A panorama of the history of the European Middle Ages, the darkest, harshest, and wildest period ever experienced in world history, presented in the delightful style of a great European thinker.

Christian rulers exploit, slaughter, and mutilate their fellow believers, to the point that even heretical rulers feel pity for them. Priests and archpriests live in luxury, consorting with courtesans, while ordinary citizens live in hunger and destitution, often due to wars and the economic drain inflicted upon them by their Christian rulers and the hierarchy.

Popes, antipope, and Christian emperors wage war against one another with unprecedented savagery, throwing unspeakable curses at each other. The worst adventurers and criminals are made crusaders, granted absolution for their sins, and become the new noble class of the Christian kingdoms of the East, continuing their adventuristic and criminal deeds there.