This beautifully illustrated new color edition of the classic New York Times bestseller brings readers more intimately into the medieval world than ever before. From tales of chivalry and valor to the barbarity of the Inquisition and the devastation of the plague, no era has been a greater source of fascination and horror than the Middle Ages. With extraordinarily crafted prose, acclaimed historian William Manchester takes us on a vividly painted journey into the medieval mind. We travel from the depths of the Dark Ages to the heights of the rebirth that spawned some of history's greatest artists and thinkers--and that eventually ushered the West into the brilliance of the Renaissance. For Manchester, the man who best epitomized this new quest for knowledge in a changing world was Ferdinand Magellan, the great circumnavigator, whose inspiring story Manchester dramatically recounts, along with the stories of countless medieval men and women from every walk of life who influenced and changed the course of history.