What will I learn about: why the Middle Ages were not a violent 'Dark Age' vacuum, but a transformative millennium driven by climate change, global networks, and migration that shaped our modern world?

Discover why the Middle Ages were not a violent 'Dark Age' vacuum, but a transformative millennium driven by climate change, global networks, and migration that shaped our modern world.

What will I learn about: how severe droughts in eastern Asia triggered a domino effect of mass migrations, pushing tribes like the Huns and Goths into Europe and causing the collapse of the western Roman Empire?

Understand how severe droughts in eastern Asia triggered a domino effect of mass migrations, pushing tribes like the Huns and Goths into Europe and causing the collapse of the western Roman Empire.

What will I learn about: Learn how the eastern Roman Empire survived to become the powerful Byzantine superstate, leaving lasting cultural legacies like the Hagia Sophia and the Justinian Code?

Learn how the eastern Roman Empire survived to become the powerful Byzantine superstate, leaving lasting cultural legacies like the Hagia Sophia and the Justinian Code.

What will I learn about: how an early global environmental crisis and the devastating Plague of Justinian crippled the Byzantine economy and thwarted its dreams of restoring Roman glory?

Find out how an early global environmental crisis and the devastating Plague of Justinian crippled the Byzantine economy and thwarted its dreams of restoring Roman glory.

What will I learn about: Explore how the Prophet Muhammad united splintered factions into the first monotheistic Islamic state, setting the foundation for a massive empire that rapidly conquered the Middle East?

Explore how the Prophet Muhammad united splintered factions into the first monotheistic Islamic state, setting the foundation for a massive empire that rapidly conquered the Middle East.

Powers and Thrones

A New History of the Middle Ages

Dan Jones

★ 4.6 / 5(343 ratings)

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History

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡What drove the rise and fall of empires in the Middle Ages, and what can we learn from their successes and failures?
💡Are you curious about the surprising ways that climate change and pandemics shaped the course of medieval history?
💡What if you could uncover the hidden networks and alliances that ruled the medieval world?

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Key Takeaways from Powers and Thrones

✓Discover why the Middle Ages were not a violent 'Dark Age' vacuum, but a transformative millennium driven by climate change, global networks, and migration that shaped our modern world.
✓Understand how severe droughts in eastern Asia triggered a domino effect of mass migrations, pushing tribes like the Huns and Goths into Europe and causing the collapse of the western Roman Empire.
✓Learn how the eastern Roman Empire survived to become the powerful Byzantine superstate, leaving lasting cultural legacies like the Hagia Sophia and the Justinian Code.
✓Find out how an early global environmental crisis and the devastating Plague of Justinian crippled the Byzantine economy and thwarted its dreams of restoring Roman glory.
✓Explore how the Prophet Muhammad united splintered factions into the first monotheistic Islamic state, setting the foundation for a massive empire that rapidly conquered the Middle East.

Learning Tools

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Mind Map

Powers and Thrones

Collapse & Transformation of Rome+

Rise of New Empires+

Medieval Society & Soft Power+

Economy & Intellect+

Crisis & Rebirth+

The End of the Middle Ages+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9

According to the text, what surprising factor played a large role in the collapse of the western Roman Empire?

A. A severe drought in eastern Asia that triggered a massive migration of Huns.
B. The invention of advanced siege weaponry by Gothic tribes.
C. A volcanic eruption in central Italy that decimated agricultural production.
D. The spread of the bubonic plague among Roman soldiers stationed in Gaul.

Question 2 of 9

What combination of events severely derailed Emperor Justinian I's ambitious plans to restore the glory of the Roman Empire?

A. The successful invasion of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire.
B. A massive rebellion by the newly conquered western Mediterranean provinces.
C. A devastating global environmental crisis caused by volcanic eruptions, compounded by the bubonic plague.
D. His decision to change the empire's official language from Latin to Greek, which alienated his subjects.

Question 3 of 9

How did Caliph Abd al-Malik significantly alter the administration of the Umayyad Caliphate in the late seventh century?

A. He forced all subjects to immediately convert to Islam under threat of exile.
B. He introduced an Islamic coinage called the dinar and mandated that public servants speak Arabic exclusively.
C. He moved the capital of the Islamic Empire to Constantinople after defeating the Byzantines.
D. He assembled massive libraries to preserve classical Greek and Roman knowledge.

Question 4 of 9

How did the duchy of Normandy come into existence?

A. It was conquered by Charlemagne during his military campaigns to expand the Holy Roman Empire.
B. It was established by the Franks as a heavily fortified buffer state against the expanding Islamic Empire.
C. It was bought by Italian merchants to serve as a northern trading hub for the Commercial Revolution.
D. It was granted to the Viking leader Rollo by the king of West Francia in exchange for stopping raids and converting to Christianity.

