"The ethnic tide then settled in its conquered lands and darkness descended upon the devastated, unstable continent. It would not lift until forty medieval generations had suffered, wrought their pathetic destinies, and passed on." (Chapter 1, p. 5).

"Was the medieval world a civilization, comparable to Rome before it or to the modern era which followed? If by civilization one means a society which has reached a relatively high level of cultural and technological development, the answer is no." (Chapter 1, p. 15).

"Rising gusts of wind, disregarded at the time, signaled the coming storm." (Chapter 1, p. 24).

"His name ricochets down the canyons of nearly five centuries - ricochets, because the trajectory of his zigzagging life, never direct, dodged this way and that, ever elusive and often devious." (Chapter 2, p. 31).

"The count could have asked, though he didn't, what all this misery had to do with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth...