peace between Christians and Muslims except in Spain and in the eastern Roman Empire, the two states defending the gateways of Europe. The Muslims having conquered Syria in the seventh century were in possession of the Holy Land. But they regarded Jesus as a great prophet (though not quite…
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The Story of Mankind: Pope vs. Emperor
It is very difficult to understand the people of bygone ages. Your own grandfather, whom you see every day, is a mysterious being who lives in a different world of ideas and clothes and manners. I am now telling you the story of some of your grandfathers who are twenty-five generations removed, and I do…
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The Story of Mankind: Chivalry
It was quite natural that the professional fighting-men of the Middle Ages should try to establish some sort of organization for their mutual benefit and protection. Out of this need for close organization, Knighthood or Chivalry was born. We know very little about the origins of Knighthood. But as the system developed, it gave the…
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The Story of Mankind: Feudalism
The following, then, is the state of Europe in the year one thousand, when most people were so unhappy that they welcomed the prophecy foretelling the approaching end of the world and rushed to the monasteries, that the Day of Judgement might find them engaged upon devout duties. At an unknown date, the Germanic tribes…
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The Story of Mankind: The Norsemen
In the third and fourth centuries, the Germanic tribes of central Europe had broken through the defenses of the Empire that they might plunder Rome and live on the fat of the land. In the eighth century it became the turn of the Germans to be the “plundered-ones.” They did not like this at all,…
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The Story of Mankind: Charlemagne
The battle of Poitiers had saved Europe from the Muslims. But the enemy within—the hopeless disorder which had followed the disappearance of the Roman police officer—that enemy remained. It is true that the new converts of the Christian faith in Northern Europe felt a deep respect for the mighty Bishop of Rome. But that poor…
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The Story of Mankind: Mohammed
Since the days of Carthage and Hannibal we have said nothing of the Semitic people. You will remember how they filled all the chapters devoted to the story of the Ancient World. The Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Jews, the Arameans, the Chaldeans, all of them Semites, had been the rulers of western Asia…
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Rise of the Church
The average intelligent Roman who lived under the Empire had taken very little interest in the gods of his fathers. A few times a year he went to the temple, but merely as a matter of custom. He looked on patiently when the people celebrated a religious festival with a solemn procession. But he regarded…
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The Fall of Rome
The textbooks of ancient History give the date 476 as the year in which Rome fell, because in that year the last emperor was driven off his throne. But Rome, which was not built in a day, took a long time falling. The process was so slow and so gradual that most Romans did not…
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Joshua of Nazareth (Jesus)
Instructor Note: No such letters as included in this lesson exist. This chapter features imaginary letters written by the book author, Van Loon, to convey his personal retelling of the story of Jesus. In the autumn of the year of the city 783 (which would be 62 A.D., in our way of counting time) Aesculapius…