Question 5 of 9

Which of the following best describes the true scope of the Crusades, according to the book?

A. They were strictly military campaigns aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem from Muslim control.
B. They were peaceful missionary expeditions focused on converting the Seljuk Turks.
C. They were a tool employed by the Roman Church against a variety of enemies, including pagans, heretics, and Christian political rivals.
D. They were exclusively defensive wars fought within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire to repel Viking invaders.

Question 6 of 9

What significant contribution did medieval Italian merchants make to the modern economic system?

A. They established a single, universal European currency to replace the barter system.
B. They laid the foundations of modern capitalism by formalizing joint investments, risk-sharing, and asset tracking.
C. They convinced the Catholic Church to abolish all forms of moneylending and interest rates.
D. They created the first state-owned enterprises that were controlled exclusively by monarchs.

Question 7 of 9

What was a major socio-economic consequence of the Black Death in western Europe?

A. It led to a permanent reinforcement of the feudal system and the expansion of serfdom.
B. It caused a dramatic shift in class relations, contributing to the decline of serfdom and the rise of salaried contracts.
C. It resulted in a massive population boom due to the sudden abundance of abandoned agricultural land.
D. It forced the complete abandonment of major trading cities like Venice and Genoa.

Question 8 of 9

What geopolitical event motivated fifteenth-century explorers like Christopher Columbus to seek new sea routes to the East?

A. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, which made traditional eastern trade routes less appealing.
B. The Viking discovery of North America, which inspired a European race to colonize the New World.
C. The Pope's decree banning all trade with the Byzantine Empire due to the religious schism of 1054.
D. The freezing of the Mediterranean Sea during the Little Ice Age, which halted all regional maritime trade.

Question 9 of 9

How did Johannes Gutenberg's printing press directly contribute to the Protestant Reformation?

A. It allowed the Pope to mass-produce Bibles in Latin, strengthening the Catholic Church's monopoly on religious texts.
B. It enabled Gutenberg to print his own secular philosophy, which replaced Christian dogma in northern Europe.
C. It facilitated the mass production of indulgences, highlighting Church corruption, and later allowed Martin Luther's criticisms to go viral.
D. It was used to forge documents that falsely claimed the Holy Roman Emperor was the true head of the Church.

Powers and Thrones — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
2Climate change and mass migrations drove the fall of the great Western Roman Empire.
3In the sixth century, the Eastern Roman Empire transformed into a vast Byzantine superstate.
4In the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam’s foundation fostered the creation of a far-reaching Islamic Empire that spanned regions.
5After Franks revived a Christian, pseudo-Roman empire in the West, Viking invasions led to the creation of Normandy.
6Around the first millennium’s turn, new kinds of cultural soft power arose amid shifts in social organization and structure.
7Though the early Crusades served papal ambition, they were later deployed against enemies more broadly, including various foes.
8Medieval merchants, scholars, and builders helped forge the world we know today.
9In the fourteenth century, the Black Death ravaged medieval populations and profoundly reshaped the Western world.
10Throughout the late Middle Ages, wealthy patrons supported artists, inventors, and explorers.
11The printing press’s invention and evolving religious dogma sparked the Protestant Reformation, which signaled the end of the medieval era in Europe.

Powers and Thrones Summary & Overview

Powers and Thrones (2021) is a comprehensive history of the Middle Ages. Tracing time from the fall of the western Roman Empire to the Protestant Reformation, these blinks reveal how forces such as global networks, climate change, mass migration, pandemics, and technological innovation, as well as political leaders, the clergy, and knights, shaped the medieval world.

Who Should Listen to Powers and Thrones?

History nerds fascinated by the Middle Ages
Anyone curious about the history of pandemics
Sociologists, archeologists, and political scientists

About the Author: Dan Jones

Dan Jones is a historian, broadcaster, and award-winning journalist. His books include Magna Carta, The Plantagenets, and The Templars, and have sold more than a million copies worldwide. He has written and hosted dozens of TV shows including the Netflix/Channel 5 series Secrets of Great British Castles. His writing has been published in newspapers and magazines including the Evening Standard, Sunday Times, and Spectator.

Powers and Thrones

If You're Curious About These Questions...

Listen to Powers and Thrones — Free Audiobook

Key Takeaways from Powers and Thrones

Learning Tools

Mind Map

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Powers and Thrones — Full Chapter Overview

Powers and Thrones Summary & Overview

Who Should Listen to Powers and Thrones?

About the Author: Dan Jones

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