A chronicle of the years between 1100 and 1453 describes the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Black Death, the Little Ice Age, the emergence of the Ottomans, the rise of the Mongols, and the invention of new currencies, weapons, and schools of thought.

Renaissances. Logic and compromise : England, Rome, and the Holy Roman Empire, 1100-1122 ; The Crusader enemy : Byzantium, Venice, and the Crusader kingdoms, 1100-1138 ; Anarchy : England, Western Francia, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1120-1139 ; The lost homeland : China, Dai Viet, and Khmer, 1127-1150 ; Crusade resurrected : The Turkish and Crusader kingdoms, with visitations from Germany and France, 1128-1149 ; Reconquista and rediscovery : The Spanish peninsula, 1134-1146 ; Questions of authority : France and Italy, 1135-1160 ; The new song : China, 1141-1165 ; The Heiji disturbance : Japan, 1142-1159 ; Death of an army : Goryeo, 1146-1197 ; The first Plantagenet : England and Western Francia, 1147-1154 ; Frederick Barbarossa : Germany and Italy, 1147-1177 ; The Almohads in Spain ; North Africa and Spain, 1147-1177 ; "Many nations" : Africa, sometime in the twelfth century ; The last Fatimid caliph : the Turkish and Crusader kingdoms, 1149-1171 ; Monks and Brahmans : South India, 1150-1189 ; Conquest of the willing : Northern India, 1150-1202 ; Death of a priest : England and France, 1154-1170 ; Foreign relations : Byzantium, Hungary, and the Balkans, 1157-1168 ; The Venetian problem : Byzantium and Italy, 1171-1185 ; Resentments : England, Ireland, and France, 1171-1186 ; Saladin : the Turkish and Crusader kingdoms, 1171-1188 ; The Gempei War : Japan, 1179-1185 ; Kings' crusade : England, France, and the Turkish and Crusader kingdoms, 1188-1199 ; The sack of Constantinople : Byzantium and Europe, 1195-1204 -- Invasions, heresies, and uprisings. Westward : Central and South America, 1200 ; The Mongol school of warfare : China, North and Central Asia, 1201-1215 ; John Softsword : England and France, 1203-1213 ; Sundiata of the Mali : Africa, 1203-1240 ; The Jokyu War : Japan, 1203-1242 ; The unwanted throne : the old Byzantine lands, 1203-1225 ; The first Delhi sultanate : Northern and central India, 1206-1236 ; Heresy : France, 1209-1210 ; Reconquest and failure : France and the Spanish peninsula, 1210-1213 ; From Bouvines to Magna Carta : France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire, 1213-1217 ; The birth of the Inquisition : France, 1215-1229 ; Moving westward : China, North and Central Asia, and the Middle East, 1215-1229 ; South of India : India and Sri Lanka, 1215-1283 ; The fifth crusade : Egypt and the Crusader kingdoms, 1217-1221 ; From the golden bull to the Baltic Crusade : Hungary, Poland, and the lands of the Lithuanians, 1218-1233 ; Lakeshores, highlands, and hilltops : Africa, 1221-1290 ; The sixth crusade : The Holy Roman Empire, the Crusader kingdoms, and the Ayyubid empire, 1223-1229 ; The Tran Dynasty : southeast Asia, 1224-1257 ; Young kings : England, France, and the kingdoms of Spain, 1227-1242 ; The Mongol horde ; Most of Asia and Europe, 1229-1248 ; The debt of hatred : the Holy Roman Empire, 1229-1250 ; The shadow of God : India, 1236-1266 ; The seventh crusade : France, Egypt, and Syria, 1244-1250 ; The splintering Khanate : the Mongol conquests, 1246-1264 ; The Mamluks of Egypt : Egypt, Syria, and the Mongol lands, 1250-1268 ; Louis the Saint : France and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1250-1267 ; The Lion's den : Germany, Italy, Sicily, and England, 1252-1273 ; The recapture of Constantinople : the Latin Empire and the empire of Nicaea, 1254-1261 ; The last crusades : North Africa, Egypt, France, Italy, and the Crusader kingdoms, 1270-1291 ; Kublai Khan : China, Japan, Goryeo, Champa, and the Dai Viet, 1273-1294 ; The Sicilian vespers : Germany, Italy, Sicily, Aragon, and France, 1274-1288 ; The wars of Edward I : England, Scotland, Wales, and France, 1275-1299 ; The second sultanate of Delhi : India, 1287-1300 ; The end of the papal monarchy : France, Germany, and Italy, 1301-1317 ; The appearance of the Ottomans : Byzantium and the Turks of the Il-khanate, 1302-1347 ; The fall of the Khilji : India, 1303-1320 ; The triumph of the Bruce : Scotland, England, and Ireland, 1304-1314 --Catastrophes. The Great Famine : all of Europe, 1310-1321 ; The Sultan and the Khan : Egypt, the Il-khanate, and the Golden Horde, 1310-1335 ; Mansa Musa of Mali : West Africa, 1312-1360 ; After the famine : France and England, 1318-1330 ; The southern and northern courts : Japan, 1318-1339 ; Rebellions : India, 1320-1351 ; Naming the Renaissance : Germany, Italy, and France, 1322-1341 ; The cities in the lake : Central America, 1325-1375 ; A hundred years of war : France and England, 1329-1347 ; The end of the world : Asia, Europe, and India, 1338-1353 -- Regroupings. The will to war : France, England, the Spanish kingdoms, 1349-1369 ; White lotus, red turban : China, 1351-1382 ; After the Mongols : Southeast Asia, 1351-1399 ; The Turks and the desperate emperor : Byzantium and the lands of the Turks, with side journeys to France and Italy ; The disintegration of Delhi : India and Sri Lanka, 1352-1388 ; The union of Krewo : Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania, 1364-1399 ; The rebirth of the Mongol horde : Central Asia, the Middle East, India, and the lands of the Rus', 1367-1399 ; Compromises and settlements : the Korean peninsula and Japan, 1368-1392 ; The House of Visconti and the Papal States : France and Italy, 1368-1392 ; Bad beginnings : France and England, 1369-1381 ; Dislocation : Africa, 1370-1399 ; Madness and usurpation : Castile, Portugal, England, and France, 1383-1401 ; The Battle of Nicopolis : The Ottoman empire, Constantinople, and the lands of eastern Europe, 1385-1396 ; The union and disunion of Kalmar : Scandinavia, 1387-1449 ; The Hussite uprising : Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bohemia, 1388-1419 ; The taking of France : France and England, 1401-1420 ; After Timurlane : The north of India, the empire of Timur, the lands of the Ottoman Turks, Egypt, and Byzantium, 1401-1415 -- Endings. The withdrawal of the Ming : China and the land of the Dai Viet, 1405-1455 ; Failure : The old lands of the Holy Roman Empire and the remnants of Byzantium, 1412-1440 ; Perpetual slavery : Portugal, Castile, and Africa, 1415-1455 ; The loss of France : France and England, 1422-1453 ; The fall : the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, along with Hungary, Germany, Wallachia, Bohemia, and Serbia, 1430-1453.