ABSTRACT
There was a time, not long ago, when there was no middle class, and rulers reigned over segments of the earth, governing the land and its people. Most readers of this book would have been among those governed, wondering what it was like on the other side of the courtly walls. Today, we access that royal scene through a blur of fact-based fiction-images filtered through the ages. In Western culture, kings, queens, and armored knights are characters in a courtly story that has been told and retold. But there are lesser told stories that go beyond war and conquest.
