Includes bibliographical references (p. 565-622) and index.
Contents:
I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS BREAKUP, 400-550. The weight of empire -- Culture and belief in the Charistian Roman world -- Crisis and continuity, 400-550 -- II. THE POST-ROMAN WEST, 550-750. Merovingian Gaul and Germany, 500-751 -- The West Mediterranean kingdoms: Spain and Italy, 550-750 -- Kings without states: Britain and Ireland, 400-800 -- Post-Roman attitudes: culture, belief and political etiquette, 550-750 -- Wealth, exchange and peasant society -- The power of the visual: material cultuer and display from Imperial Rome to the Carolingians -- III. THE EMPIRES OF THE EAST, 550-1000.Byzantine survival, 550-850 -- The crystallization of Arab political power, 630-750 -- Byzantine revival, 850-1000 -- From 'Abbasid Baghdad to Umayyad Cordoba, 750-1000 -- The state and the economy: Eastern Mediterranean exchange networks, 600-1000 -- IV. THE CAROLINGIAN AND POST-CAROLINGIAN WEST, 750-1000. The Carolingian century, 751-887 -- Intellectuals and politics -- The 10th-century successor states -- 'Carolingian' England, 800-1000 -- Outer Europe -- Aristocrats between the Carolingian and the 'Feudal' worlds -- The caging of the peasantry, 800-1000 -- Trends in European history, 400-1000.
Summary:
Historian Chris Wickham defies conventional views of the "Dark Ages" in European history with a work of rigorous yet accessible scholarship. Drawing on a wealth of new material and featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical and archaeological approaches, Wickham argues that these centuries were critical in the formulation of European identity. Far from being a "middle" period between more significant epochs, this age has much to tell us in its own right about the progress of culture and the development of political thought. Wickham focuses on a world still profoundly shaped by Rome, which encompassed peoples ranging from Goths, Franks, and Vandals to Arabs, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings. Digging deep into each culture, Wickham constructs a vivid portrait of a vast and varied world stretching from Ireland to Constantinople, the Baltic to the Mediterranean--the crucible in which Europe would ultimately be created.--From publisher description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.