The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Lan...

Enrico Dandolo was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1195 until his death. Remembered for his blindness, piety, longevity, and shrewdness, he is infamous for his role in the Fourth Crusade which he, at age ninety, directed against the Byzantine...

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages, a member of the Ramnulfid dynasty of rulers in southwestern France. She became Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right while...

Gerald of Wales also known as Gerallt Gymro in Welsh or Giraldus Cambrensis in Latin, archdeacon of Brecon, was a medieval clergyman and chronicler of his times. Born around 1146 at Manorbier Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, he was of mixed...

Sir William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal (Norman French: Guillaume le maréchal), was an English (or Anglo-Norman) soldier and statesman. Stephen Langton eulogized him as the "best knight that ever lived." H...

Tomoe Gozen was a late twelfth-century female samurai warrior (onna bugeisha), known for her bravery and strength. She is believed to have fought in and survived the Genpei War (1180–1185). She was also the concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinak...

Tamar the Great, was the Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, who presided over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized...

Genghis Khan was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding...

Philip II, known as Philip Augustus, was King of France from 1180 to 1223, a member of the House of Capet. Philip's predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style hi...

John reigned as King of England from April 6, 1199, until his death. He succeeded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I (known as "Richard the Lionheart"). John acquired the nicknames of "Lackland" and "Soft-sword." He was...

William I, Count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the younger son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. William was raised in Scotland. He started a revolt against his brother, Dirk VII and became count in Friesland after a reconciliatio...

Saint Dominic (Spanish: Domingo), also known as Dominic of Osma, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo de Guzmán Garcés was the founder of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans or Order of Preachers, a Catholic religiou...

Gregory IX, Pope 1227-1241, who founded the papal Inquisition. In 1227 he excommunicated Frederick II when the emperor delayed in keeping his pledge to lead a Crusade. Gregory ordered an attack on the kingdom of Sicily in the emperor's abse...

Leonardo Pisano Bigollo or simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented western mathematician of the Middle Ages." Fibonacci is best known to the modern world for the spreading of the Hindu-Arabic nu...

Baldwin I, the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, as Baldwin IX Count of Flanders and as Baldwin VI Count of Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantin...